If you file for a divorce, you have to serve the divorce petition to your spouse. You can do so in person, by mail or by publication. This paperwork tells your spouse about the upcoming divorce, and they have to legally respond to the petition. The court can then begin to set up hearings and court dates.
However, your spouse may decide not to respond to this divorce petition. Perhaps they do not want to get divorced and they think that you will not be able to finalize the divorce without them. Perhaps they are just confrontational and they refuse to respond for more emotional reasons. Can they actually ignore the petition or do they have an obligation to respond?
You may need to get a default divorce
Your spouse is supposed to respond by providing an “answer” to the court. There is a set amount of time in which they can do so; in Iowa, they generally have 20 days. Once you have served them the divorce petition, you cannot take any other steps until they have either responded or exceeded this deadline.
But what if your spouse ignores the divorce petition? What if they never respond at all?
Once the deadline has been reached, you can ask the court for a default divorce. This may actually go more smoothly than a contested divorce because the court does not need your spouse to be part of the process at all. In other words, you can still get divorced if you want to, even if your spouse will not cooperate.
Your legal options
Of course, getting divorced from a non-cooperative spouse could get complicated. Make sure you know exactly what legal steps to take at this time.
