seperated 4 more than 2 yrs

hi there hope someone can help. my friend has been seperated for nearly 4 yrs and he is petitioning for divorce diy. it says seperation for 2 yrs with consent. his wife will not speak to him so he is concerned that she may not sign does he need the signiture or can he serve the papers via court bailiff? also children r involved and she prob will not agree to the proposed visits will that affect the divorce goin thru?
this is really urgent so pls reply guys! thanks

You would need to request the court to allow the court bailiff to personally serve the divorce documents on the respondent. The court bailiff would then swear an affidavit confirming service, should the respondent still not respond you proceed to the next stage, the application for special procedure whereby you would use the sworn affidavit as an exhibit. You will have to pay the court a fixed fee for this service.

After service you must allow 29 days for the respondent to file a defence (called an ‘answer’ in divorce proceedings) and, if they do not, you can then apply for the Decree Nisi (the first divorce decree).
Best of luck
Mike

My ex emailed me to say he was ignoring the petition and the judge accepted that as evidence he had received it.

If your friend has doubts as to an agreeable divorce then I suggest proceeding on grounds of unreasonable behavior.

It is not too difficult to find aspects of living together intolerable to continue to live with and whilst they have been separated for nearly 4 years there is no time limit on filing for UB.

If filing for 2 year separation then both spouses have to agree to it.

As previoulsy mentioned, petition, wait about three weeks for the court to advise if it has been acknowledged and if not you can then ask the court to issue another copy via a bailiif.

Once issued by a bailiif court accepts that it has been served, you can then proceed as before.