My husband’s ex wife lives in Wisconsin and my husband has temporary custody of his daughter here in NC and has since July, 2008.
He is attempting to have a permanent custody hearing and the hearing has been calendared for September. The paperwork has been emailed to his ex-wife and she has admitted to reading it on the phone (recorded).
She is avoiding service by mail, however. The Notice of Hearing has been mailed to her PO Box, her home address and her mother’s home address. Each time, the mail comes back with “Return to Sender” written on the envelope.
In September, will she be able to get away with saying that she didn’t know of the hearing and never received anything?
My husband would be perfectly happy to never go back to court and let the temporary become permanent with time except that he has no vacation time with his daughter at all. When she is tracked out, she immediately flies to WI.
I would bring copies of the emails sent to his ex-wife. However, the last known mailing address is appropriate for proper service. I will assume that the original complaint was served to her at that residence, as well.
Just to be safe, I would have him ask her (over email) where to send mail. If she has a fax number, you can also fax it to her. Also, proper service can also be by hand delivery through an authorized person.
You’re probably right in thinking that she’s just doing everything she can to avoid being brought to court, so bring as much proof of your efforts to get this information to her as you can, even going so far as to email a scanned copy of the Notice of Hearing.
We do have several emails from her regarding her current mailing address. We have mailed Notices to her current mailing address as well as the last address on record with the court. We have mailed to her PO Box and have scanned documents and emailed them.
My husband will be armed in September. Thanks again.