Conflicting Information

North Carolina Divorce Law Divorce and Separation Answers
1

Background info: I moved to SC in November. My ex lives in Wake County NC. I had a lawyer draft a complaint and file it for me in Wake County today (I did not file it in SC where I live because I would have had to wait until I lived here for a year before filing and I did not want to wait another year). I will be handling the rest of my case on my own.

I have some questions and I have been receiving conflicting information from my lawyer and different people at Wake County Court.

  1. How do I serve my ex by mail? Certified return receipt requested? Or certified resticted and return receipt requested?

  2. Once I receive confirmation that my ex has been served, what is my next step? I was told by a Wake clerk that I could have my lawyer pick up a notice of hearing form and I should then call them to request a date, however, my lawyer tried to get this form for me and she was told that I had to go to the court house myself to get a date. Is there any way for me to get a hearing date without having to go to the court house since I live out of state?

  3. http://web.co.wake.nc.us/courts/documents/Divorce_Packet.pdf The directions say I need 3 copies of the Divorce Judgement, which looks like page 10 of the document on the link I posted. It also says I need 1 copy of the Certificate of Absolute Divorce, but I do not see a page on that document that has that title. What page is it?

  4. The clerk I spoke with told me that I did not have to inform my ex about the hearing date, but the packet from the link above says I do. Do I have to serve him a notice of hearing and if so, do I have to show proof of how I served him this notice?

I appreciate your reply. This has been a very confusing process and I truly appreciate this forum and informative website!

2

Certified mail return receipt is sufficient for service.

Once your ex has been served you may file an affidavit of service to prove service was effectuated. You will then be able to contact the clerk by phone for a hearing date, and send out the Notice of hearing to your ex.

The divorce judgment is usually only about a page and a half. The certificate of absolute divorce can be obtained from the clerk.

You do need to serve your ex with the Notice of Hearing, all that is necessary is that you file the Notice of Hearing with a certificate of service, mail a copy (regular mail is fine) to your ex.