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Divorcing a Missing Spouse: The Publication Route

Reviewed by the Amicably document team · Updated September 11, 2026

If you genuinely cannot find your spouse after real effort, Florida still lets you end the marriage through a court-supervised process called service by publication. It works, but it is narrower than most people expect: it dissolves the marriage itself, and usually little else. Property division, alimony, and child support generally require a court to have power over your spouse personally, and publication alone does not give it that.

This guide covers what Florida actually requires before you can publish, what the case can and cannot decide once your spouse is served this way, and when a plain missing-spouse situation is really a case for a family law attorney instead.

When service by publication actually applies

Florida law allows a divorce petition to be served by publishing a notice in a newspaper only when your spouse's residence is genuinely unknown despite real effort to find it, or your spouse is a Florida resident who is actively avoiding service after other methods have failed. It is not a shortcut for a spouse you would rather not deal with, and it is not the right tool when you know where your spouse lives, even if that is another state or country; that situation calls for formal service there instead, which reaches a wider set of outcomes than publication does (see the comparison below).

The court will not take your word that you tried. Before the clerk will publish anything, you have to file a sworn affidavit describing the specific steps you took to find your spouse and what each one turned up.

The diligent search Florida requires first

"Diligent search" has a specific, documented meaning. A general sense that you have not heard from your spouse in years is not enough on its own. Judges reviewing these affidavits expect to see that you actually tried the obvious channels before concluding your spouse cannot be found.

Write down dates, names, and what each attempt turned up as you go. The affidavit asks for that detail, not a summary.

Filing, publishing, and proving it

Once the diligent search affidavit is ready, the publication route follows a set sequence.

1. File the petition, form 12.901(b)(2) or 12.901(b)(3) with no children, or 12.901(b)(1) with children, along with the diligent search affidavit.
2. The clerk issues a Notice of Action: form 12.913(a)(1) with no children or money relief sought, or 12.913(a)(2) with children.
3. Publish the notice once a week for 4 consecutive weeks in a newspaper the court recognizes for that county.
4. File the newspaper's proof of publication with the clerk.
5. Wait out the response window. Several counties count roughly 28 to 32 days from the last publication before a default can be entered.
6. If nothing is filed in response, move for a clerk default.
7. The final hearing is set. Several counties route a defaulted, publication-only case to an assigned judge rather than the standard uncontested calendar, so expect that hearing to take longer to schedule than a cooperating-spouse case.

Publishing costs money, and it varies by county. Miami-Dade's self-help fee schedule lists a $35 publication fee plus a $0.50 diligent-search fee; Duval charges $10 for the clerk to issue the Notice of Action. Palm Beach County has a specific accommodation for petitioners who qualify as indigent: the clerk forwards the notice to the county's newspaper of record for free publication. Ask the filing county's self-help center for its current figure before you budget for this step.

What a publication divorce can and can't decide

This is the part that surprises people. A Florida court's power over a spouse it could only publish notice to, rather than personally serve, is limited: it is enough to end the marriage, but generally not enough to order that spouse to pay alimony or child support, or to divide property the two of you own together. Dividing a specific piece of Florida real estate is possible only in narrow cases, and only if that property is specifically described in the published notice itself; leaving out or misdescribing that detail has voided property awards entirely, sometimes discovered years later when someone tries to sell or refinance. Because the cost of getting this wrong lands on a property title, not just the case file, describing real property in a publication notice is not something to attempt without a family law attorney.

Bank accounts, vehicles, and other personal property are not divided this way at all; Florida's publication process for a dissolution has no established path for that.

Children, parenting plans, and child support

If you have minor children with the missing spouse, Florida can still decide parenting matters through the publication route, as long as Florida is the child's home state under the UCCJEA, generally meaning the child has lived here for the past 6 months. That can get you a parenting plan and time-sharing schedule. It does not, on its own, get you a child support order against the missing spouse; support requires its own, separate jurisdictional basis over that parent. Talk with a family law attorney about whether any of those bases apply before assuming support is part of your case.

If you actually have an address, even out of state

Publication is specifically for a spouse you genuinely cannot locate. If you have any current address, workplace, phone number, or a social media account you know your spouse actively uses, publication is the wrong tool, and using it anyway when a real address exists can undermine the affidavit the whole case depends on. A spouse who lives in another state or country, but can be found, gets formal service there instead, which is a different, more complete process. See our guides on a spouse who lives in another state and a spouse who lives abroad if either fits your situation better.

A typical timeline

1. Before filingComplete the diligent search and prepare the affidavit documenting it.
2. Day 0File the petition, the diligent search affidavit, and the request for the clerk's Notice of Action.
3. Weeks 1-4The notice publishes once a week for 4 consecutive weeks.
4. About 4-5 weeks inFile the newspaper's proof of publication with the clerk.
5. Roughly 4 weeks after the last publicationIf no response was filed, move for a clerk default.
6. Final hearingScheduled after the default; publication-only cases are often routed to an assigned judge, which can add time versus a standard uncontested hearing.

Mistakes that create real problems later

Treating "I haven't talked to them in years" as a diligent search. The affidavit needs documented attempts and results, not a general impression that your spouse is gone.

Publishing when you actually know an address. If you have a real way to reach your spouse, use formal service instead; publication assumes you truly could not find them.

Trying to divide property or ask for support through publication. Without personal jurisdiction over your spouse, those requests usually cannot be granted, and attempting a property description in the notice without a lawyer risks a property award that is void from the start.

Assuming the case moves on the usual uncontested timeline. Between the 4-week publication run, the wait before a default, and judge-routed final hearings in several counties, a publication case commonly takes longer than a cooperating-spouse divorce.

Frequently asked questions