When bringing proceedings for divorce or other family law orders in the Family or Federal Circuit Courts, it is usually required for such proceedings to be brought to the attention of the other party (known as the respondent). If the location of that person is not known, the court expects some effort to be made to locate them before the court will make orders or a divorce on an undefended basis. This can include an electoral role search, contacting family and friends, a Facebook search, or a letter to the person’s last known address.
An interesting article in Perth newspapers featured a woman who located the father of her child in a Gumtree ad. This perhaps is another method to try to locate a respondent (mind you I cannot imagine in all cases that the respondent will respond to such an ad if they do not want to be found). Lovely end to this story was that this man was delighted to know he had a baby and all is happy in that family, which is a wonderful news story for the day !
