Middletown, NY Divorce Law Firms & Lawyers

If one party is unnecessarily prolonging the litigation that party can be forced to pay the legal costs of both sides. But if your husband wants a trial there is little you can do to prevent one.

No. You cannot stop the divorce based on the fact that your wife is an alcoholic. Alcoholics are allowed to divorce.  However, you might be able to stop the divorce with love, affection, and support for her in overcoming her alcoholism. This is not legal advice. It's human advice.  

First of all, once you have your spouse personally served after filing, then the action is considered joined. So if you still have an index number that was properly served on your spouse, and you have an affidavit of service showing that she was served, then you do not have to start a new one. However, if you were unable to have her personally served before, and need to start a new case, then you will have to try and get her personally served with the new divorce papers. If you do not know where she is at the moment, then you will have to do due diligence to locate her, including hiring a private investigator to locate her. If they are unable to do so, and provide you with an affidavit of due diligence, then you will have to apply to the court for alternate service including nail and mail service to her last known address or service by publication by posting a legal notice which requires a number of conditions to be met. In terms of the child support, however, if your son now resides with you, but you are still paying child support for an on-going child support order (that is to say, not paying off owed arrears), then you should immediately file a Petition for Modification of a Child Support Order based on a change of circumstances as you are now the custodial parent of your son.