Q. My wife of five years moved out one day and didn’t tell me where she went. Her family is from Texas, so I have suspicions she is living there. We don’t have any children and the only property we own is the furniture in the apartment that we rent.

Can I still get divorced if I don’t know where she is?

A. You can get divorced in Massachusetts so long as the two of you lived here together for at least one year. Or, if you didn’t live in Mass. for a full year, but the event which triggered the end of the marriage happened here, you can also get divorced here. I would imagine that her leaving was the triggering event signifying the breakdown of the marriage from your perspective, so if you have not lived here for the year, you can list that as the event.

You should try all options to locate her before filing your complaint for divorce. I assume you have been unsuccessful reaching her by phone, but try again. Also, if you know her family’s names and contact information, call them, send emails and/or write letters asking if they have seen or heard from her. It may be that she wanted to leave you without your having an ability to reach her and if that is the case, her family may not tell you where she is. You can share with them that you plan to file for divorce and you just need an address to list for her.

You should also try to send her emails and direct messages on all known social media apps. If, after taking all of these steps, you still cannot locate your wife, you can file for divorce and list her address as parts unknown. You will need to make a motion to serve her by publication, supported by your affidavit where you describe all of the steps you have taken to locate her.

The motion should be allowed, and you will be ordered to publish the divorce summons for a specified period of time in a local newspaper. You may even be ordered to publish in Mass. and in a paper near where her family lives in Texas.

Then, once the publication has happened, you will file the pages from the newspaper where the notice was published with the court and ask for a hearing on your divorce. Six months later the judge can hold a pre-trial conference and issue a judgment of divorce if your wife does not surface by then.

Email questions to whickey@brickjones.com