Tag Archive for: publication

Publication of Adoption

It is always necessary to give all interested parties proper notice of pending adoption proceedings. A copy of the adoption petition should be served on all interested parties, e.g. persons with parental rights to the minor child(ren) involved. Acceptable methods of service include personal service or certified mail, return receipt requested, restricted delivery. Proof of service should be filed with the court and/or submitted at the time of the hearing. If you do not have a good address for an interested party you can petition the court to permit service by an alternate method, such as publication in the newspaper where the party was last known to reside.

The court would indicate for how many weeks the notice must be published in the newspaper. The newspaper provides a certification as the publication that can be submitted to the court as verification that the required publication was completed. This adds to the costs of the adoption matter as it can cost several hundred dollars to publish. You should also be careful to include all necessary information in the publication so that the court can accept the publication as acceptable service.

by

Alternative Methods of Service for NJ Divorce

The New Jersey Divorce Statutes provide for alternate ways to notify the opposing party of a divorce action if you do not have any contact information for the opposing party. One method is by substitute service on a special agent. This method involves serving the complaint on a person who is likely to be able to get it to the Defendant; typically, a close friend or relative. The other method involves publication of the complaint in the county where the Defendant was last known to reside. For either of the above methods, you must get approval by the court first. The court must be satisfied that every effort has been made to locate the Defendant including but not limited to inquiries of the Defendant’s friends, family, employer as well as inquiries through the post office, department of motor vehicles, voter registration, and the military.

If you are still unable to get contact information for the Defendant despite the inquiries as listed above, you can file a petition with the court for substitute service or service by publication. Where service by publication is granted, you will be responsible to publish notice of the divorce in the paper specified by the court and provide proof to the court that it was in fact published. If the Defendant does not respond in the time frame allotted, the divorce can then move forward. The next step is likely requesting a default judgment for Defendant’s failure to answer or respond.

Click here to read more on NJ Family Law.

by