You have decided that you want to get divorced. Your spouse will not cooperate and is not interested in a divorce themselves. As a result, you file for divorce on your own and then serve the divorce petition to your spouse.
However, they maintain that they do not want to get divorced and they refuse to sign and submit the papers. They simply ignore them. What happens next? Does this mean you cannot get divorced?
They have 30 days
First and foremost, South Carolina gives people 30 days to respond to divorce papers. Even if your spouse has told you that they are not going to respond, you still have to give them the full 30 days. This can certainly slow the divorce process down if you are waiting for them to sign or waiting for the deadline to pass.
However, once that deadline does pass, you can still get divorced. The court can issue a default divorce ruling. Your spouse’s cooperation is not necessary, and you should note that you can still get divorced even if they refuse to participate.
In some ways, this may actually help your position. Since your spouse has failed to respond, they are no longer involved in the divorce process, so they cannot advocate for a different type of child custody solution or a different type of property division. The court may simply grant the terms that you requested in your initial divorce petition.
Your legal options
This helps show why it is so important to understand your legal options when getting a divorce. People sometimes assume that they need their spouse to cooperate or the divorce will not be possible, but there are always other steps that can be taken.