All nullity cases concern a marriage of two people – the Petitioner (person applying for the annulment) and the Respondent (the former spouse). The law requires that the Respondent be contacted regarding the petition that is presented to the Tribunal because he/she has a right to know that an investigation is being conducted into the validity of his/her marriage to the Petitioner. Thus, it is very important to provide a current address for BOTH parties. This is sometimes a challenge when the divorce occurred many years ago and there are no children.
In addition, there may be people that were around at the time of the marriage that would be able to testify to the marriage under investigation but are no longer in contact with the Petitioner or the Respondent. It would be worth a search to find them and ask if they would be willing to provide testimony.
Some suggestions for looking for “lost” Respondents or Witnesses:
- Check with former in-laws for a current address.
- Check with mutual friends to see if they have maintained contact.
- Check with employer to see if they still work with the same company.
- Check to see if they have a Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn page.
Check internet directories such as:
- Zabasearch – www.zabasearch.com
- The Ultimate White Pages – www.theultimates.com/white
- True People Search – www.truepeoplesearch.com
- Zoominfo – http://www.zoominfo.com
- Pipl –http://pipl.com
- People Finder –http://www.people-finders.ws
- People Smart –http://www.peoplesmart.com
- US Search –http://www.ussearch.com
- If you know what high school or college they attended try http://www.reunion.com
- A general Google search often provides many hits regarding the person.
Specifically helpful for locating the Respondent:
- Check the social security death index to confirm that they are not deceased http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com
- If they may own real estate in Maricopa County, you can check the assessor’s records at http://www.maricopa.gov/Assessor
- Or check public records from Maricopa County recorder.maricopa.gov/recdocdata or other states at http://www.publicrecordsinfo.com
If respondent is likely to be in prison, check:
- Arizona – https://corrections.az.gov/public-resources/inmate-datasearch
- Federal –http://www.bop.gov
- Other States –http://www.inmatesplus.com
- Criminal Searches –http://criminalsearches.com
- If the respondent is a veteran or in the military http://www.archives.gov