Judge Voids Divorce Notices Against Absent Defendants in Indian Territory
Ruling could unravel hundreds of marriages contracted after default divorces
A federal judge in Indian Territory ruled that published notices to non-resident divorce defendants were legally worthless, a decision that threatened to invalidate hundreds of subsequent remarriages if upheld on appeal.
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Mesa Free Press · November 19, 1897 · Page 2
1 min readJudge Thomas of the United States court of Indian Territory has handed down an important and far-reaching decision. Judge Thomas held that the publication of warning notices to non-resident defendants in divorce proceedings was null and void, and that actual service must be had on such defendants.
The decision, if sustained in the supreme court, to which an appeal has been taken, will set aside hundreds of marriages contracted by parties who have obtained decrees of divorce from courts on the default of non-resident defendants.
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