When you file for a divorce, your spouse may not be accepting of the situation. If he or she does not want to end your marriage, it can create an awkward situation.
If you have discussed your feelings and your spouse continues to maintain that he or she does not want a divorce, you may wonder if that means you are stuck in the marriage. According to the California Courts, you can still move forward with the divorce even if your spouse refuses to consent.
Consent requirement
There is no consent requirement in the divorce law in California. Only one party needs to file the paperwork and request the end of the marriage contract.
Refusal to participate
If your spouse refuses to acknowledge or participate in the divorce process, it will not stop it from going forward. The court will give each of you the opportunity to speak in court, but pleas of not wanting the marriage to end will fall on deaf ears. The law does not require you both to want to divorce. If the other person refuses to participate, the judge will simply give you a default judgment, which means you get everything you ask for and the marriage legally ends.
It is detrimental to ignore a divorce or refuse to participate. The person who does this will lose big in court because the judge will not wait for them to come around. He or she will make decisions with the provided information. That means things will favor the person who does show up in court. So, in short, there is no way for your spouse to deny you a divorce and if he or she does so, it will probably end up benefiting you.