Divorce without the presence of the defendant
Indonesian divorce proceedings, whether its Moslem divorce proceeding at the Indonesian religious courthouse or non-Moslem divorce proceeding at the district court, can still be continued without the presence of the defendant at the courthouse.
Although a proper summons regarding the Indonesian divorce process will be issued by the court in order to “invite” the defendant to attend the divorce hearing sessions based on the the divorce lawsuit applied by the petitioner, the complete divorce examination can still be carried out supposed the defendant is refusing or do not wish to attend, signing any document or do nothing regarding the divorce hearing.
Do not attend, do not signing any documents and just do nothing regarding the divorce proceedings would simply means that the defendant is ignoring the whole process and “accepting” whatsoever written and demanded by the petitioner, as written on their divorce petition whether its a custody rights on the children born from their marriage, demands for alimony, etc and therefore the court will consider the defendant is relinquishing their rights to defend them self and will finally issue the default verdict towards the divorce petition (also known as the verstek verdict).
Prior the issuance of the default decree, the following conditions should applied: a. the defendant have been properly and officially summoned; b. the defendant does not attend the Indonesian divorce hearing without any legitimate excuse; c. the divorce petitioner is attending the divorce session; d. the divorce petitioner is firmly holds to their divorce petition.
What needs to be understand is , the defendant attendance during the Indonesian divorce proceedings is purely the defendant’s right, and its not an obligation or legal responsibility whatsoever, the court will devolve such rights to the defendant either to use it to defend his interests or to let it passed.
Furthermore, after the Indonesian divorce case have been resolved by means of the default decree, the defendant are given the last chance to defend its rights and interests by filing the resistance lawsuit against the Indonesian default decree, and the submission of the said resistance lawsuit should be no more than fourteen days since the Indonesian divorce case have been resolved by the court, or prior the default decree is legally binding.
****
