Yes — and this is one of the most important reassurances I can give: a non-cooperative spouse cannot hold you in a marriage indefinitely by simply refusing to engage with court proceedings. The law provides a clear, tested mechanism for exactly this situation, and Vadodara's Family Court has ample experience in managing it.

Once you file a contested divorce petition at the Vadodara Family Court on a valid ground — cruelty, desertion, or any other applicable ground under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act — the court issues notice to your spouse. If, after proper service of notice, your spouse refuses to appear, ignores the summons, or evades service altogether, the Family Court can proceed ex-parte under Order IX Rule 6 of the Civil Procedure Code, hearing your evidence and deciding the case on the basis of your side alone. An ex-parte divorce decree is as valid and effective as any other; the only thing that changes is that your spouse does not participate in the hearing.

The single most important factor in an ex-parte proceeding is airtight service of summons. If your spouse is evading service, the court can authorise substituted service — service by registered post to their last known address, affixation at their residence, and publication in a newspaper under Order V Rule 20 — and once this is done properly, the court is entitled to treat the spouse as having been served and proceed accordingly. The risk is that an ex-parte decree can later be set aside by the absent spouse under Order IX Rule 13 if they can demonstrate they were never properly served and had sufficient cause for their absence. Correct service closes that door permanently and protects your decree from challenge. You must also still prove your ground for divorce through your own testimony and documentary evidence — the court does not simply grant a decree because the respondent did not appear; it requires proof of the ground pleaded. The family law advocates at the Vadodara panel of Aapka Legal Advice can manage service, build your evidence on the substantive ground, and present the ex-parte case in a way that produces a decree that stands.