Paul Nixon wanted out of his marriage, and instead of going through the regular divorce proceedings, he decided to take a shortcut. The Texas man is now on the run after forging his wife's signature on their divorce papers.

Nixon, aged 51, is wanted by authorities for perjury since he submitted false documents to a Houston district court. He handed the papers with the false signature to the court on February 15, and two months later, he submitted the completed divorce paperwork, thus dissolving the marriage.

Everything happed behind the back of Nixon's wife, who claimed she was unaware of the process. She found out what had taken place first in May.

Mrs. Nixon reported the forgery to the police, and an investigation commenced.

As a result, the authorities found the signature on the divorce papers to be fake, and according to Harris County Constable Mark Herman, Nixon is now wanted for aggravated forgery.

The fact that one of the parties, in this case, Mrs. Nixon, did not find out about the divorce application until the court had filed the final divorce decree makes the case extremely rare.

"We rarely see something like this," Herman explained. "In this particular case, the gentleman decided to go through a divorce, but the only problem is that he left his wife out of the process. And that's a violation of the law here in Texas."

"His wife was very surprised. She started finding things showing that he was spending money on jewelry, so she confronted him, and he told her that they were actually divorced."

According to the press, the forged documents and false information Nixon submitted to the court also included a forged signature from a public notary. The man certainly went to great lengths to divorce his wife without her knowledge.

Is The Couple Really Divorced?

The authorities filed a nullification of the divorce due to the false documents. Therefore, Nixon's marriage to his wife is now reinstated despite his efforts.

"They are still legally married," Herman shared. "The fraudulent divorce papers have been retracted."

When Nixon found out he was wanted by the police, he decided to run away. His crime of aggravated perjury is classified as a Class D felony, and if sentenced, Nixon could face up to 10 years in jail and receive fines under federal law.

"We have teams out looking for him right now, I can tell you," Herman said. "And we have an idea where he's at. So hopefully, he'll turn himself in. If not, we'll catch him. Just a matter of time."

We can assume Nixon did not get the outcome he wanted since he ended up in a worse situation than when he started the process. Probably he had not counted on such severe consequences.