Should I allow myself to be served divorce paperwork?

Most, perhaps all, states have procedures that allow defendants to be served by means other than personal delivery if it appears that they are evading service.  If your husband files a motion requesting the court to permit such an alternative means of service, then you may be served without being aware of the service.  For instance, the court may allow your husband to effectuate service by publishing a notice in some news paper.  If that would occur, then you would be presumed to have been served even if you did not read the newspaper.  The potential harm from this is a family law order of default.  This could lead to the husband being awarded alimony, child custody, property division or other rights that directly and negatively affect you without your input. For this reason, my standard advice to people is to just accept service, and then hire a lawyer to deal with it so nothing goes wrong.  There is just too much that can go wrong if an ultimate order of default or default judgment is issued.  I do not practice law in California.