"You can't miss a court appearance" is Bullspit. I missed a ton of them. I miss every one I can.
It is my way of showing the utter disdain I have for the divorce process itself. When your attorney says "you cannot miss this appearance" it is baloney. You cannot miss it if you want a REALLY GOOD DIVORCE. If you and he miss all the appearances, what do you think will happen to the case? It will be dropped, I guarantee it.
But I don't understand why you would have asked your husband to file papers when you didn't want to be divorced. Is this some sort of reverse-psychology trick that backfired? ???