Has someone suddenly showed up on your doorstep claiming to be your spouse’s former – or current – spouse?  How do you find out the truth of the matter?  One of the ways is to locate copies of the marriage license.

Online Searches for Divorce Papers

Marriages, like divorces and births, are public records.  Some much more public than others.  However, if your spouse is secretly married to someone else or even secretly married to you, this information may be harder to dig up.

Which marriage is valid depends almost exclusively on one thing.  Which one took place first?  If you can locate a legally filed of one or both certificates, this will answer all of your questions that don’t deal with what to do next.

Divorce Filed or Not Filed?

However, the date of the marriage can become secondary if the marriage license was never filed.  This may be because the marriage took place in country where the US does not recognize the ceremony, if the person performing it was bogus, or if your “spouse” simply did not file the certificate – possibly out of fear of being caught in bigamy.

Using an online retrieval system that has access to worldwide data can give you much more concrete answers and help you move forward.  We have looked around a lot, and the best and most straightforward way to find the divorce records were on this sight.  Find copies of a marriage license to make sure the papers were filed correctly.  Good luck in your search!

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When you’re in love and contemplating marriage, it can be horrible when reality intrudes and it turns out he isn’t thinking the same thing.  At least not the same way you are.  One of the ways to make sure you and reality are on the same page is to find divorce decree records.

Record of Dissolution of Marriage

Divorces go through many stages.  These stages may be expensive, loud, and unhappy and include lots of lawyers, or they may be relatively calm and, while still involving lawyer, not quite so nasty.  Regardless of how rapid or drawn out the dissolution of a marriage is, it is not final until three things have happened.

First and second is that both parties have to sign the divorce papers.  Many people think – or pretend to think – that once the papers are signed, the divorce is official.  It isn’t.  Until a judge has issued a divorce decree, the couple is still married.

Public Records

It is always possible that the court proceedings will be sealed, but the fact of the divorce will be public record.  If you cannot quickly find such a record, your (prospective) spouse may be lying to you.

Procedures that can help you hunt down this information are online.  However, they can be time consuming and may not answer your questions.  You can get your best and most rapid results through a really good online retrieval system.  Find divorce decree records quickly and easily when you need more details about your spouse or partner.

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