While divorces are supposed to be private, the court records that relate to them are public.  Finding a divorce record can be necessary in a number of situations.  Without a completed divorce, a person isn’t free to remarry.

Can’t Find the Divorce Record because They Aren’t Divorced!

It is remarkable just how many people simply don’t go through with the final steps of a divorce.  They move out, move on and often just plain move, and the paperwork gets forgotten.  Suddenly, they want to start a new life, but they haven’t ended the old one, legally.  The only way you can find out if this is the case is to do a divorce record search.

To accomplish this search you need to know where the divorce was finalized.  Unfortunately, if you are dating someone in this situation, they may not be as forthcoming as they should be.

When Your Significant Other Isn’t Forthcoming with the Info

In that case, your best bet is to go online and utilize one of the many search companies available.  These companies have gone to the trouble and expense of compiling information from all around the country and putting it into one database.  This allows you to simply enter a name and some additional data and find out everything you need about a person and their past.

Common Law Marriages and Divorce Records

Oddly enough, I have a friend in this exact situation.  After a common-law marriage of nearly 20 years he and his wife broke up.  They figure that just stating that should be enough, but the law doesn’t agree.

They have to go through the courts to terminate their marriage.  Now he is planning to remarry and I can’t help but wonder if the girl knows he is still legally bound to his previous partner.  What a mess!

A quick search would save her a lot of grief.  He isn’t a bad person, just a lazy one, and the impending disaster is interesting to watch.

Do yourself a favor; don’t end up in this position.  Get online, look into the past of anyone you are getting serious about.  Using an online search company is fast, effective and inexpensive.

Re-Tweet This Post RSS

Love Transcends Borders

Dating, love and marriage are tricky prospects, especially in a world where moving from city to city and state to state is a sign of normal life rather than the behavior of someone with something to hide.  Looking into the divorce records of someone you are thinking about committing your life to can help more than you know.

None of us want to live in a world where we distrust everyone all the time.  That’s no way to live and you wind up sitting around with bars on your windows, afraid to go to the grocery store.

At the same time, we all have instincts and sometimes they should be listened to – although sometimes they’re just telling us to eat an entire pepperoni, green chile and mushroom pizza, so a little judgment is required when deciding whether or not to follow them.

When There’s Something to Hide Other than Divorce

Say you know the person you’re madly in love with has been divorced in the past.  This is, unfortunately, fairly normal.  However, there’s divorced and there’s divorced.  Do you have to drag information about his/her past out?  Are you sometimes confused about what the former spouse’s name was?

These questions and many others can indicate that there’s a lot the love of your life isn’t telling you.  Has s/he been divorced more than once?  Again, not necessarily a deal breaker, but why the secrecy?

Find Out Why the Marriage Ended

It’s possible s/he’s just embarrassed, but there may also be darker reasons.  Finding out why a person’s marriage has ended as well as how many times this has happened, may make a huge difference in your personal future. Save your sanity or your life and look up divorce records.

Re-Tweet This Post RSS

It is a sad fact of our current world that people lie.  One of the places they lie is in relationships, meaning that you might need to know about a potential partner’s divorce records.

Divorce is Nothing to Lie About

Or maybe it isn’t a sad fact of today’s world.  People lie.  People have always lied and unless there is a sudden shift in human nature, people always will lie.  It has been noted more than once that everybody lies; the question is what they’re lying about.

Even as few as forty or fifty years ago, that was very hard to determine.  You could meet someone, at work, in a bar or even at church, who seemed totally trustworthy and not find out until after s/he died that you hadn’t actually been legally married, because that person never got a divorce from their first, second or third spouse.

Meeting People Online: Check Divorce Records

Today, while meeting someone is both an easier and riskier prospect, (there are so many more options due to the Internet, but it’s easier for people to disguise their nature on many levels), there are also many more tools to verify someone’s bona fides.

Find Divorce Records While You’re Online Finding Dates

In the past, you or your agent would have to dig through all the physical paper in someone’s life to have a chance at finding whether they had been married and/or divorced in the past.  Now, with just a little bit of information, every state and country can be searched quickly.

While no one wants to distrust, sometimes a little healthy skepticism is, well, healthy.  Investigate the divorce records of someone you are about to trust with your life can save you both time and money.

Re-Tweet This Post RSS