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Divorce case Papers - Information

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  • Divorce case Papers - Information

    I have just been in touch with the Birmingham Courts trying to get hold of a copy of the Divorce case, I was informed that the case records are destoryed after 25 Years, which is a terrible shame, as that has brick walled OH, find biological fathers last know address. So if you do need copies of divorce paper bear in mind it has to be within 25 years.

  • #2
    This is not necessarily true of all divorce papers. My grandmother was divorced by her husband in 1918 and I was able to obtain the documentation from TNA. It was a clear case of adultery (my grandfather's name was on my mother's birth certificate) but it raises interesting questions as to how a very ordinary man (a soldier) was able to get a divorce at a time when it was supposed to be very difficult and expensive. On one of the documents he was designated (this is from memory) 'a certified poor person'. Does anyone know if this was an early form of legal aid?

    Peter

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    • #3
      Forgot to say this case was from 1968, and it applies to more modern records.

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      • #4
        Peter

        Don't forget - the GUILTY party paid the costs.

        Yes, I have read that there was an early form of Legal Aid for the very poor, usually administered by churches and charities, very patchy and I suppose you had to be in the know to get it.

        It appears to have been mostly London based of course.

        I am sure someone on here had a divorce case where the man was a carpenter or something and the costs of bringing the divorce were borne by the local church. (Early 1900s). They would of course have recouped their outlay when costs were awarded.

        Not sure - maybe the military connection is a clue here. Perhaps they too had some sort of fund for men saddled with conspicuously adulterous wives?

        Also - I have a connection whose grandmother was divorced in 1892, a very poor woman from a very ordinary background. I expressed my surprise but she told me that her parents spent their life savings getting this divorce to court, and of course the GUILTY party always pays the costs.

        So, to sum up - someone has to find the initial costs to start proceedings, but provided they can wait to get their money back, they will, if they are the innocent party.

        OC

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        • #5
          My grandfather's divorce from 1936 was complete from TNA and electronically b downloadable, I paid about £12.50 for it . It was stamped all over it "poor person's divorce". I assume they calculated it from his wages. (The wife had commited adultery .)

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          • #6
            OC and Kim,

            Thanks for the suggestions. As it happened my grandmother was poor too and, within a year, became much poorer: her lover died and she was left with two babies to bring up on her own. I wondered whether an officer in her husband's regiment helped out with her husband's divorce costs. Interestingly the husband subsequently married my grandmother's cousin.

            Peter

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