Cross Border Divorce

[dragonlady403]

Hi - one of my uncles moved from NZ to (eventually) the USA.  However, he went via Canada arriving in BC in 1908.  In 1910 (Vancouver) he married an Iriish woman (who died in 1957).. but in 1915 he emigrated to the USA and married a Swiss immigrant.  They remained in the Michigan area until they died.

My question is --- would he have had to return to Canada to get a divorce and, if so, how would I go about verifying that? 

Or, could he have applied for the Canadian divorce from the USA.. and how could I go about checking that?

Thanks for any information you can offer.  I'm REALLY hoping to see a divorce pop up somewhere as the alternative is a bit grim!

Regards, Carol

[Christine53]

According to the Library and Archives Canada site from 1867 -1968 divorce could only be obtained by Act of Parliament. There is information here and a searchable database :

http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/vital-statistics-births-marriages-deaths/divorce-1841-1968/Pages/acts-divorce-1841-1968.aspx

[dragonlady403]

Excellent - thanks very much for that.  I appreciate having access to that resource.

As I suspected, there doesn't seem to be a record of a divorce for this couple in Canada:(

Regards, Carol

[LizzieL]

Would he have had to file for divorce in Canada, even though that was where the marriage took place. Although this is much more recent, I know a couple who married in South Africa. The bridegroom was a South African citizen, the bride British. She got her divorce in UK where she now lives..

[RunKitty]

Hi,

Information about the history of Divorce in British Columbia..
http://royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/assets/Divorce_Records_at_the_BC_Archives_public.pdf

RK

[jorose]

Do you have any documentation (e.g. his marital status at second marriage) that says there was a divorce?

Since divorce in British Columbia was under English law (not requiring a act of parliament - there were different rules for different provinces until 1968), he wouldn't have been able to just 'get a divorce' - there was no such thing as no-fault divorce. It wasn't that unusual for people to get around this by simply declaring themselves single/widowed when remarrying - no easy way for the authorities in Michigan to check, after all.

[dragonlady403]

Yes they were definitely married in 1926 in Ohio.  He emigrated to the USA in 1915 (WW1) and was naturalized in 1918. 

I can't find any record in the Canadian DB of a divorce between 1910 (When he married in Canada) and 1926 when he married in the USA.

Regards, Carol

[RunKitty]

Hi,

As Jorose asked... Do you have his second marriage cert?  Does he say he is a bachelor, or divorced??  If he actually was divorced, he could have obtained the divorce in Michigan. 

Looks like An...y has a database of Michigan Divorce records.  I don't have access, but perhaps you do (or maybe your local library subscribes to the Free Ancestry Library Edition)

http://search.ancestry.ca/search/db.aspx?dbid=9092

RK

[dragonlady403]

No I only have the info from the marriage registry.
Regards, Carol