divorce records

[blue2]

Have been waiting for relative to look for divorce records for grandparents but hasn't and at impasse looking for grandmother who disappeared after divorce. Sent an enquiry to National Records Scotland -£15.00 to look although had case and date. Now £48 to photocopy and send 119 pages. Does anyone know if it's possible to be selective as it's a lot of paper when I just need co-respondent's name and name, date and birth of suspected illegitimate child?

[sarah]

Hi Blue2,

Is this still the details..?

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=708182.msg5514846#msg5514846

Regards

Sarah

[blue2]

Hi Sarah,
yes it's still re Robert H Gray v Janet C Connell or Gray. CS255/ 2970. Year of calling 1925. I have tried to find details of my grandmother after this but no luck and have sent for a few things fromScotlands People that were not right.
Regards, blue.

[dawnsh]

Hi blue

That's quite good value for money when you compare Scotland to England & Wales.

In E&W, it costs £65 for a 10 year search and if there is an entry, you'll get a copy of the decree absolute which names the bride & groom, the date and place of marriage and the date the decree became absolute. No case files are supplied after 1937 so for recent divorces there is no way of finding out why the marriage broke down.

If nothing is found in the first 10 year search, you then have to pay another £65 for another 10 year search and so on.

[blue2]

Hi, Dawnsh,
With the search fee it's not much less but I take your point - and less than going to Edinburgh. Just amazed that there are 110 pages and wondered if anyone had experience of asking for selective information. I have spent quite a lot wih Scotland's People for wrong info - at least this will be right!
Thanks for your reply. I've learned so much from this site.
Regards, blue.

[jorose]

Paying a researcher to go through 119 pages for you to see if there's any of the information you need + make copies of only the relevant pages would probably end up costing a similar amount. I understand the reluctance to pay for what may be potentially be 118 pages you don't want and one you do, but it's not that they'll have some easy way to know exactly what's in the file and where it is.

If you can find out what is likely to be contained in the divorce file then that might give you some idea of what the legal boilerplate to things of actual interest will be.  Perhaps contact the owner of this blog who did get a 91 page Scottish divorce - a large amount of it witness statements.
http://blog.familyhistorysearches.com/2011/06/the-campbell-mcdonald-feud-%E2%80%93-the-story-of-a-scottish-divorce-%E2%80%93-part-1/

I think it would be worth getting the whole thing - you never know whether there might be some bit of information in one of the witness statements that breaks the entire brick wall down. Somebody who isn't familiar with your family, who just has been told to see if there's information X, Y, and Z and extract it out, might not spot that.

[blue2]

Thanks for the advice Jorose, and for taking the trouble to reply. It is best to see the whole picture. I'll also check out the information you've given. I just hope I get some leads, as there's no trace under her other names.
Best wishes, blue.

[ScottishAncestry]

Hi blue2,

I agree with @jorose that you would be better off getting the whole thing, as having a researcher assess it would take longer than actually copying it in its entirety.

One thing I would mention however is that the NRS now allow digital photography. Good professional genealogists would only charge a research fee of around £25 for a task of this sort.

Divorce papers can take longer to copy than flat documents or bound books as they tend to be quite ‘springy’ meaning you have to carefully weigh them down before you take the photo. I would estimate it would take about 45 minutes to 1 hour to copy.

Emma

[blue2]

Hi, Emma. Thanks for the post. I will just send for the copies I think as it seems the only clue to my grandmother post divorce and it may move things on - although it can take 30 days to arrive.
Blue.