How much information about an ex spouse ?

[F1fan]

Hi All 

Two fairly basic questions about things I've come across 

A direct line ancestor married a divorcee and then subsequently divorced !!

Firstly, they had no children ( that's the easy part  ) but would you prove the previous marriage and birth of the other person, or would you just prove the marriage to the ancestor ?

Secondly, how easy to find the evidence and prove a Divorce so that it can be proved the next marriage was legal ?

Thanks in advance for any comments / opinions / suggestions 

[ScouseBoy]

When a relative of mine died several years ago, it took me quite a while to research her divorce records.  I had to go to HMCTS at High Holborn to trace her divorce papers. And then I went to Kensington register office to check the subsequent marriage of her divorced husband

I was fortunate that his new wife had three first names,  so she was easy to find,

[nanny jan]

For England and Wales this might be useful:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/divorces-further-research/


Nanny Jan

[AntonyMMM]

Access to divorce records depends on the years you are talking about  - and carrying out searches through the courts system can be expensive.

The "condition" of the parties noted on the subsequent marriage should be a good indicator. If someone is described as "previous marriage dissolved" or similar you can make a reasonable assumption that the divorce paperwork was checked (or should have been) at the time.

[StevieSteve]

would you prove the previous marriage and birth of the other person, or would you just prove the marriage to the ancestor ?

For spouses, I try to get all BMD & census info and details of parents' marriage so I'd want to have details of that first marriage. I'd like details of the divorce(s) but wouldn't put much effort into it because of the trickiness of finding anything.

If the spouse had been widowed rather than divorced, I'd get the details of the death, but a GRO reference, burial details or a newspaper report would do, I wouldn't go to the length of buying a certificate.