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  1. #1

    Default How Do I Find the Record of a Divorce That May Not Have Happened

    My question involves a marriage in the state of: Indiana, Kentucky, Florida

    My grandmother married her second husband in the 1960s in Kentucky. They resided together in the state of Indiana for most of their marriage before moving to Florida in 1980(ish). Then something happened and they separated shortly before her second husband died in 1982 in Florida. At the time of his death, they both resided in Florida, though in separate counties. Maybe. I think.

    It does not appear that they divorced or legally separated -- I can find no decree of divorce in her records. She has been claiming her widow's benefit from Social Security since she became eligible. She filed that paperwork when she was still competent to manage her affairs, but that is no longer the case and she cannot tell me for certain if she was legally divorced or merely informally separated. Some days it's one, some days it's the other. Ah, dementia. It's such great fun. Everyone else in the family who was privy to that information says that there was no divorce, but given their ages and faiths (Catholic), a divorce may have been kept private. There is no record of paying an attorney for anything in her financial archives from that time period. (And she has bank statements going back to 1961.)

    I need to know this because her second husband was a WWII veteran, and she is eligible for some benefits, but the VA needs to make sure they were still married at the time of his death. Their separation was brief -- under 1 year -- and erratic -- sometimes they were together, sometimes not.

    When the second husband's daughter filled out the death certificate paperwork, she stated that her father was "widowed" instead of married or divorced. (His first wife, her mother, did pre-decease him by many years, since he remarried almost 20 years before his death.) It was probably an honest mistake caused by grief -- his death was unexpected and my grandmother and her step-daughter were close and have had a positive relationship all along.

    Are divorce records public? Do I contact the likely counties where a divorce might have been filed? Is there an online searchable system? I have names, addresses, social security numbers.

    Thanks very much!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
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    Somewhere near Canada
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    35,894

    Default Re: How Do I Find the Record of a Divorce That May Not Have Happened

    There are more than a few online search sites, but some will charge you even if they can't find anything.

    The death certificate vs. divorce is tricky - obviously they can't both be correct.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
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    98,846

    Default Re: How Do I Find the Record of a Divorce That May Not Have Happened

    These resources may help.

  4. #4

    Default Re: How Do I Find the Record of a Divorce That May Not Have Happened

    Fortunately, I have proof of the marriage and she is still alive, so proving that the death certificate is in error isn't that hard. Thanks for the pointer.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Thank you very much.

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