Dear Mrs Macaulay,

How would I know that the decree absolute documents my husband gave me are legitimate? My husband told me he divorced me, but for years I’ve tried to get a copy from him to no avail. I was not served with any documents so I started thinking the divorce is not real. After being persistent he finally gave them to me, but it’s saying I am the petitioner and he is the respondent. I had nothing to do with this divorce so now I have uncertainty about this decree absolute. How can I find out if it is legitimate?

If the title on the copy of the decree absolute documents you were given by your erstwhile husband has you on it as the petitioner and your husband as the respondent, then since you state that you have never had a petition for divorce filed on your behalf, then surely those documents cannot be legitimate. There is something clearly wrong. It could be only an error with the title, or it could be completely false. The contents of the documents should clarify who applied for the divorce and who should generally be the person who applied for the decree absolute.

If you were handed these documents by him, this was clearly not service upon you as he, the petitioner, cannot lawfully serve the respondent. You refer to decree absolute documents, and this sounds as if they comprise the documents for the application of the decree, as the decree absolute itself is generally only one page.

Since you say that you were never served with any documents for the dissolution of your marriage, such proceedings could not lawfully be dealt with, and no decree could be made without proof of service on you. An affidavit of the service on you would have had to be filed stating where and when your were served by a person swearing that they knew you as the petitioner’s wife and they handed the documents to you. This from what you say would be untrue, and if you challenge the process, since it seems a decree nisi was granted and a decree absolute is being applied for or has been granted, the decree nisi and all that followed it can be declared null and void based of the false sworn statements made to the court.

You would need to retain the services of a lawyer to check on the contents of the documents filed and to advise you whether you can successfully demonstrate the falsehoods, whereby you can then proceed to challenge his so-called divorce.

You have asked how you can know if the decree absolute documents he gave to you are legitimate. The above is one way, that is with the assistance of a lawyer. Another direct way, is for you to go to the Registry of the Supreme Court, taking the documents he gave you, with your ID, and explain to the officer at the entrance desk that you are there to speak with the registrar in charge of divorce proceedings as your were given some documents by your “ex-husband”. The registrar can check the file to ascertain whether the divorce application was properly filed and the decree nisi and absolute were granted and for you to especially check the affidavit of service as you were never served with any documents for the divorce at all. You may have to pay a small fee for the search through the file to be done. Be persistent, until you see either the senior clerk of that division or the registrar.

Failing this, you should take the matter to the registrar of the Supreme Court herself in the old court building.

Remember that you have a right as a named party in the proceedings to go and do a search of the file and to even pay for copies to be made for you of the contents of the file. This is why you must take your ID and if you still have a copy of your marriage certificate, take that as well. They must be sure that you are who you say that you are. They can, also by asking you questions from the contents in the documents in the file, verify that you are the wife referred to in it.

It would be easier for a lawyer to do all this for you or go there with you. But, as I stated, you have the right to act on your own behalf and go and do so yourself. As you must know, the Supreme Court is on King Street and the Registry is in the new building at 54 King Street, Kingston.

I hope that I have clarified matters for you and what you can do to be sure of your actual status now, if you are still a married woman or a divorcée.

All the best.

Margarette May Macaulay is an attorney-at-law, Supreme Court mediator, notary public, and women’s and children’s rights advocate. Send questions via e-mail to allwoman@jamaicaobserver.com; or write to All Woman, 40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5. All responses are published. Mrs Macaulay cannot provide personal responses.

DISCLAIMER:

The contents of this article are for informational purposes only and must not be relied upon as an alternative to legal advice from your own attorney.