Suspected divorce fraud

Dear Mrs Macaulay,

I am writing on behalf of my brother, who recently found out that his wife divorced him. But when he applied for a copy at the Supreme Court, the number on the divorce decree that he was given is linked to a different name. This leaves him wondering what steps to take, as he needs his copy.

Your brother is not in an unusual position. This situation is quite frequent with both male and female petitioners. They generally lie about not knowing where their wife or husband resides and that all their family members refuse to tell them anything. Then they apply for orders for substituted service instead of personal service, for a notice of the petition to be published in one of the daily newspapers in two or three publications and on the filing of the pages, the proceeding will continue to completion unless the respondent finds out about the publication and intervenes in the matter. They can then counter the assertion and prove that the petitioner had lied.

Some petitioners actually go to more fraudulent extents, for instance, they point out some other man or woman as their wife or husband (sometimes their current significant other), who is served by the process server, who then does his or her affidavit of service innocently. Or, another form is that it is done with the connivance of the lawyer and/or the process server, who falsely prepare and cause to be sworn a false affidavit of service that the respondent husband or wife was served on a particular day and time and at a certain place.

These are some of the ways a fraud regarding service of the petition on the respondent is committed by a petitioner solely, or with the assistance of others. It is, if a lawyer assists, professional misconduct, and if a complaint is laid in the General Legal Council, and the alleged facts are proved, such a lawyer could be disbarred, suspended, or fined. If the person who assists is a lay person, that person commits an offence and can be charged, which on conviction can result in a jail penalty or a fine.

Anyway, in your brother’s case, from what you said, he only obtained a copy of the decree — you did not say whether it was the nisi or the absolute, so I deduce that it was the absolute. He should apply and obtain copies of the petition itself and all affidavits filed in the proceedings — in fact the entire file. When he goes through all the documents, he should be able to determine from the facts stated in them whether those proceedings relate to his ‘ex wife’ and himself or not.

You also did not say whether upon seeing different names on the document, he asked them at the Supreme Court registry to do a search with just her name and his. On the face of it, it seems that more detailed searches should be done in order to really ascertain whether or not the information he received that his wife had divorced him is really true.

You ask what steps he should take. Well, some of the steps are what I have suggested above. He must go and get the rest of the documents in the file from which he obtained the copy of the decree absolute and also ask for a search with only the use of his wife’s and his names. Having done these and checked them and if they still are incorrect, he can obtain an appointment to speak with the Registrar of the Supreme Court about the matter. He must take with him a copy of his marriage certificate and identification when he meets with the Registrar. The Registrar is in charge of the Registry and she can ensure that a proper search is done so that the petition (if any) and all other documents filed by his wife are found in the recorded system.

If the file related to him and his wife is found, and she did divorce him without his knowledge, and not having served him when she knew where he could be found, he can retain a lawyer to apply to set aside the fraudulently obtained decree. Or he can decide to accept the final decree and just go on with his life.

However, for him to definitely know his current status so he can decide what to do about it, he should do what I suggest and see and speak with the Registrar about the matter and in this way ensure that he reads the proceedings filed by his wife against him and obtain a certified copy of the decree absolute granted in his wife’s alleged divorce proceedings.

I trust that he will follow the steps I have suggested.

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.