Lost Divorce Cert And Need To Make Affirmation To Marry

[ruffneck]

I was married in Bangkok in 1998, Thai wife came to UK and hated it and we divorced in 2000. I have never seen her again since the day we signed the decree absolute and she went on her way with her financial settlement. I lost my copy of the divorce when my brief case was stolen in 2005. I am living in KL at the moment and will come to Bangkok next month to marry my gf. If I make an Affirmation of Freedom to Marry at the British Embassy, and say that I have not been married before, what is the chance that they will run a check on this? I have checked on the UK government recommended site "findmypast" to see if there is a record of my former marriage and it does not show up. I have a very limited time to be in Thailand and would not know where to start, to try and get a copy of the divorce cert.

Would appreciate anyone's views on this.

Thanks

Edited January 21, 2013 by ruffneck

[TommoPhysicist]

You were married in BK, they will almost certainly find a record of that.

If you had married in the UK, not a chance.

[MAJIC]

Where were you Divorced Thailand or the UK?

[MAJIC]

You were married in BK, they will almost certainly find a record of that.

If you had married in the UK, not a chance.

It's not the Marriage Certificate he needs,it's the Divorce Decree!

It sounds like he needs the Decree Absolute,which a copy should be available from the UK? Court that granted his Divorce.

Edited January 21, 2013 by MAJIC

[ruffneck]

At Banglamung Amphur. When I lost the divorce cert, all the records I had of her (copy ID card, birth cert etc) was lost at the same time. I have had different advice from the 2 visa companies I contacted who provide an express marriage service. One said no problem, the other said I would need to get a copy of the divorce cert and they needed my ex wife full details, DOB (I cant recall) and where we got married (I have no idea where it was in BKK) - to be able to trace a copy!!

[Mario2008]

Lying on the freedom to marry letter is not a good start and can only leed to troubles when found out.

Contact the embassy and see what docuemnt you need to get (and from where) in order for them to issue the affirmation letter. You can probaly get a certified copy from the court where you divorced.

[laislica]

If divorced in the UK and you have the decree absolute ref no then the copy is £5.

If you don't have the number they will do a search and give a copy for £60.

It may cost a little more for the copy to be certified, not sure.

The London Borough of Barnet told me that they only respond to either a personal visit of by having a relative or friend with a UK address make the request and they post only to a UK address. Not the most helpful of people.

Google should help you.

For Barnet the URL is

http://county-courts.co.uk/barnet-civil-and-family-courts-centre-2/

Just google for the court that processed your divorce.

Good luck.

[fredob43]

If divorced in the UK and you have the decree absolute ref no then the copy is £5.

If you don't have the number they will do a search and give a copy for £60.

It may cost a little more for the copy to be certified, not sure.

The London Borough of Barnet told me that they only respond to either a personal visit of by having a relative or friend with a UK address make the request and they post only to a UK address. Not the most helpful of people.

Google should help you.

For Barnet the URL is

http://county-courts...ourts-centre-2/

Just google for the court that processed your divorce.

Good luck.

If you don't want to deal with your local borough you can apply to the

Principal Registry of Family Division

42/49 first Avenue

London

WC1V6NP.

For copy of your decree absolute cost £60 check it out on the net:

Edited January 29, 2013 by fredob43

[beano2274]

I actually had a letter from my solicitor in German, and gave that with my affirmation to marry to the British Embassy.

If you were married in Thailand before, then surely you used the British Embassy for your previous affirmation to marry, this would be found out, also you would have had to have gone to the MFA, and again a bit of searching and they would find out that you had lied on the new Affirmation to Marry.

If divorced in Thailand then go to the MFA they might he able to assist you and confirm your divorce.

[ruffneck]

Thought I would update this thread. I listened to the advice given and decided to try and get a copy of the divorce cert. I first went to a well known expat law office in Bangkok, who were basically useless and telling me it would take ages and I would have to pay B7000 deposit for them to do anything. So my girlfriend and I left their office straight away and jumped in a taxi to Banglamung Amphur. 2 hours later we were at the desk with a very helpful lady and she managed to trace my marriage and divorce records in under 15 mins. I was very surprised at how efficient they were in record keeping. There was an issue with the reference numbers on the marriage and divorce records being different, so it took them about 90 mins to get that sorted. They even had the original book that the ex and I signed when we divorced 12 years ago. It cost me a grand total of B250 to get a copy of the divorce cert, and it was very difficult to give the lady who helped us a tip, but she eventually took it. The lady told us that the key thing in tracing the records is to have the correct Thai spelling of your name, if you don't have that then it is nearly impossible to trace.

We headed back to Bangkok that night and registered our marriage the next day. We was very short on time, and know we could have done the registration ourselves, but opted to pay a company to help us. The British embassy took 30 mins to sign the affirmation, and we was married 2 hours later and picked up all the legalized docs a week later after a trip to Phuket.

So a point for everyone to note, is that Thailand has a very efficient system of tracking records. If I did not listen to everyone's advice I would have been found out and potentially be in a tricky situation.

Cheers

[Mario2008]

Congratulations on your marriage.

Great that all went well in the end.