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26 April 2013
Issue: 7557 / Categories: Case law , Judicial line , In Court
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Look, no certificate

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If a divorce petitioner who was married abroad has lost her marriage certificate and cannot get hold of a copy...

If a divorce petitioner who was married abroad has lost her marriage certificate and cannot get hold of a copy in the country of marriage (which has been ravaged by war) what procedural steps does she need to take in a non-urgent case in view of the Family Procedure Rules 2010 PD7A para 3.1? Para 3.2 only appears to relate to an urgent case.

In practice, the “urgent” procedure should be followed in “non-urgent” cases too. Where there has been no formal registration, evidence of the ceremony coupled with expert evidence of validity will usually be required. If registration but no certificate, it will normally be sufficient in the first instance for the petitioner to file evidence of the ceremony with an account of what happened to the certificate and why a duplicate cannot be obtained.

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