I live in South Africa but am British by birth. I have a 18 year old
son who has finished high school and wants to go to Europe to work and
travel. I have applied for a British passport for him and I have all
the necessary papers but one.
The embassy say they need to see my devorce certificate from a
previous marriage and I don't know were to get one. I was devorced in
the UK in 1970 and have travelled so much I do not have any
certificates from so long ago.
My question is where do I go to find a devorce certificate from so long ago.

Dear indego,

If your divorce took place in England or Wales, the record is held by
the Principal Registry of the Family Division. They will search their
archives and issue a divorce cerificate upon request. If the record is
not held in the Principal Divorce Registry, the applicant will be
notified of the address of the appropriate County Court from which to
obtain the record. Please contact the Principal Registry for further
instructions:

The Principal Registry of the Family Division
First Avenue House
42-49 High Holborn
London WC1V 6NP
United Kingdom
--
Phone (The Division Manager): +44 (0) 20 7947 7951
Phone: +44 (0) 20 7947 6051
Phone: +44 (0) 20 7936 6000
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7947 6995



In case the divorce was granted in Northern Ireland, please refer to this office:

Probate and Matrimonial Office, Family Division
Royal Courts of Justice 
Chichester Street 
Belfast BT1 3JF
United Kingdom
--
Phone: +44 (0) 28 9023 5111



In case that the divorce took place in Scotland, things are a bit more
complicated since seperate divorce records were not introduced in
Scotland before 1984. Nevertheless, divorces before that date were
recorded as part of the marriage records, and divorce certificates
based upon those extracts will be issued upon request. To get detailed
information on how to proceed, refer to:

Extractor of the Court of Session 
2 Parliament Square 
Edinburgh EH1 1RQ
United Kingdom
--
Phone: +44 (0) 13 1225 2595


I hope that this will be useful for you!
Best regards,
Scriptor

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Request for Answer Clarification by indego-ga on 28 May 2005 22:42 PDT

Thanks Scriptor 
Is there an e-mail address for the Registry or must you only request by letter
Thanks again
Indego

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Clarification of Answer by scriptor-ga on 29 May 2005 04:54 PDT

Dear indego,

Contact with the Principal Registry of the Family Division must, alas,
be established in writing; a contact e-mail address is not listed
anywhere.

However, these instructions concerning the prodcedures for getting a
divorce certificate from the Principal Registry, published by the High
Court of Justice, might be helpful (it is a DOC-format document, so a
wordprocessor is necessary to view it):
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/d440_0405.doc

Best regards,
Scriptor