In 95% of cases, the Department of Home Affairs still has you listed as “Married”!
If you have been married before and are now divorced or widowed, does the Department of Home Affairs know about your change in marital status?
And if you have been divorced, they probably don’t – unless you have told them.
If you have been widowed, normally when your late spouse’s death is registered, your own marital status automatically changes.
And that is because birth deaths and marriages are all processed through the Department of Home Affairs. However, when it comes to divorce. You are married through Home Affairs and divorced through the courts, and the two don’t speak to each other. So don’t assume that because you have been divorced through the courts that they have told Home Affairs to change your marital status.
They certainly haven’t.
You’ve got to tell them
It’s up to you to tell Home Affairs if your marital status has changed.
If the department has your marital status incorrectly recorded, that can cause problems for you if you want to get married again. The law states that as long as you can provide the marriage officer with evidence that you are no longer married, such as, a divorce decree or a death certificate, the marriage officer may go ahead and marry you.
The problem comes when the marriage officer goes to Home Affairs and tries to submit your marriage register. When it’s checked out with your ID number, they find you are apparently still married. And of course, you can’t marry someone if you are still married. So your previous marriage has to be cleared off the system before your new marriage can be registered.
That can take a considerable amount of time. And during that time, although you are legally married, you are unable to get a printed, Abridged or Unabridged Marriage Certificate, and the government will have no record of your marriage. Which can be complicated whenever proof of your marriage is required – and particularly difficult when it comes to finalising estates.
Never say never!
Now, I know that people who are recently divorced or widowed say they will never marry again. Well, I often marry couples who said exactly that, and yet I find myself conducting their wedding! And almost inevitably, whenever there’s a divorce involved, in about 95% of cases, unless they’ve gone to the Department of Home Affairs to change their marital status, the department still thinks they’re married to their ex-spouse.