Divorce

[tooj]

Help someone. My grandson met a girl, changed his name to hers (not by deed poll) and got married in his new name. She has now run off with someone else and he is talking about a divorce. However his birth certificate is still in his old name. My question is 'is he legally married ?'

[2sp_]

He would have had to produce documentation to obtain a marriage licence, tooj. So unless he produced fake documents with his chosen name, I would say that he is legally married - but I'm no lawyer.

I take it this is in England?

[tooj]

Thanks, yes it was in England

[2sp_]

Have you seen his marriage certificate? What name does it actually show? It may be that he is just calling himself by her name.

(I was asking about the country this happened in as here in Scotland you can call yourself any name you like as long is it's not for fraudulent purposes. We don't have Deed Poll here.)

[scooping]

As with earlier answer it depends what documentation he used to marry. If the documentation was in any way fraudulent he is not married. The deed poll thing is a red herring in that anyone can call themselves anything they like. It is only when they enter into any form of contract that giving 'false information' becomes a problem.

[2sp_]

If he did use false papers to get married, he is not legally married, but could be open to all sorts of other legal problems.

I do hope he gets it all sorted out.

[tooj]

He showed a birth certificate in his own name but the Registrar allowed him to ..take his wife's name for the Marriage. It looks as if it is legal then.

[2sp_]

I see, so he married as his own name (on paper), but took hers after the wedding.

Sounds like a legal marriage to me. Sorry!

[black_cat51]

errr, isn't that what people have been doing for years and years? Taking on the partner's name when they get married. I hope it's not illegal, or my marriage is now down the pan!

[2sp_]

black_cat, I think the issue is that tooj's grandson was already calling himself by his wife's name when they got married.

For example, say he was born John Smith, but decided to call himself John Jones (his future wife's surname) before they married. The question is if he married with paperwork as Smith or Jones, not that he called himself Jones after the wedding.

The issue isn't that he changed his name after the wedding, but before it.

[pixie373]

He didn't officially change it. He only called himself that. It all sounds normal and legal to me. I'm sure birth certificates are always in your original name. You provide proof with a wedding certificate or suchlike if you change it.