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            [description] => Array
                (
                    [0] => A divorce is the official termination of a marriage. Divorce files contain all the legal documentation required for the granting of a divorce. These files relate to divorces conducted through the Dunedin Supreme / High Court.
                )

            [id] => 20681
            [idSort] => 20681
            [name] => Dunedin Divorce Files
            [custom] => Array
                (
                    [custom5] => Folded legal files
                )

            [identifier] => Array
                (
                    [priref] => Array
                        (
                            [0] => 27386
                        )

                )

            [authenticityNote] => 

	Please note that this series only relates to divorce files that have been indexed. The divorce files from 1962 to 1981 are also held in Accession D140 but are not included in this series.
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                    [normalizedValue] => 1869-01-01T00:00:00.0Z
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                            [name] => Legal Files
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            [history] => 

	A divorce is the official termination of a marriage.  Once a Decree Absolute, the final decree in divorce proceedings, has been granted, it becomes lawful for the respective parties to marry again as if the prior marriage had been dissolved by death. Divorce files contain all the legal documentation required for the granting of a divorce.  

	Note however that not everyone who filed a petition for divorce actually completed the divorce proceedings. If the parties reconciled after the petition was filed, then the divorce proceedings stopped.  If later they wished to terminate the marriage then a new file was started under a new number.  Some parties commenced divorce proceedings more than once over a number of years.  In some of these cases the husband may have been the petitioner in the first proceedings, and in the second file the wife is the petitioner and the husband the respondent.  Petitioning for divorce does not always end in the termination of a marriage.  Researchers should not assume that because the family lived in one area, that a divorce could not therefore be filed in a different district.  

	Divorce files are particularly valuable for genealogical and social research - they give detailed information about the persons involved. A divorce file should contain most of the following information:

	

		

			Full name of husband
	
	

		

			Occupation
	
	

		

			Full name of wife
	
	

		

			Wife’s maiden name
	
	

		

			Where both husband and wife currently reside
	
	

		

			Date of marriage
	
	

		

			Place of marriage e.g. church, chapel, registry office, house etc.
	
	

		

			Area/location where marriage took place
	
	

		

			Name of minister / registrar / celebrant
	
	

		

			Copy of marriage certificate
	
	

		

			Cause of application and dates of events / incidents/ behaviour
	
	

		

			Name of co-respondent
	
	

		

			Co-respondent’s occupation
	
	

		

			Co-respondent’s current address
	
	

		

			Place of birth of husband and wife
	
	

		

			Name of Petitioner’s / Respondent’s / Co-respondent’s Solicitors
	
	

		

			Full names of the children of the marriage
	
	

		

			Ages of the children at time of the petition
	
	

		

			Occasionally personal letters, postcards, or photographs submitted in evidence
	
	

		

			From about 1889 onwards occasionally photographs.  (Usually of the Respondent)
	

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            [isAssociatedWithPlace] => Array
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                    [0] => Array
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                            [name] => Dunedin repository
                        )

                )

            [itemType] => Series
            [managementRelation] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [name] => Dunedin Family Court
                            [type] => controlled_by
                            [hasBeginningDate] => Array
                                (
                                    [normalizedValue] => 1981-01-01T00:00:00.0Z
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                                        (
                                            [0] => approximate
                                            [1] => yearOnly
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                                )

                            [hasEndDate] => Array
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                                    [normalizedValue] => 1981-01-01T00:00:00.0Z
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                                        (
                                            [0] => exact
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                                        )

                                )

                            [itemType] => Agency
                            [relationHasSource] => DAHD
                        )

                    [1] => Array
                        (
                            [name] => Dunedin High Court
                            [type] => controlled_by
                            [hasBeginningDate] => Array
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            [rdfType] => recordSet
            [recordIsMissing] => 
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                (
                    [0] => 20915
                )

            [ricClassificationDescription] => Running Number 1-2801  1869-1951
Annual Single Number 1952-1961 with prefix 'D'
            [sequentialRelation] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [name] => Dunedin Maintenance Order Books
                            [type] => preceding
                            [hasBeginningDate] => Array
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                                    [dateQualifier] => Array
                                        (
                                            [0] => unknown
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                                )

                            [itemType] => Series
                            [relationHasTarget] => 19579
                        )

                    [1] => Array
                        (
                            [name] => Dunedin Family Proceedings Files
                            [type] => succeeding
                            [hasBeginningDate] => Array
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                                    [normalizedValue] => 1981-01-01T00:00:00.0Z
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                                        (
                                            [0] => exact
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                                )

                            [itemType] => Series
                            [relationHasSource] => 21322
                        )

                )

            [seriesAccessContacts] => 

	Dunedin High Court

	DX: YX10176

	Dunedin

	Permission to access Dissolution Orders can be sought from:

	

	Research email: dunedin.archives@dia.govt.nz, or write to:

	Archives New Zealand

	Dunedin Regional Office 

	PO Box 6183

	Dunedin 9059.

	 
            [seriesRestrictionReason] => 

	Divorce files are restricted for 100 years from the date of last paper. Access requires written permission from the Dunedin High Court. 

	Dissolution of Marriage or Civil Union Records

	Under both High Court Rules and Family Court Rules former parties to a marriage or a civil union have an unrestricted right to obtain a copy of the order dissolving the marriage or civil union. These dissolution orders can be viewed at, or copies obtained from Archives New Zealand on production of sufficient proof of identity (photo identification e.g. passport/drivers’ license).

	 
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