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

	Divorce files contain all of 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.

	Also parties may start proceedings in one court (e.g. Christchurch), not finalise them, then with one party moving to another area, start again in another Court (e.g. Greymouth). 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 as they give detailed information about the parties 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 or location where marriage took place

	• Name of minister, registrar, or celebrant

	• Copy of marriage certificate

	• Cause of application and dates of events, incidents, or 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 and co-respondent’s solicitors

	• Full names of the children of the marriage

	• Ages of the children at the time of the petition

	• Occasionally personal letters, postcards, or photographs submitted in evidence

	• From about 1889 onwards occasionally photographs (usually of the respondent)

	Some explanations of terminology used in divorce proceedings: 

	• Petition for Dissolution of Marriage: This is a request to the court for a decree of divorce.

	• Petition for Restitution of Conjugal Rights: When one spouse has withdrawn from co-habitation, the other may present a petition for restitution of conjugal rights and the court may make a decree directing the spouse who withdrew to return to cohabitation.  Failure to comply with the decree may be a ground for granting a decree of separation.  Failure to comply with a decree of restitution of conjugal rights for 2 years or more could be a ground for divorce.

	• Presumption of Death and Dissolution of Marriage: Any married person may present a petition to the court where there are reasonable grounds for supposing that the other party to the marriage is dead. Usually the person must have been absent for seven or more years, and it must be proven that nothing has happened within that time to give the petitioner reason to believe that the other party was still living. Every decree of presumption of death and dissolution of marriage is a Decree Nisi in the first instance.

	• Dissolution of a Voidable Marriage: A petition for dissolution of a voidable marriage could be made by either party to the marriage.  A marriage was considered voidable if it had not been consummated, if either party had a mental disorder at the time of the marriage, if the respondent was suffering from venereal disease in a communicable form at the time of marriage, if the wife was pregnant by another man, or another woman was pregnant by the husband, at the time of the marriage.

	• Petitioner: The husband or wife who presents a formal written application to the court requesting judicial action in the matter of the dissolution of a marriage, and the grounds for that dissolution, which require the judgement and sanction of the court.

	• Respondent: The husband or wife, who is required to make an answer to the petition of the partner requesting a divorce.

	• Co-respondent: A co-defendant; a person summoned to answer a petition, together with another respondent. Used, for example, to designate the person charged with adultery with the respondent in a suit for divorce where adultery is given as the cause of the petition. The co-respondent is joined as a defendant with the respondent.

	• Affidavit: A written declaration or statement of facts that has been made voluntarily, and is confirmed by an oath or affirmation by the person making the statement. This statement can only be taken before a person having authority to administer such oaths or affirmations.

	• Motion: An application made to the court or a judge in chambers. Its object is to obtain an order directing some act to be done in favour of the applicant.

	• Prohibition Order: An application for an order or final decision to stop, or review a situation or customary procedure.

	• Judicial Separation: A separation of a husband and wife, by a decree of court.  It is less complete than an absolute divorce. It could be considered a ’limited divorce’ or a ‘divorce a mensa et thoro’ (i.e. ‘a separation from bed and board’). This was only granted on three grounds: adultery, cruelty which was deemed to be life threatening, or both.

	• Decree Nisi: Every decree for dissolution of marriage granted by the Supreme Court was in the first instance a Decree Nisi (i.e. a ‘provisional’ divorce). After a certain period of time had elapsed (between 3 to 6 months), the petitioner was required to apply to the court in order for a Decree Absolute to be granted.

	• Decree Absolute: This is the final decree in the proceedings for a divorce. Once the specified waiting time has elapsed since the Decree Nisi is granted and provision made for the maintenance of the wife and children, the petitioner applies for a Decree Absolute. Once granted by the court a copy of the Decree Absolute is sealed and a duplicate is issued to the petitioner. At this point the marriage is terminated and it is lawful for the respective parties to remarry.

	This series of divorce files is succeeded by the Christchurch Family Proceedings files. In 1980 the Family Proceedings Act and Family Court Act meant that divorce proceedings now came under the jurisdiction of the District Court (under the newly established Family Court division), and from that point onwards, divorce papers can be found in the Family Proceedings files series.
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	Permission to access restricted records should be sought from the Christchurch High Court. Please check the Ministry of Justice’s website for the most up to date contact details at:

	https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/utilities/contact/courts

	Note: All requests for permission to access restricted records should provide information about the reason for the research. The more information provided, the easier it is to consider the request.

	 

	If you were a party to a divorce and we hold the relevant file, Archives New Zealand can provide you with a copy of the order dissolving the marriage on production of sufficient proof of identity (i.e. photographic identification such as a passport or driver’s licence); we cannot provide you with a copy of the whole file. Please ensure that you provide us with advance notice of your request via telephone or email, to enable us the time that we require to find, retrieve and copy the relevant part of the file for you.

	Email: christchurch.archives@dia.govt.nz

	 

	 

	 
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	There is a 100 year restriction on access to Supreme/High Court divorce files; researchers will need to apply to the court registrar listed below for access permission to restricted files.

	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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