If my marriage certificate is lost, can I file for divorce without it?

Divorce is usually called a break in the marital relationship that exists between spouses, for registration of which they apply to the Civil Registry Office or the court. How quickly and how difficult this procedure will be carried out is directly dependent on certain circumstances. These include questions regarding the division of property, the presence of joint consent of the spouses and common children who have not yet turned 18 years old.

It is very important when filing a claim to have all the required documents on hand:

• A statement containing a desire to dissolve the marriage.
• Valid passports of both spouses.
• A financial document confirming payment of a state-imposed fee.
• A document certifying the fact of registration of the formation of a new family.

There are some peculiarities regarding the last document in the list. If it is enough for the court to present a copy of it, then the registry office will definitely require the original. True, the judge may express a desire to familiarize himself with the original.

Possible options for divorce

Through the registry office

Spouses can officially divorce without involving the court in resolving family problems if:

• During the negotiations they came to a common denominator, confirmed their readiness to separate and not take measures for reconciliation. It is very important that they do not have small children under 18 years of age at the time the application is submitted to the civil registry office.
• There are no unresolved property disputes. It is advisable to confirm the validity of this fact with documentation, for example, in an agreement.
• One spouse decided to refuse to continue the marriage relationship due to the fact that: the location of the other spouse is unknown.
• the other spouse was declared incapable of responsibility for his own actions.
• or declared dead.
• or sent to a colony for at least three years. It should be taken into account that the legislation in this situation allows the spouse to demand a severance of marital ties, including if there is a young child in the family.

A divorce carried out by mutual agreement usually does not take more than thirty days. Please note that original documents cannot be confiscated from applicants, so keep a close eye on your documents and do not allow government officials to take them. In this case, the registry office requires the following documents:

1. An application drawn up in accordance with the eighth form.
2. Marriage registration certificate.
3. Identity card of interested parties (passport).
4. Document for the duty with confirmation of its payment.

The registry office leaves the application in its department in charge of divorce cases for thirty days. At the appointed hour, the former spouses are required to come to an authorized employee, who will give them divorce certificates. After this, the divorce procedure is considered completed.

In case of unilateral divorce, the person intending to divorce must submit the following documents:

• An application drawn up in accordance with the ninth form.
• Applicant's identity card (passport).
• Marriage registration certificate.
• Document for the duty with confirmation of its payment.
• A court act or an extract from it, which officially confirms that the location of the second spouse is unknown, or he suffers from a mental illness and is incompetent, or is declared dead.
• A certificate issued upon the death of a participant in a marriage.
• A sentence to imprison a spouse in a colony for violating the rules prescribed in the Criminal Code.

The registry office leaves the application in its department in charge of divorce cases for thirty days. At the appointed hour, the former spouses are required to come to the registry office, whose authorized employee gives them divorce certificates. After this, the divorce procedure is considered completed.

In order to save effort, it is extremely important to consider the following little things when preparing for divorce:

1. If you do not want to meet with your spouse or due to another valid reason, you can prepare a power of attorney for a third party who will handle the paperwork instead of the principal.
2. In order not to waste precious hours at the registry office, it is better to prepare electronic copies of the application and papers or photograph them, and then send them through a special website that provides government services in electronic form.

Thus, persons wishing to draw up divorce papers cannot refuse to transfer the certificate of marital union to the state civil registry office. Therefore, the question of whether it is possible to get a divorce without marriage certificates should be answered with a categorical “no”.

Judicially

The reasons for dissolving marital ties through the court are as follows:

• Different points of view regarding where a child should live after parents separate.
• Disputes concerning the distribution of assets acquired by common efforts in marriage.
• Objections to divorce that are explicitly expressed by one of the parties to the marriage.
• The presence of a married couple with a small child who has not reached the age of majority.

As a rule, the number of papers submitted to the judge is slightly larger than the registry office usually requires. In addition, it must be taken into account that if there are disputes about a child or the value of property claims above fifty thousand rubles, the marital relationship of the father and mother must be dissolved in the courtroom of the district judge. In other cases, divorce proceedings are the prerogative of the magistrate.

When a married couple has a young child, the plaintiff seeking a divorce brings the following papers to the court office:

1. Claim document. You can see a sample of it here.
2. Plaintiff's identity card (passport).
3. Marriage certificate.
4. Certificate of birth of children under eighteen years of age.
5. Alimony agreement. The document is optional, since the court can independently assign alimony allowance and calculate its amount.
6. Official paper provided by the employer or the Federal Tax Service, for example, a declaration or certificate 2-NDFL. It allows you to find out the amount of the defendant’s “white” earnings.
7. An agreement to determine the place of residence of children and to determine the parent who will perform duties of supervision and care for them.
8. Document for the duty with confirmation of its payment.

If the spouse does not want to divorce, the court must familiarize itself with the following documents before making a decision:

• A statement initiating the commencement of proceedings on a claim. A sample of it can be found here. The application must contain the plaintiff’s explanation of the reasons that motivated him for the divorce, and the defendant’s refusal to acknowledge his demand.
• Plaintiff's identity card (passport).
• Marriage certificate.
• Any evidence confirming the defendant’s commission of immoral acts, offenses, the difference in life values ​​between the plaintiff and the defendant, the defendant’s reluctance to support his family or exposure to bad habits. This evidence includes witness statements, photographs, videos, certificates from the employment center or medical institutions, protocols of government authorities on offenses.
• Document for the duty with confirmation of its payment.

Divorces accompanied by the division of common property and considered in court require the applicant to provide the following documents:

1. A statement initiating the commencement of proceedings on a claim. A sample of it can be found here. It is very important to write concise and clear descriptions of the things that the spouses are going to share. This is necessary so that the judge can correctly identify them.
2. Plaintiff's identity card (passport).
3. Marriage certificate.
4. Inventory of shared property.
5. Documents of title to it, for example, certificates, purchase agreements.
6. Documents from the appraiser.
7. A marriage contract, if the spouses entered into one.
8. Agreement regarding division of assets.
9. Document for the duty with confirmation of its payment.

The court ends the divorce case by announcing a decision on it. Without filing an appeal to a higher court, it is subject to application within one month from the date of issuance.

Next, the office workers forward the court act to the state civil registry office and, at the same time, to the former spouses, who, after receiving the court decision, are required to appear at the divorce department of the civil registry office and take with them:

1. An application drawn up in accordance with the tenth form.
2. Applicant's identity card.
3. Marriage certificate (original).
4. Act of the court.
5. Duty document with confirmation of payment.

The waiting time for a divorce certificate is usually about thirty days.

The procedure for divorce with the consent of both spouses is in the registry office

What does annulment of a marriage look like in the absence of a certificate from the registry office:

1. The spouses find the registration number and fill out a joint application for divorce.
2. The application is submitted to the government agency in person or through the State Services portal. In the latter case, the application is completed electronically.
3. After a month, the parties are each given one copy of the divorce certificate.

If there is no registration number, you will have to order a duplicate of the document, and only then file for divorce.

The procedure for restoring a certificate at the registry office

Based on Art. 9 Federal Law No. 143-FZ, spouses can apply for the issuance of a repeated certificate in the event of loss, damage or other circumstances that imply the impossibility of using the document.

What the procedure for obtaining a duplicate looks like:

1. The citizen draws up an application and submits it to the registry office at the place of marriage.
2. Within 1 working day, the applicant is issued a duplicate.

In addition to visiting the registry office in person, you can submit an application through State Services or the MFC. In the latter case, production times will be increased.

Application for issuance of a duplicate marriage certificate

The application is filled out according to Form No. 26, approved by Order of the Ministry of Justice No. 201 dated October 1, 2018. What data will be needed:

• name of the registry office that issued the document;
• date of issue;
• telephone number, full name, passport details of the applicant;
• request for a duplicate;
• Full name of the spouses as of the date of marriage registration;
• indication of the reason: loss, unreadable appearance, etc.;
• date and signature.

If the application is not submitted at the place where the marriage was concluded, it is subsequently forwarded to the appropriate division of the registry office. A citizen has the right to request in writing that a document be delivered to a specific authority.

Application for issuance of a repeated marriage certificate (certificate) - template to fill out

Consultation on document preparation

State duty amount

The amount of the state payment for issuing a duplicate is 350 rubles. You can pay in several ways:

• Sberbank terminal. The details from the receipt, which is issued after the application is accepted, are sufficient. Money is paid in cash or by bank transfer from a card.
• Bank card. It can be used when submitting documentation through State Services or at terminals.
• Electronic money. Valid only for ordering through the online service.

After payment, it is recommended to save the receipt: you will need it to confirm the payment.

Required documents and deadlines for issuing a duplicate

When submitting an application, you will only need a passport and a receipt for the payment of the fee.

When applying to the registry office at the address of marriage, a certificate is issued on the day the application is submitted. In other cases, the deadlines may take up to 3 months, since the documents are redirected by the receiving government agency to the authority authorized to issue them.

Is it possible and how to get a divorce through the registry office if there is a minor child?

Is it possible and how to get a divorce if the child is under 1 year old?

Basic list of documents for divorce

Since it is impossible to get a divorce without a marriage certificate, in addition to it, the mandatory list of papers required for this purpose includes:

1. Application for a claim for the court or application for the registry office.
2. Information from the passport about the owner, his place of residence, as well as information from the section on marital status.
3. A check for the state fee for the court or for the registry office, depending on where the spouses sent the original documents.

Divorce from an absent spouse without a marriage certificate

The law allows unilateral divorce in the following cases:

• by a court decision the spouse was declared to have lost legal capacity;
• the spouse has been declared missing by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (the relevant document can be obtained from the local police officer);
• the spouse is serving a sentence in a colony for more than 3 years.

In each of these situations, the initiator of the divorce can provide a notarized copy of it instead of the lost marriage certificate. Therefore, after marriage, it is better to make several copies of the document. This will help avoid possible difficulties in the future.

It is much more difficult to obtain a divorce if the marriage was registered in another state: when one of the spouses left the country where the marriage took place, and the second lives in it permanently and does not intend to leave. It is impossible to obtain a divorce without a marriage certificate in such a situation.

You do not need to leave the country to get a divorce. You should contact the Consulate of the state where the family was registered. Employees of the institution should declare their desire to file for divorce and the absence of a marriage certificate. If there are no minor children, then applying to the Consulate is enough to obtain a divorce. If you have children, you cannot do without filing a claim in court.

Procedure in the absence of a marriage certificate

According to the law, when concluding a marital union, the newlyweds are given only 1 copy of the marriage certificate. Civil registry office employees or court office workers during a divorce will require spouses to bring the original certificate. However, it may be lost by them or hidden by a spouse who does not agree to lose his other half. It’s time to fall into a stupor, not understanding how to file for divorce in the absence of a marriage certificate.

The Civil Registry Office Law allows individuals in respect of whom civil status registrations were carried out to demand the production of duplicates for an appropriate fee. What should you do to get it? According to the following action algorithms presented in the table.

List of documents and their submission to court

The list of documents that need to be submitted to the court is predetermined.
There may be some difference in the list. This is due to the region of residence. Each area may require additional samples, so this will need to be verified before deciding on a divorce. If the couple has reached an agreement on all issues, then all the papers must be taken to the magistrate's court. When there are unresolved disputes, you must contact the district court at your place of residence. The list of papers for the court will be somewhat large:

• Statement. It is drawn up by both spouses with mutual consent and is not filled out in detail. If there is no consent of one partner, the other draws up a statement detailing the reasons for divorce.
• Passports of both spouses or one of them if the other does not agree to the divorce. Passports must be originals.
• Children's birth certificates are provided and copies can be made. They must be certified by a notary.
• Certificate of family composition.
• Original marriage certificate.
• Confirmation of payment of state duty.

As you can see, more papers need to be collected, and in both cases an original certificate is required. Copies are not accepted for consideration either at the registry office or in court. So we come to the question of how to act for people who do not have the original marriage certificate in their hands.

Situations in which divorce will be refused

A man is strictly forbidden to divorce when he has a pregnant wife, one year has not passed since the birth of a son or daughter, or when one year has not passed since the birth of a dead son or daughter.

A categorical prohibition means that government bodies that have the right to terminate a marriage are legally empowered to refuse the husband a divorce and not to begin divorce proceedings.

It should be noted that this ban does not apply to the female half of the family.

If the husband is against

This practice does not happen often, but it does occur. There are cases when a husband, not wanting to dissolve the union, deliberately hides the marriage certificate. In such a situation, the registry office will not be able to terminate the marriage relationship. According to the law, such issues are decided by the court. The application will need to indicate that the husband stole the marriage certificate and does not want to give it back. To get a divorce through the registry office, the wife will need to restore the marriage certificate. But getting a divorce through the civil registry office in this option is only possible in some cases.

Through the registry office, a woman can divorce a man only if he:

• is serving a sentence and the term of imprisonment exceeds three years;
• declared incompetent or missing.

The court will quickly divorce only if there are no children together. If the spouse does not want to go to court, the marriage will be dissolved at a maximum of the third meeting. In such a situation, the man’s absence at the meeting will not be taken into account.

State duty amount

The performance of legal actions by government officials working in the divorce area requires payment from the spouses in accordance with the rates defined in tax legislation. The amount of the mandatory fee is indicated in the table.

Fees for property disputes are assessed according to different principles. Their value depends on the value of the plaintiff’s claims. The formula for calculating the duty can be found in the table below.

If there is no certificate

A marriage certificate is issued to spouses immediately after the marriage is registered. Wherever the divorce process takes place, the original of this document will be required. But it can be lost or simply damaged due to an accident. In this case, many citizens are interested in the question: is it possible to apply for divorce without a marriage certificate?

USEFUL INFORMATION: Where to apply for divorce if you have minor children

You cannot do without the original of this paper, but you can find a way out of this situation:

1. If the husband and wife agree to divorce, they can jointly write an application for divorce and submit all the papers to the registry office. If there is no marriage certificate, then it can be restored directly at the registry office, using the entry number in the Civil Registry Book and the date. Based on these data, the entry made during the marriage will be retrieved and the certificate will be restored. The divorce process will last no more than 1 month.
2. If the record number is unknown, then before writing an application for divorce, you will first need to restore the certificate. To do this, you need to write an application to the registry office where the wedding took place.
3. One of the spouses may be against divorce. In this case, you must go to court. The statement of claim should indicate the fact that the certificate was lost or one of the spouses hid it. In this case, the court, at the request of the plaintiff, may contact the registry office, whose employees must issue a certificate of the existence of such a marriage union. But it is better when the plaintiff himself contacts the registry office and draws up a duplicate certificate before filing a lawsuit.

Arbitrage practice

The case was considered by the magistrate of the Perovsky judicial district of Moscow at court site No. 293 in October 2010.

The wife filed a claim document in which she asked:

1. Break off marital relations with your husband.
2. Arrange for alimony for a minor child equal to 25% of the husband’s earnings.

The plaintiff indicated that the parties to the proceeding had no other disagreements, for example, property disputes, or regarding the upbringing of their daughter. At the same time, she did not allow the possibility of continuing the marriage relationship with her husband and was against reconciliation.

The defendant did not object to his wife’s claims and completely agreed with her demands.

Having examined the evidence presented by the parties, the court decided to fully satisfy the wife’s claims, namely:

• End the marital relationship.
• Assign alimony maintenance for the common daughter and oblige the ex-husband to monthly transfer 25% of his earnings in favor of the daughter.
• Oblige the defendant to pay a fee of 100 rubles.

How to issue a duplicate?

The body authorized to issue a repeated certificate is the regional registry office department, which formalized the marriage of the parties. If it is impossible to contact it directly, the law provides for contacting the MFC of any district. The main condition is the location of the required department in the same region.

The applicant may be:

• one of the spouses;
• their official guardian or trustee;
• their natural or adopted child;
• their official representative.

The applicant must present his civil passport. To obtain a second certificate, there is no need for the presence of the other party to the marriage.

If an official guardian or trustee wishes to receive the document, he must provide a civil passport and an order from the district guardianship department on the appointment of guardianship/trusteeship. In addition, a guardian's certificate is attached.

The child presents to the civil registry office specialist a civil passport and birth certificate (original). An adopted child may present an adoption certificate instead of a birth document.

An official representative is a person who has received authority through a notarized power of attorney. The citizen must present the original power of attorney and passport.

Regulatory framework

Where can I get a duplicate of a marriage registration certificate?

You can obtain such a document from the registry office. The best option, of course, is to contact the exact department where the marriage was registered. But this can also be done in a unit located at the plaintiff’s place of residence. In this case, its employees send a request or the data is in a single archive.

If the second spouse was unable to attend for some reason, then it is enough to present his passport details. In addition, recipients of the duplicate can be:

• Children if parents have incapacitated status.
• Persons who are official guardians.
• An authorized representative of one of the spouses, if he has a document certifying his powers.

If there are suspicions about the validity of the marriage, then a duplicate will not be issued.

What papers are required for a divorce through court?

The complete list of documents depends on the region in which the couple lives. It can be clarified in the court office before filing a claim for dissolution of the union. The list of required papers includes: the application itself; identification document of the plaintiff; certificate confirming family composition; certificate of registration of relations in the prescribed manner; document confirming payment of the duty. If the parties agree, the issue is resolved in the magistrate's court. Otherwise, the case falls under the jurisdiction of the district (city) instance.