If your relative indicated they were divorced, make certain that you have searched for:
- Records of all local courts that may have heard a divorce case.
- Look for a separate maintenance case as well–there might have been no legal divorce, just a separation.
- Look for land records on the couple for any property they owned.
- Look for any property settlements (even of personal or chattel property) in the local land records.
- Consider the fact that the couple was not legally divorced.
2 Responses
My paternal grandparents were divorced. I have the original divorce decree.
Supplementing the last bullet point, that they may not have been legally divorced, continue to look for subsequent marriages, as many times the parties may have remarried without bothering to actually get divorced first. They just said they were divorced.