[godwillgivemejustice]

I filed for divorce last year due to extreme abuse from my ex spouse. I am very religious so bear with me here,

At any rate during my legal separation which lasted over 6 months, I became very close to a male friend. We kept our relationship appropriate (never and kind of sexually contact) etc. My divorce hearing was March 19 2007 and the judge decreed our divorce final.

My attorney is terrible and there has been a lot of beating around the bush- it has been 45 days since the divorce was finalized and I STILL have not received a signed copy of our decree. (after several requests for the signed decree she tells me it hasn't come back from the judge's desk yet) So am I legally divorced since the judge said so? Or do I have to have sealed and signed paperwork for it to be legal?

The reason I am asking is- my male friend and I have fallen very much in love and we want to get married (in total I have known him nearly 2 years so this isn't a rebound thing, he has always treated me with love and respect) But I am a Christian and refuse to have sexual relations until I am legally married and he wants to wait as well.

My sweetheart and I are ready to take our relationship to the next step and get married but to get a marriage license I am told I need a signed copy of my divorce decree from the court. BUT the judge has let it sit on his desk for weeks now! So am I divorced or not?

It is getting difficult to wait and I do not want to be in "sin". Where can I get married without having to provide a divorce decree on paper? The judge granted me a divorce, so is his judgment from the 19th of March? Or will it be from the time he signs it?

If we get married before papers are signed am I committing bigamy?

[Fr_Chuck]

No, the divorce is not fully over until it is signed by the judge and in some places 30 days after he signs ( every state has its own rules to it)
So you need to go to the court house and check to see if the divorce is filed in the records or not, if not, then you need to go back in front of the judge and find out what the hold up is.

And yes you can not get legally married, until you are fully divorced under your state law, so no marriage would be valid if you did.

Also in many places you are going to have to provide a copy of your divorce decree to even get your marriage license

[godwillgivemejustice]

Another poster suggested that I go to my local court house to see if there is anything in the court records. The judge gave me a final decree of divorce at our hearing, I just don't have paperwork yet.

Is it true that I can get paperwork from the court recorder showing that my divorce was finalized on March 19th?

I was under the understanding that the "divorce decree" was just for mundane details like "property distribution, debt and child custody"