Zambia - Obtain a Divorce Certificate

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Procedure

Apply In-Person:

1. To apply for a divorce-certificate in Zambia, the applicant will have to file the case in the district court of your district, for the main office visit link.
2. A petition for divorce can be presented to the Court by either party to a marriage on the ground that the marriage has broken down irretrievably.
3. Divorce in Zambia cannot be done via proxy. Only in rare cases will a Court grant a divorce when one party is outside Zambia.
4. In that case the respondent who is outside Zambia must agree to accept the Court’s decision without contest.
5. Make sure that you have all the documents that are listed under the “Required Documents” section of this page.
6. An application form will be provided to the applicant upon visiting the district court office.
7. Once understanding the guideline properly, the applicant has to fill-in all the necessary information in the application form.
8. Submit the application form with necessary attachments to the office.
9. Pay the fee as per given in the “Fees” section of this page.
10. The applicant will get a date from the court for hearing of the case from both parties.
11. Upon the hearing, if the jury found that the spouses are unable to reconcile their differences, they will most probably make their decision in favour of the divorce.
12. Upon the verification of all requirements from the court officials, the document for the divorce will be ready to be signed by both petitioner and the respondent.
13. Upon the signing of the documents from both the spouses, both will be declared separated.
14. Both the petitioner and the respondent can get their separate divorce certificate from the concerned authorities.
15. Collect the divorce certificate from the office in a stipulated period of time.

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Required Documents

• Evidence of non-impediment to marriage
• Residential proof of spouses
• Proof of wife’s age
• Proof of husband’s age
• Witness to testify
• Proof of adultery (if available)

Office Locations & Contacts

High Court office:
Plot no. 438, Independence Avenue
Lusaka, Zambia
Office of the Chief Administrator: +260 (211)251884
Office of the Chief Registrar: +260 (211)255104
Fax: +260 (211) 252 815
Email: [email protected]
Website :link 1, link 2
Contact link.

Eligibility

• The Court hearing a petition for divorce shall not hold the marriage to have broken down irretrievably unless the petitioner satisfies the Court of one or more of the following facts:

• That the respondent has committed adultery and the petitioner finds it intolerable to live with the respondent.
• That the respondent has behaved in such a way that the petitioner cannot reasonably be expected to live with the respondent.
• That the respondent has deserted the petitioner for a continuous period of at least two years immediately preceding the presentation of the petition.
• That the parties to the marriage have lived apart for a continuous period of at least two years immediately preceding the presentation of the petition and the respondent consents to a decree being granted.
• That the parties to the marriage have lived apart for a continuous period of at least five years immediately preceding the presentation of the petition.

Fees

• Application Fee : 150 USD + Postal charges.

Validity

• This document is valid until another marriage takes place.

Documents to Use

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Sample Documents

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Processing Time

• The processing time depends on the satisfaction of the court that the reconciliation is impossible.

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications.
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&>
from external websites.
Please remove the '&' inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver,
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

Instructions

• A decree of dissolution of marriage shall not be made if the Court is satisfied that there is a reasonable likelihood of cohabitation being resumed.

Required Information

• Name of applicant
• Age
• Address
• NRC number of both spouses
• Date of marriage
• Date of registration
• Place of occurrence
• Place of registration

Need for the Document

• The granted document is used in transferring or sharing land ownership to both spouses, if a property is in both their names.

Information which might help

• On a petition for divorce it shall be the duty of the Court to inquire, so far as it reasonably can, into the facts alleged by the petitioner and into any facts alleged by the respondent.

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

• The divorce certificate will allow the holders to remarry again legally.

External Links

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Others

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