VIC Divorce - Marriage Records for Oversea Marriage?

[Natalie zhu]

Hi,

I married 5 years ago in China and divorced a year after. The divorce certificate was finalised and I lost it.

My current boyfriend and I decided to get married in Australia. Both of us have Australian citizenship, when I clarify “notice of intended marriage”, I can clarify as “never married”. I have never registered my marriage in Australia.

For 2 reasons:

1) All the previous marriages were not backed up.
2) I am not confident to convince my husband-to-be of my previous marriage.

 

[Elaine]

You need to tell the truth otherwise potential fraud

 

[Scruff]

I've never been married, so I assume that a “notice of intended marriage” is some kind of official form?
If so, you have to be truthful, otherwise you could face an offence along the lines of "false or misleading statements".

(This has nothing to do with Fraud, which relates to obtaining money or property by deceipt.)

 

[Elaine]

Meaning of fraud - Wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain.

Splitting hairs - providing false and misleading information can result in a charge of fraud, whether financial or for personal gain and not financial.

 

[Scruff]

Splitting hairs- providing false and misleading information can result in a charge of fraud, whether financial or for personal gain and not financial.

Splitting hairs in regard to which offence - I'll concede that.

However to clarify for you, "personal gain and not financial" can not be fraud. Using the NSW Crimes Act as an example:

192E Fraud

(1) A person who, by any deception, dishonestly:

(a) obtains property belonging to another, or
(b) obtains any financial advantage or causes any financial disadvantage,​

is guilty of the offence of fraud.

Maximum penalty: Imprisonment for 10 years.

(2) A person’s obtaining of property belonging to another may be dishonest even if the person is willing to pay for the property.

(3) A person may be convicted of the offence of fraud involving all or any part of a general deficiency in money or other property even though the deficiency is made up of any number of particular sums of money or items of other property that were obtained over a period of time.

(4) A conviction for the offence of fraud is an alternative verdict to a charge for the offence of larceny, or any offence that includes larceny, and a conviction for the offence of larceny, or any offence that includes larceny, is an alternative verdict to a charge for the offence of fraud.

Fraud can only occur if there is a quantifiable financial value involved (money or property).

 

[Tim W]

You have not "never been married".
That is because you have been married.

As others have said above - tell the truth.
Don't worry about fraud - it's less about that.
But you do need to be sure that you tell the actual truth on the form.

 

[Elaine]

Thanks Tim for emphasising the point I made originally about telling the truth. Fraud does not have to have a monetary value or financial gain, as with Immigration visa fraud, which results in a personal gain without $$.