Good Morning Walter, Yesterday afternoon we were all sitting in the office and I decided to start checking ID numbers of all the people whom we knew were deceased. Well it was an eye opener. We checked 17 people, all but one were still married and the one lady's husband passed away 18 years ago. Just goes to show if you do not know about these things and do them yourself, then it just does not get done. Thanks to you and everyone who assisted with this problem. Regards, Rod g From: renze01@vwsa.co.za Sent:2012-11-30 12:18:21 To: south-africa-eastern-cape@rootsweb.com Cc: Subject: Re: [ZA-EC] DHA widow or widower Hi Rod, This is very common within our DHA. I am a marriage officer and do sometimes find that I have to "divorce" someone before I can marry them (those who had brought me their final decree of divorce). This process is supposed to be a simple one for death. The DHA issues a Death Certificate to the undertaker or the relatives of the deceased on the day that it is registered (they have to be informed of the event, otherwise they are not able to issue a Death Certificate). This they are supposed to send through to Pretoria (which should work via the computer system, but often does not). It is frustrating when this occurs I know. And it's a very simple process for them to just log on when you produce the required documents (right there in your presence) and change it. On the issue of getting married again, you just need to produce the Death Certificate to the marriage officer and if he does pick up the problem with DHA, he can easily have it rectified without much issues. You can check your marital status online by filling in your id no: http://www.home-affairs.gov.za/marital_status.asp