Divorced in SA? Here’s how to change your marital status and how long it takes

Getting a divorce in South Africa does not necessarily mean your administrative paperwork is immediately sorted.

Once a court grants a divorce, the marriage has legally ended.

But the Department of Home Affairs also needs the divorce to be recorded on the National Population Register (NPR) so that your official marital status reflects the change.

How do you update your marital status?

A divorce in South Africa must be granted by a court. Once it has been finalised, your divorce decree is the key document confirming that the marriage has ended.

If you want to make sure Home Affairs has updated your record, the practical steps are:

1. Get your final divorce decree.
Make sure you have the final court-issued document confirming the divorce. Keep the original safe and make certified copies if required.

2. Take your documents to Home Affairs.
Visit a Home Affairs office with your South African ID and divorce decree. Tell the official that you are divorced and want your marital status checked or updated on the National Population Register.

3. Ask the official to check your record.
Don’t simply assume that the divorce has already been captured. Ask whether your marital status on the NPR has been changed from married to divorced.

4. Follow up if it has not been updated.
If the divorce is not reflected, ask what additional documentation is required and whether the office needs to obtain or verify the divorce record.

5. Check again before remarrying.
If you plan to get married again, make sure the divorce has been recorded before starting the new marriage process. An outdated Home Affairs record can cause problems when your marital status is checked.

The Department of Justice says copies of divorce decrees are submitted to Home Affairs and Statistics South Africa for record purposes.

What if you want to go back to your maiden name after your divorce?

Divorce can also mean returning to the surname you used before marriage.

A woman who wants to resume her maiden or another surname she legally held before marriage can have this reflected through Home Affairs using the relevant marriage or divorce documentation. This is different from applying for an entirely new surname that she has never legally used.

If you want to return to your maiden name, take your divorce decree and current ID to Home Affairs and tell the official that you want to resume your previous surname.

Once the surname has been recorded, you can apply for a replacement Smart ID showing your maiden name. You should also update other records, such as your bank accounts, SARS profile, insurance and employer details.

Does Home Affairs update it automatically?

The divorce decree is supposed to be submitted to Home Affairs for record purposes, but delays in getting records updated can occur.

For this reason, it is worth checking that the divorce has actually been recorded rather than simply assuming that the court order means the Home Affairs database has already been updated.

How long does it take to update?

There is no single guaranteed turnaround time for a marital-status update at Home Affairs.

The Department of Justice currently has a service target that 95% of divorce decrees should be issued by the Registrar or Assistant Registrar within 14 working days of the divorce being granted.

This refers to the issuing of the decree by the court, however, rather than a guarantee that Home Affairs will update an individual’s NPR record within 14 days.

The actual Home Affairs update can therefore take longer, particularly if there are problems with the records or the divorce decree has not reached the department.

Don’t confuse marital status with your surname

A divorce and a surname change are related but not the same process.

If you want to revert to a previous surname after divorce, that can be dealt with separately. Once the relevant Home Affairs records have been updated, you can also apply for identity documents reflecting your chosen surname.

Similarly, changing your marital status does not change your 13-digit ID number.

Having an outdated marital status can become more than a minor administrative annoyance.

Home Affairs records are used when people apply for or update official documents and when their marital status needs to be verified. If you are planning to remarry, it is particularly important to make sure the divorce has been properly recorded.

The safest approach is to keep your final divorce decree, check that Home Affairs has recorded the divorce and follow up if your record still shows you as married.