“Straw clutching” here, but double-checking for the sake of a spouse exemption !!
H& W married 1958 in Register Office. W converted to Judaism. H&W married again in The North London Progressive Synagogue in 1967 signing a synagogue certificate (in both Hebrew and English) referring to ‘this covenant of marriage’ as ‘Bridegroom and Wife’ and signed also by the Minister.
Couple divorced just once in 1981 and the decree absolute just refers to dissolution of the 1958 marriage. Couple made wills in 2001 leaving IPDI interests to each other of their half share of house. We now have taxable estate of survivor and would have liked to have used transferable exemptions to offset a large tax bill.
My logic would be that you can only have one marriage at a time so synagogue ceremony is just a blessing style ceremony and I cannot possibly argue that they were still married but I’m not a family lawyer so do not know if there is a obscure,quirky provision that says their divorce was drawn up incorrectly or was incomplete because it lacked reference to the 1967 ceremony?