Divorced but Remarried

I didn’t have to disclose the information anywhere about my former spouse, only my current spouse whom I have been with for several years. Do investigators typical involve questioning ex-spouses? The divorce was over a decade ago but it was a drawn out 3 year divorce and we haven’t spoken since - you get the idea…

My investigator interviewed my ex-wife. But it’s for TS and was listed on my SF86. I’m guessing it varies based on the clearance type though.

We will interview all of your former spouses (even 40 years ago) under some circumstances.

You were using the public trust questionnaire if you didn’t have to list your former spouse.

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Yes moderate risk, public trust.

Just curious, why interview an ex spouse, considering its more likely than not they are going to say unfavorable things and anything to discredit you, to include not recommending you for an clearance,

Because sometimes they say unfavorable things that are true and verifiable.

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If the divorce was finalized a decade ago, then normally, your ex would not be interviewed. However, if there were serious or ongoing issues with the divorce, then exigent circumstances may require an interview with your ex.

Mine said great things about me (was different in court) cause she needs to get paid the most she can. She has no problems lying to a judge and being over zealous with an investigator.

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Ha ha. I guess mine does not think to strategic :crazy_face:

I’m sure that is very true. But that was not my question. The statement made in my case I s in conflict with the divorce decree. The investigators writing I would argue showed bias in how she framed the response. But yes I would agree some do have dirt they want to drudge up and get even their vendetta

because the ex-spouse has a wealth of knowledge and normally no need to hide anything.

My experience has been that former spouses might (but not normally) talk poorly about the Subject (male or female) but will be more frank. Anything developed from any interview, to include the former spouse, has to be “resolved” (i.e. investigated to figure out what is going on).

Just because your former spouse, former boss, or best friends talk dirt about you does not mean that is the last word on the issue. Corroboration is what we do - one way or the other on each issue - seek records or talk to other people. Yes, I have had the wild goose chase because of a small minority of former spouses — but I also had some serious developed issues that were corroborated by others.

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Makes sense. I didn’t find any saw (discrepant) quite a few times in her testimony. My ex spouse lost custody of our son while she was being interviewed, which I relayed to the investigator. That just never made it into the report for some reason. I don’t think I had anything serious develop or at least nothing was noted in the FOIA paperwork.

And often, the spouse/former spouse knows a whole lot more about a subject than the subject’s mother or father. Hence.

My divorce was final about 8 years ago and include many subsequent custody and contempt hearings that i initiated - so, yeah, doubt they’d say anything nice…

There is no issue if your ex-spouse loses child custody (normally no issue for the Subject unless the reason losing the custody involved an issue0… we are not investing the former spouse - this is why that information would normally not be included in the report of investigation.