1,839. When a Get Has Been Lost

Hilchos Geirushin 12:11

If an agent who was engaged by a woman to accept her get has the get in his possession but the woman’s husband claims that it was forged, then the get must be authenticated by validating the signatures or through the witnesses to its delivery. If the husband claims that he gave the get to the agent for safekeeping but the agent says that he gave it to him for purposes of divorce, then we accept the agent’s word. The same is true when a woman has her own get and says that the agent gave it to her and the agent backs her up, saying that the get was given to him by the husband for purposes of divorce. The agent’s word is taken even if the husband objects and claims that he gave the agent the get for safekeeping, with the result that the woman is considered divorced.

Hilchos Geirushin 12:12

If a get has been lost, then even if the man says that he gave it to the agent for purposes of divorce, and the agent says that he gave it to the woman, the divorce is nevertheless in doubt. This is because we have an existing presumption that the woman is married, refuted only by her husband and one witness. This is true even if the woman says that she saw her husband give the get to the agent for purposes of divorce, which he did. Since she’s corroborated by her husband and the agent, the possibility exists that she would lie and was not in fact divorced.