All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.
Regarding the first time in which the husband uttered an explicit divorce, then this divorce happened. In the second time when he wrote the divorce, then writing divorce is one of its metaphors, this depends on the husband’s intention. The fact that he wrote two divorces, so the repetition of divorce with one word counts as the number; i.e., two divorces occur here, according to the view of the majority of the scholars, if he intended to divorce as previously clarified. Ibn Taymiyyah chose the view that only one divorce occurs. Moreover, the paper that was found in the house, if it is proven that he wrote it, then the saying that is considered about it is like the saying in the previous one, that the writing of divorce is a metaphor in which it requires to know the husband’s intention.
It is clear from what we have mentioned that there is a difference of opinion among the scholars in some of the issues that we have mentioned, and that there is a need to know the husband’s intention to divorce by metaphor, in addition to making sure that the husband wrote the paper referred to. Therefore, we cannot ascertain whether or not the bond of marriage is still valid between the spouses, so we recommend taking the case to the Sharia court or directly speaking to a scholar about this question.
For more benefit that metaphors of divorce lead to divorce if husband intended divorce, please refer to Fatawa 332467, 327250 and 432442.
Allah knows best.