He pronounced divorce three times but the qaadi wrote it down as one divorce. The ‘iddah has now ended and he wants to take her back
Question

                I divorced my wife about eight years ago. When I asked the qaadi to record the divorce I said: “I divorce my wife So and so the daughter of So and so three times.” When I did that I knew what he had written down because I am an educated man, but when the scribe wrote it down in the records, he wrote it as one divorce. This gave my wife the hope that I would take her back and she has not remarried until now… Now I want to take her back, and her family also wants that. 

 Should I go against my intention and proceed on the basis of what is written in the records or not?.
Praise be to Allah.
    The scholars differed concerning the ruling on one who 
    divorces his wife by saying “I divorce you thrice”. The majority of scholars 
    are of the view that this means that divorce has taken place three times; 
    others are of the view that divorce takes place only once. 

    Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz (may Allaah have mercy on him) 
    was asked: 

    A man divorced his wife by saying “I divorce you thrice”; 
    what is the ruling on that?

     He replied: 

    If a man divorces his wife three times with one word, such as 
    saying, “You are thrice divorced”, the majority of scholars are of the view 
    that the woman is indeed thrice divorced and becomes forbidden for her 
    husband until she has been married to another man in a serious marriage in 
    which the new husband has intercourse with her and they only separate as a 
    result of death or divorce, not a tahleel marriage (i.e., a marriage of 
    convenience aimed at making it permissible for her to remarry her former 
    husband). 

    They quoted as evidence for that the fact that ‘Umar ibn 
    al-Khattaab (may Allaah be pleased with him) counted such a divorce as being 
    three and judged among people accordingly. 

    Other scholars were of the view that this is to be regarded 
    as a single divorce, and the husband may take her back so long as the ‘iddah 
    has not yet ended. If the ‘iddah has ended then she may marry him with a new 
    marriage contract. They quoted as evidence for that the report narrated in
    Saheeh Muslim from Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him) who 
    said:  “At the time of the Messenger of Allaah  (peace and blessings of 
    Allaah be upon him), the time of Abu Bakr (may Allaah be pleased with him) 
    and the first two years of the caliphate of ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased 
    with him), a threefold divorce was counted as one. ‘Umar said: “People are 
    being hasty with regard to a matter in which they should not rush. Let us 
    count it as three and judge between people accordingly .” According to 
    another report narrated by Muslim: Abu’l-Sahba’ said to Ibn ‘Abbaas (may 
    Allaah be pleased with them): “Was not three counted as one at the time of 
    the Messenger of Allaah  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and 
    the time of Abu Bakr (may Allaah be pleased with him) and the first three 
    years of the time of  ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him)?” He said: 
    “Yes,” 

    They also quote as evidence the report narrated by Imam Ahmad 
    in al-Musnad with a jayyid isnaad from Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be 
    pleased with him), that Abu Rakaanah divorced his wife by saying “I divorce 
    you thrice”, then he regretted it, so the Prophet  (peace and blessings 
    of Allaah be upon him) returned her to him with one word and said, “This is 
    only one (divorce).” This hadeeth and the one before it are to be understood 
    as referring to divorcing by saying “I divorce you thrice”, in order to 
    reconcile these two hadeeths and the verse in which Allaah says 
    (interpretation of the meaning): 

    “The divorce is twice”

    [al-Baqarah 2:229] 

    “And if he has divorced her (the third time), then she is 
    not lawful unto him thereafter until she has married another husband. Then, 
    if the other husband divorces her, it is no sin on both of them that they 
    reunite, provided they feel that they can keep the limits ordained by 
    Allaah. These are the limits of Allaah, which He makes plain for the people 
    who have knowledge”

    [al-Baqarah 2:230]
This was the view of Ibn 
    ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him) according to a saheeh report 
    narrated from him; according to the other report narrated from him he shared 
    the view of the majority. The view that they should be regarded as one 
    divorce was narrated from ‘Ali, ‘Abd al-Rahmaan ibn ‘Awf and al-Zubayr ibn 
    al-‘Awwaam (may Allaah be pleased with them). 

    This was also the view of a number of the Taabi’een, Muhammad 
    ibn Ishaaq the author of al-Seerah, and a number of the earlier and 
    later scholars. It was also the view favoured by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn 
    Taymiyah and his student Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on them). This 
    is also my view, because that is following all of the texts, and because it 
    is also more merciful and kind to the Muslims. 

    Fataawa Islamiyyah, 3/281, 282. 
It seems that the qaadi 
    was also of this view, which is that the threefold divorce counts as one 
    divorce. Based on this there is nothing wrong with taking her back. 

    But after the ‘iddah is over you cannot take her back, rather 
    you have to make a new marriage contract with her. 
With regard to taking her 
    back after the ‘iddah is over – i.e., after three menstrual cycles – this is 
    not valid, because once a woman’s ‘iddah is completed she becomes a 
    “stranger” for her husband and she is not permissible for him except with a 
    new marriage contract.

    Fataawa Islamiyyah, 
    3/293 

    And Allaah knows best.