Where Can I Get Divorce Records?

There
are a variety of reasons why you may need divorce records. Whether the
record is your own, you are confirming a divorce of another individual,
or conducting genealogy research, you can perform a search and
oftentimes request divorce records if you have the right resources.
Starting with the County Courthouse Divorce records are considered
“vital records,” which also include birth, death, and marriage records.
However, a divorce record is a legal document, and thus, you will
usually be able to find them in the courthouse records in the county in
which the divorce was finalized. If you know the exact county in which
the divorce took place, you can contact that county courthouse clerk to
find out the fees and procedure for requesting divorce records. Perform
a simple online search with the county name and state to find a contact
for that specific county. You will most likely find the contact
information you need.
If that doesn’t work, you can find a list of county courts and their
contact information on each official state page. Simply type the URL:
www.state.XX.us, where ‘XX’ is replaced by the actual state code. For
instance, to bring up the official state website for South Dakota,
enter www.state.SD.us. Official state websites have a variety of
helpful information. Look for links to courts or state agencies to find
the county you seek. If you do not know the county, all states have a
central agency for vital records. You can contact this organization to
have a search performed on the divorce record in which you are
interested. A resource to contact all the states’ vital records
departments is at: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/w2w.htm. Information to
Supply to the County Clerk When you find the county contact you are
searching for, you will need to provide information to help the clerk
search for the divorce record you need. You will usually be required to
complete a form and include information such as the divorce file
number, names of individuals, and a reason you are requesting the
record. Since official divorce files contain private and sensitive
information, many states only grant official copies to the individuals
identified on the divorce decree. You may be able to simply confirm
that a divorce record exists, however. Other states, however, consider
divorce records public records, and anyone may obtain a copy.
Online Resources to Access Divorce Records You also have many resources
available online to search for divorce records. Many private agencies
and businesses perform vital records searches. Most will charge a fee
or provide only limited information for free. You can perform a free
public record search for individuals at
http://publicrecords.onlinesearches.com/. Enter the name of an
individual, and this service will provide a list of potential matches.
If you want further information, you can pay for their service to
provide the records.
You may also get valuable information from www.vitalchek.com, which is
a LexisNexis company. LexisNexis is the most trusted global leader in
information research. VitalChek provides easy directions and
step-by-step instructions for ordering vital records, including divorce
records. VitalChek also provides helpful guides to determine whether
divorce records are public or ID-only in each state.
Your search for divorce records can be successful. Use the resources
provided here, or do a more specific search online to get the
information you need.