Divorce records can be particularly helpful for a number of reasons. Here are just a few:
?You are a party of the divorce and need a copy for your records.
?You need to verify whether an individual is divorced.
?Check divorce records for previous criminal history,
?You are performing genealogy research and need to find information on a family member.
States that Provide Divorce Records to the Public
Divorce records are legal documents found in county courts, therefore they are considered to be public records. However, can anyone access divorce records and can they be requested for free?
The answer is: it depends. Although divorce records are court records, they are not always available to the general public, and they are not always available for free. Because divorce records often contain sensitive information about an individual, including income, criminal, and other private information disclosed during the divorce proceedings, the records are often released only to individuals involved, and only if they provide proper
identification. However, some states do release records to any person who requests them.
To get a better picture if divorce records are available to anyone and if there is a charge, you can visit http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/w2w.htm. Here you can find state vital records agencies and information on how to contact for search and payment information.
“Free?Online Divorce Records
However, if you wanted help obtaining divorce records, are there resources that explain how you can obtain a divorce record for free? Yes, there are online websites that do offer information on whether you can order divorce records for free. But be careful ?most websites that promote “free?divorce records only perform free searches. If a record is found, you then must pay a fee for it.
However, most websites that advertise free divorce or public records offer only limited information, such as confirmation that a divorce record exists for an individual in a specific county. This type of information may be all you need. To get more detailed information, you will generally be required to pay a fee for searches and copies of records.
Many websites offer free genealogy records searches, and some will provide divorce records as well. At Archives.com, you can get a free 7-day trial and access over 1 billion records from all states. Archives.com not only conducts searches and provides record information on the individual you are looking for, but it also provides a host of other state, vital records, and genealogy resources for you to use in your search for divorce records.
If you are doing research and need information about a specific divorce, look to the resources provided here. Free information is available if you have the right resource to access.