Divorce is an official procedure in the US. Their records are mandated by law (Freedom of Information Act, 1966) to be maintained and availed for public access and retrieval. Every state has a central agency assigned with the task under its public health or information department. They come under State jurisdiction and are provided practically free of charge. Although considered public records, certain information contained in these free divorce Public Records Search are potentially personal in nature, thus, procedures are required for acquiring and utilizing them.

People use Free Divorce Records in various ways. They are required in most states when applying for a marriage license by those who were married before. Immigration, name change, background checks are other common official purposes for their retrieval but they are most frequently searched for private reasons such as when someone is checking out a prospective spouse, partner or even in-laws. Snooping neighbors or work colleagues are also known to engage in this activity a fair bit.

If you know the particular county at which the Final Decree of the divorce was granted, the whole process of obtaining the associated information is much easier. You may have to visit the office physically especially if waiting time is an issue. Mail, telephone, fax and increasingly the online option over the internet are typically also offered. The standard information on divorce records comprises the names and ages of the couple, date and place of marriage and divorce, filing number, asset division, settlement, children and their custody and visitation arrangement, reason for divorce and other pertinent information. If there were multiple divorces, searches at State repositories will produce all of them as long as they were granted within the same state.

If the exact county where the divorce was granted is not known, then state-level search is the next best thing. Many states maintain a State Divorce Index at their central Statistics Unit chartered with the public records function where Divorce is conventionally a principal vital record category along with Marriage, Birth and Death. They can generally be requested by walk-in, write-in, telephone, fax and increasingly over the internet of late. The records themselves are technically free-of-charge but administrative fees are charged. Processing time depends on the mode of request, traffic and individual office.

With the advent of computerization and the internet, public records can now be readily found online and County Divorce Records are no exception. There are basically two versions namely the free and fee-based. Free sources are mainly governmental facilities but procedures and waiting time have to be contended with. Besides, they're often far from being plug-and-play so touch-up is usually necessary. Free Public Divorce Records from private websites are best avoided given their notoriety of virus and malware. By and large, the wisdom is in going with fee-based providers as their professional standards are often necessary for official purposes.

It's not just about picking up any information you can get your hands on. The trick is in finding the credible resource. Public divorce records for one definitely cannot be anything less than 100% serious. Even the top commercial record providers are so competitively priced nowadays so there's just no reason to compromise. Convenient, low-cost and 24/7, the best thing is you can quietly safeguard yourself without risking indignation from your honey.