California Divorce Record

The California Vital Records Office, Department of Health Services is in charge of keeping files that involves a Divorce in California. In the past, procuring copies of divorce records was free of charge. Today, the Department of Health Services imposes a certain fee before releasing them to whoever requests for them. The fee is not for the records itself but for the process of retrieving them.

Only divorce records that were filed between 1962 and 1984 can be found at the Vital Records Office. However, they can only provide a divorce certificate, which can only be used as a source of reference and not as a legal document. Certified divorce records are kept at the exact Clerk of Superior Court that finalized the divorce. Only certified divorce records are recognized by the court as a legal file that can be used in a court hearing.

A certified divorce record is given only to both spouses and their respective lawyers. Other parties that do not have authorization to access the certified records will only be provided with a divorce certificate. A request form can be obtained from the Vital Records office. The form needs to be completed appropriately and submitted to the office together with a sworn statement. If the request form is sent via mail, the sworn Instant California Divorce Records statement should get notarized and be signed by the requestor. There is a fee of $13 for each request and an additional $7 if the request is sent through fax.

The Health Department only has a handful of employees and, as a result, results are returned around 15 to 20 weeks. That should not be a problem if you do not need the records sooner. But if time is not on your side, you can retrieve the records through online service providers. The Health Department maintains their own website, with their own database. Online service Accessing California Divorce Records providers also have their own database which is connected to the database of the Health Department. There is no need to worry about the legality of such online service providers because they have authorization from the court to disseminate public files, including divorce records. Their staff is skilled enough to quickly get results for your search.

Online service providers are categorized in two types: they are either for free or they impose a certain amount of fee for their services. Free service providers offer simple details regarding a divorce record such as the name of the spouses, their respective birthdays, the date and place where the divorce was finalized, and others. Service providers that impose fees also offer the simple details of a divorce record and more. Members are given the privilege of doing as many searches as they want and are provided with as much information as there is available. To become a member, you must pay a one-time membership fee only, and there are no other fees to be paid after which. You may also choose to not become a member and just pay separately for every search that you make.

Marriage and Divorce records are stored together because they are related. Marriage records are required when filing for a divorce. Meanwhile, a certified divorce record Is required for the application of a marriage license. Service providers provide marriage and divorce records.