How To Get Free Texas Divorce Records

With the Freedom to Information Act (1966), divorce records and various others such as Marriage, Birth, Death, Criminal records and so forth became public records. This applies to all states although the use and treatment of these records are subject to variations in laws between the states. They are widely available from both government and private sources and County Free Public Divorce Records in Texas are known to date as far back as the 19th century.

One of the public services that are provided by The Texas Department of State Health Services is Texas Divorce Records. They can be requested from the Vital Statistics Unit in Report of Divorce Indexes and can be downloaded free of charge from the department website. Although nominal, fees are usually involved beyond that. About a hundred thousand divorces have been filed at the office since 1968 but not much beyond Divorce Letters of Verification is available directly from this office.

A Divorce Letter of Verification from the Vital Statistics Office only states whether or not a divorce was issued in the state of Texas. It contains the names of the divorcing parties, the county where the divorce was granted and the court case number. Fees are $20.00 for a letter. They are considered searching charges and hence not refundable or transferable to another record whether or not a search yields any results. However if a search results in a ‘no record found’, it can be used as proof of single-status (marital). Verification letters are available to divorces that occurred from 1968 to the last day of the year preceding the current one.

Reports of Divorce Indexes were not filed with the State offices until 1968 so Texas Divorce Records before that would have to be obtained from the office of the District Clerk at the county where the divorce happened. Likewise, certified copies of major divorce documents such as Divorce Certificates and Divorce Decrees are only obtainable directly from the office of the specific county of origin.

From background checks to divorcees applying for marriage license, the folks in Texas conduct Government Divorce Records Search for a multitude of reasons and purposes. When the subject has resided in multiple states before, it can get onerous as state databases are not linked. This brings private record providers into the fold nicely as their databases typically cater to all states one-stop. The top-tier ones also offer much better overall professional standards and services.

Commercial record providers are the end-all solution for those who can see past the fees involved but only if you signed up with the right one. The demand for this type of service has soared in recent times due to its obvious edge over using public agencies. This has consequently attracted many pretenders onto the bandwagon. Having that said, it’s not difficult to identify the bona-fide providers. One of the best ways is to check out the review or specialist sites which are abundantly found in any of the major search engines. They seldom miss.

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Filed under: Law

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