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Indiana Free Public Divorce Records

By Ben Kingsley


Public records such as birth, marriage, divorce and death are also known as Vital Records in the US. These records are open to the public and the Records Division should accommodate all requests. These records also serve as supporting documents as they can prove the person's identity, which is useful in some instances such as for benefit claims, social security and spousal claim. The records are usually available from the Health Department or Vital Records of the State although there are some instances where records such as divorce records in Indiana are located elsewhere.

In Indiana, divorce records are available from the County Clerk's Office where the divorce was issued and granted. These records are available from the counties because this is where the records were kept before state-wide centralization of records was implemented. Some of the records date back to 1795 up to the present. Requests for records are made through fax, standard mail or walk-in. each county has their request form and guide to ensure that records requests are made easier.

Access to divorce records is open only to those individuals eligible under the State Laws. As divorce records are confidential by nature, persons who have close affinity to the parties named in the divorce, their siblings, children and appointed persons are the only ones that can access the records.

In Marion County, Indiana, a researcher can request for the divorce decree by submitting a request form that one can download from the County's website. The researcher must include the case number if applicable, the name of parties and the date when the divorce was filed and granted. The researcher must also indicate their contact details just in case the Office needs to contact them. Each page costs about $1 and $1 for pleading for certification. For mail requests, researchers must include $5 in the form of money order or check and a self-addressed stamped envelope. The Office will refund any difference back to the researcher. For in person request, the researcher can visit the Office during weekdays and payments are on cash basis only. Researchers must bring valid/current identification id to identify themselves to the clerks before they will process the request. Processing of requests can take up to a week depending on the volume of requests made.

Another example would be in the Allen County where the records are available from the County Courthouse Records Division. Requests via standard mail, e-mail, fax and in-person are all accepted. To request via standard mail, the researcher has to download the request form from the website, fill up the pertinent details and send the request to the Records Division. Records that need certification for purpose of employment, social security and court proceedings should be noted in the request form. Payment fees are the same as those with Marion County.

To make it easier for those who urgently require the records or need the records for information purposes, several online public records sites provide free public divorce records for basic info and a minimal fee might be charged for those who require a full report. This is definitely a time saver as processing time is shorter which reduces the time needed by researchers to finish their activities.




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