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 Divorce Records in Texas are known to date as far back as the 19th century.
Texas Divorce Records is placed under the Texas Department of State Health Services. Along with Marriage, Birth and Death records, divorce records are available through their Vital Statistics Unit and are sectioned under the Report of Divorce Index. They can be downloaded free of charge from the department website and are available to the public. Conditions and procedures apply. About a hundred thousand Texas Divorces since 1968 are on file but the office only issues their Letters of Verification.
A letter of verification of divorce costs $20.00. It officially states whether a divorce was granted in Texas. It would indicate the names of the separated couple, the county at which it was issued and the court case number. If a search failed to locate any records, the fees cannot be refunded nor transferred to another search as they are deemed as searching fees. The ‘no record found’ is useable though as a single-status verification for marriage. The divorce indexes extend from 1968 to the last day of the preceding year at the time of search.
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.
Texans are a special lot. The reasons behind their search for Texas Divorce Records are varied and flowery. There are also Texans who have resided in multiple states or county prior to Texas. As such, the complete divorce records of these folks will cut across state borders and the various state public record databases are not linked. As a result, employing government agencies for multiple-state divorce record searches becomes unfeasible. That’s why private record providers are the preferred option for Texas Divorce Records Search especially when time and personal bandwidth are a constraint. Their databases typically cover all states.
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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