We walk the talk insofar as our core virtue of open society goes. Yes, the American civil system soundly upholds public transparency and government accountability through our Public Records and the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act 1966) mandates that. Public Divorce Records is but only one of the several record categories upon this value that have come about over the years.

Much information is contained in public divorce records. It includes the personal particulars of the people involved and details surrounding the divorce such as date and location, filing number, alimony, child custody, asset division and so forth. A Divorce Certificate can be present too although its certified copy may have to be separately requested.

If you know the very courthouse where the divorce proceedings were conducted, that's the quickest source of divorce records. Otherwise, they can be requested at the various government agencies responsible for it. This is a public service and any member of the public is entitled to free divorce records but there are rules and regulations to observe.

There are variations among the different states in as far as laws governing divorce records are concerned. Some states are extremely stringent in the treatment of divorce records while some are virtually restriction-free. Apart from the originating courthouse, the majority of the states have a central repository where all divorce records within their jurisdiction are maintained.

Divorce records is one of the most widely searched public records. It is most commonly used in checking the marital, or more precisely, the divorce background of a prospective spouse, as requisite for a divorcee who is applying to re-marry, locating natural parents by separated children and genealogy studies. Although it's a public record, its use may be subject to restrictions.

Besides government agencies, conducting a Divorce Records Search via commercial record providers is also gaining popularity. With computerization and internet, what used to be utterly onerous and costly has become a breeze and comfortably affordable. For a small fee, ready-made divorce records can be served to you in a matter of minutes.