In some situations, it becomes necessary to know about people’s marital history. It can be like you are in a relationship and want to ensure that your partner has a transparent marital history or you want the information for any legal purpose. If you wish there was a way to instantly get this information, you can use online Divorce Records services. These services come in two versions- the free and the fee-based.
What’s the difference between free and fee-based divorce records services, you may ask?
The answer depends on what are your needs and how detailed information you require. The main difference between paid and free online divorce certificates is time and money. Let us help you to understand divorce records easily.
Vital Records
Divorce records are included in the vital records that also include marriage, death and birth records. The marriage and divorce records are often lumped together in the search and most online divorce records services can retrieve both for you. These records have been into existence since the 19th century, however rate of divorce in those days was minuscule and records were not well kept. But by the end of 1960’s, County Divorce Records started uploading to the state repositories routinely.
The divorce decree was not the public domain that until the Freedom of Information Act of 1966 came into existence. Riding on the back of the act, divorce decree became a public domain like all other public record categories. This made divorce records accessible to anyone except the ones that qualify as the private divorce records and the records sealed by court orders. You can request these records from the government departments tasked with the service through mail, telephone, fax, in-person and online.
Online Divorce Records
Of all the available ways to obtain the divorce records, expectedly the online search for divorce decree is most popular. If you reach the concerned government agencies, you can obtain them for free online but if you need divorce certificate, official copies, decree and so forth, you will be charged a fee. The free records are usually too skimpy and they offer no practical use other than casual information. Other than that the free records are also not multi-state search friendly as there is no interlinking of the government public record databases between states.
By choosing fee-based divorce records services you get to the great expanse of the divorce decree for a small expense. These services can be thought of the premier league of the public records. Using their services you can retrieve the information in a fast, convenient and most accurate manner. The records you obtain from fee-based services also include contents that are not present in government databases and obtained from specialist networks and private databases.
Ultimately, it will depend on your purpose of search whether you choose the free or paid Online Divorce Records. If you do not need information of the professional standard and have enough time and patience, then you are good to go with free services. In all other cases, paid Online Divorce Records are advised.