The price of divorce is higher than most people think. They often have a serious impact on the people involved, not least the children. Consistent with standard practice, in Illinois, their records are maintained by the state department for its statistics purpose. Free Divorce Record Search is not known to be available in any state agency but its related information can be found indirectly through the marriage record search which is.
However, free divorce record search is often offered by some commercial record providers as an inducement for their service. It will indicate the existence of a particular record although fees would be involved to order it. At a basic level, the information contained in a divorce record file includes the personal particulars of the couple and the children, details surrounding and resulting from the marriage dissolution such as time and place, reason and settlement and so forth.
Illinois divorce records are administered by the Illinois Department of Public Health through its Division of Vital Records Office. For a fee of $5, the office can verify the facts that took place from 1962 to the current index date available. This is based only on the husband’s last name. For those prior to 1962 or for certified copies of any divorce documents on file, they are only available directly from the circuit court clerk of the county where it occurred.
If you have the time and interest, the Illinois Department of Health and Illinois State Archives are good starting points for conducting divorce record search. Fees may be involved but they are typically nominal and are for covering admin and operational expenses rather than the information itself. Numerous private websites provide free online search but there are usually strings attached.
Over the years, fee-based information providers have proven to be a practical solution. This is particularly true for Illinois divorce records. For some reason, such information is not easy to retrieve from government agencies. In contrast, getting them from private organizations is effortless. Their databases are nationwide so searching multiple states is a breeze as compared to checking state by state with government sources.
People who were married before and now applying for a marriage license in a different state must produce the Illinois Divorce Records from the previous one. Yet, state databases are not linked. It’s as if to deliberately make life difficult for such folks and hope that they learn their lesson. Of course, there’s really an official reason that sits better, that is to prove their eligibility for marriage.
Florida Divorce Records 