Divorce Records
- geneal1
- 6 days ago
- 6 min read
What went awry in the relationship may be documented in almost uncomfortable detail. The couple’s entire backstory may be there, too.
A divorce record is a genealogical treasure chest, containing not just family details but also stories and maybe even juicy scandals. At a minimum, a divorce certificate or entry in a divorce register will set out:
Husband’s full name
Wife’s full name (including maiden name)
Birthdates or ages of the parties
Residence of the parties
Date and place of marriage
Number of children
Which spouse is seeking divorce, and on what grounds
Date and place that the divorce was granted
Some divorce records contain much more detail: what name the divorced wife (and her children) assumed after proceedings, the marital misconduct that resulted in the divorce, and the names and birthdates of the couple’s children.
Some adultery cases could name names—that is, they identify the person with whom the offending party had an affair.
Clues to Family Divorces
Before looking for an ancestor’s divorce record, you’ll likely have learned of the marriage.
A hint of a divorce may appear in the same record sets:
A marriage record may indicate one spouse was previously divorced.
Children named in census records (beginning in 1850) may have a different last name from the head-of-household, or (beginning in 1880) may be described as stepchildren to that person. (Remember, censuses provide only the relationship to the head-of-household, so you can’t tell if household members are stepchildren of a mother who isn’t the head-of-household.) Beginning in 1880, look for the letter D in the marital status column of the census.
A deed may be executed by a married woman acting alone or identifying herself as a legally single woman
Newspapers published notices that one spouse would no longer take responsibility for the debts of the other, and sometimes published news of the divorce proceeding.
Obituaries might name a different spouse or children of a former spouse.
In cemeteries, ancestors may be buried alongside a subsequent spouse or near children from that spouse.
Probate papers may mention children by a different spouse or financial obligations to a former spouse.
These records, however, may not reveal the whole story. Early marriage records don’t necessarily ask about prior marital history. A remarrying bride would usually use her most recent surname, not her maiden surname. In the census and other records, a divorcee making a fresh start may have identified herself as widowed or single. Children of an earlier marriage may have taken on the name of their stepfather.
Divorce didn’t always immediately follow a separation—or even precede the next wedding. Divorce was socially undesirable, expensive, and, especially in the distant past, not a sure thing. Legal grounds for granting divorce were often strict and difficult or humiliating to prove. An unhappy husband might instead go to sea or disappear onto the frontier. A miserable wife might run away with someone else: She had few legal rights over her own children and property anyway, but would have difficulty surviving on her own.
Practical considerations usually prompted an unhappy couple to finally divorce. One party may have wanted to remarry legally or at least be free of a spouse’s debts. Often, one or both parties had property or children’s inheritances to protect: lawful spouses and legitimate children took precedence, even after years of separation. It may have taken time for a potential divorcee to build up the social and financial security to withstand the scandal.
Finally, there’s always the possibility that an unwitting second spouse discovered the truth and demanded things be set right. Even when records don’t directly mention a divorce or separation, you might guess that one happened, such as when the bigger picture you see doesn’t make sense, when names of other children or spouses pop up in records, or when women show up unexpectedly alone in records.
Historical Divorce Law and Rules
Before retracing your ancestors’ steps to divorce court, you need to know what route they took. The path may not have led through the court at all. It depends on where and when a person lived and who was in charge there.
Divorce in Colonial America
The English, Spanish, French, and Dutch, primarily, colonized the United States. Each colony had its own rules about divorce. Laws varied even within differently minded English colonies. There were also different levels of divorce, comparable to modern divorce versus legal separation:
Absolute divorce or (in the language of the law) “divorce a vinculo matrimonii,” which terminated all aspects of marriage and granted at least the innocent party the right to remarry
Divorce from bed and board (officially, “divorce a mensa et thoro”), which is similar to a modern legal separation in allowing parties to live separately and manage their own finances, but not marry again
When going their separate ways, wives got their dowries back and could keep their children. But they couldn’t remarry without an annulment.
Divorce in the modern United States
Later, divorce records (like other vital records) were kept by individual states, who set their own laws about when and how records were kept. As did the colonies, states also determined under what circumstances divorces could be granted in the first place.
There were exceptions to these generalizations. Marriages could be dissolved because of an underage bride or groom, or because they were too closely related. In cases of adultery, sometimes divorces were granted only if the woman cheated. Ex-spouses guilty of adultery might not be allowed to remarry. In some Southern states, divorcing spouses had to get both court and legislative approval.
Finding Divorce Records
By law, those seeking divorce in early America generally had to petition the state or colonial legislatures. Over time, this responsibility passed to judicial officials in individual counties.
As a result, you’ll seek divorce records in either the legislature or the courtroom. The paper trail—and how you find records—is a little different for each.
Petitions
The process started with an original petition, usually handwritten, from the person or an attorney. It explained, often in great detail, why the petitioner was seeking a divorce. Affidavits or other supporting documentation may have accompanied the petition. The petition was referred to the appropriate committee, which considered it and proposed a bill that then had to pass through the approval process.
If original documents still exist, they may be with the state archives or library, or in a special archive of the legislature itself. They generally weren’t published.
Courtroom divorces
Almost all US divorces after 1900—and many before then, including all divorces in New England—were courtroom divorces. Whatever court had jurisdiction over equity matters handled divorces, usually the county’s circuit, superior, or district court. You can find a list of courts by state in Val D. Greenwood’s book Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy (Genealogical Publishing Co.).
Court records
In a judicial divorce, the person seeking a divorce filed a complaint. These are often rich with marital details and discord, because their purpose was to show grounds for divorce. They often include genealogical details: the date and place of marriage and the names and ages of their children.
The original complaint and any response should be in the case files or loose papers for the divorce, similar to an estate or probate packet, and this is where you’ll find the original documents related to the case. You also may discover juicy input from witnesses: transcripts of oral depositions or written answers to questions, both made under oath. You might find court orders for interim spousal or child support, or temporary custody of the children.
A list of actions or filings in each divorce case also appears in court docket books, organized by case. Court minute books, organized by date, summarize day-to-day actions of the court—basically the same information, but organized differently and sometimes with important variations.
Ultimately, you’ll find the judgment resolving the case. Divorces could be granted, denied or even dismissed. For the oldest cases, the judgment may be all that still exists, but it may have great information in it. Look for the judgments either in a separate book of judgments or judgment orders, or in the minutes of the court itself.
Divorce certificates and registers
States began requiring divorce certificates and/or registers by the early 20th century. These were filed in a central office, usually the state vital statistics registrar. These only have the “bare-bones” facts of the divorce: identities of the parties, dates and places of divorce, and so on. Though they won’t contain records of the court proceeding, they can clue you to the existence of a case.
Substitutes
What else can you look at to document a divorce’s details? Many documents can allude to them:
Censuses:
Death certificates
Home sources
Marriage records
Newspapers
Pension Records
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