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Importance of getting an access to divorce records

Importance of getting an access to divorce records

Getting your divorce records, in the event that you lose them or they’ve been damaged, is not difficult because these records are usually considered public records. The only event when the records would not be accessible by authorized parties would be when the court has sealed the files due to some particular legal reasons. The common cases would be if the appellant was a victim due to domestic violence, abuse, or has to protect sensitive or critical information such as financial data. The only state in the country where all divorce records are sealed for a definite period of 100 years is New York.

The information contained on a divorce record will include the details of the divorce, the couple involved, their marriage, the reason for divorce, any legal issues between the couple, division of all financial assets, child custody, and alimony, among others. While all the details may not be available for access, a few details pertaining to the divorce such as the date of finalization can still be viewed. The access to these details or anything related to divorce proceedings is open only to the parties involved in the divorce proceedings. Third parties will only get a simple record of the divorce details and not the full access.

There may come a time in life when you need to find divorce records for various purposes. The common reasons why you may need access to the divorce records are that you want to change your name, get remarried, you need divorce records as proof for police visitation of your ex-spouse or school visitation for your children, you need to proceed with other legal proceedings such as child support or alimony withholding, you have to make changes to your income tax filings, you need to change ownership of property, or you simply need to provide it to your creditors. As a friend or a family member, you may need the divorce records of an individual in order to produce it at the probate court in the event of the death of one of the parties, or you need it for your family’s history records, or you just simply want to check someone’s marital status.