Search & Obtain Free Delaware Divorce Records

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Free Delaware Divorce Record Search

Find out if someone in Delaware is divorced, free of charge.

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Find free Delaware divorce records online, in person, and through the mail, whether you need to research your genealogy or provide proof for a legal case. All you need is basic information about one or both people involved and where to look.

This resource serves to help you locate the search tools you need to discover information about divorces finalized anywhere in Delaware, whether they happened in 2020 or 1920.

Modern records are held by the state’s court system and can be accessed for free online as well as through in-person and mail requests, while older divorce records are often archived in state offices.

Are Divorce Records Public or Private in Delaware?

Divorce records in Delaware are considered public. Anyone who wants information about divorces processed in any of the state’s three counties has the right to access them according to the Delaware Freedom of Information Act.¹

While public agencies in Delaware are required by law to provide records to the public upon request, they are allowed to keep certain aspects of records private. Searchers are unlikely to gain information about valuable personal details, such as social security numbers or bank records, by looking at a public divorce record.

Specific details that are useful in trial may be located in court dockets for contested divorces, but most valuable personal information will be redacted.

Delaware agencies are also allowed to charge fees for records access, so you’ll be required to pay a small cost to access most divorce records. This is true whether you choose to access them through the mail or in person. In some cases, you’ll be able to look up court documents related to a divorce online for free. Delaware’s CourtConnect allows you to search for documents submitted to any state court and is free for anyone to use.

Certified copies of divorce decrees, which can be used in court cases and other legal processes, are only made available to the divorced parties, their attorneys, and some of their immediate family members. Due to this restriction, people requesting certified records will be required to provide ID or have their signature verified by a notary public.

Statistical information about divorces in Delaware can be found in tables and reports released by the U.S. Census Bureau. You can look up an array of tables that show how many divorces there were in the state by year, age, occupation, and other demographic information.

How To Retrieve Delaware Divorce Records

Since Delaware is a relatively small state, much of the public records are available through two consolidated state agencies: the state’s family court system and its Public Archives.³ The counties in Delaware work with these state resources to maintain these records in local offices. Some of the records you can find online.

Find Public Divorce Records Through Civil Case Search — You can search for divorce case records statewide in Delaware by accessing CourtConnect. You will need some basic information about the divorce in order to conduct the search, such as the Case ID and last name of either the plaintiff or defendant.

In many cases, court files for a divorce case will not be available for viewing online. This may be because the record is too old to have been recorded electronically or the document is sealed. You may be able to access this information by requesting records from the family court where the issue was resolved.

In some cases, only the involved parties or the lawyers representing those parties are allowed to see the documents.

To narrow down your results in CourtConnect, include as much information about the divorce case as possible, as the record system has a lot of documents to sift through. You can even try and find a record using a phonetic search if you’re not sure exactly how a last name is spelled.

Find Old Marriage Records Through Public Archives — Delaware Public Archives holds historical records for genealogical research purposes. The records are in pdf format, and DPA created the indices. Brides and grooms are indexed separately.

Alternatively, individuals can visit the Archives, fill out this contact form or mail your request to:⁶

Delaware Public Archives
121 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard North
Dover, Delaware 19901

Phone: 302-744-5000

Searching County Agencies in Delaware for Divorce Records

Find Divorce Records via the Family Courts — In addition to processing petitions and resolving disputes, Delaware’s family court system is responsible for maintaining and producing copies of divorce records for the public.⁷ While accessing these records is not free, it is very inexpensive.

In Person: Each of the three family courts in Delaware has a records department where you can directly request the final decree of an annulment or divorce. Clerks at these departments will ask that you provide a valid photo ID and/or proof of your name and date of birth. A certified copy of a decree has a fee of $4, and a non-certified copy will cost $1.

There will likely be an additional fee if your requested decree has to be obtained from archives.

Records departments at family courts are open during normal business hours, which are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. The doors to the courthouse do not open for any member of the public before 8:30 a.m.

By Mail: You can also request a certified or non-certified copy of a divorce record in Delaware by sending a written request to the records department in the family court where the decree was granted. Your name, date of birth, and signature certified by a notary public must be included. You must also enclose payment as a check or money order.

The records departments of the three most populous counties in Delaware are listed below with their addresses and contact information; they are Kent, New Castle and Sussex counties.

Family Court of the State of Delaware in Kent County
400 Court Street
Dover, Delaware 19901

Phone: 302-672-1000

Family Court of the State of Delaware in New Castle County
500 N. King Street
Wilmington, Delaware 19801

Phone: 302-255-0300

Family Court of the State of Delaware in Sussex County
22 The Circle
Georgetown, Delaware 19947

Phone: 302-855-7400

In many states, the Office of Vital Statistics can also provide divorce certificates. This is not the case in Delaware. Citizens can find marriage certificates through the office, but the family court is the only official agency responsible for keeping divorce documents.

Tracking Family Lineage & Genealogy Through Delaware State Divorce Archives

Tracking your lineage and genealogy through divorce records can get more complicated the further back you go in the state’s history. For example, divorces in the early years of statehood were granted by the state’s General Assembly.

The process was then handed off to each county’s Superior Court. Now, they are handled by the state’s family courts. So, you’ll need to look in different locations depending on which particular time a divorce was processed.

Find Archived Divorce Records Through the State’s Public Archives — In Delaware, most divorce records that were granted before 1976 are located somewhere in the state’s public archives.⁸ Some of it has been digitized, but much of it remains as paper records inside boxes stashed in the basements of archival locations.

There are currently three official archives, one for each county mentioned below:

Kent County
121 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd North
Dover, DE 19901

Phone: 302-744-5000

Sussex County
121 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd North
Dover, DE 19901

Phone: 302-744-5000

New Castle County
Prothonotary
Superior Court
500 N. King Street
Wilmington, DE 19801

Phone: 302-255-0700

Unfortunately, public archives employees are not able to perform any extensive research for patrons, so individuals will need to do much of the research themselves.

Archive staff can, however, scan documents and send them to requestees digitally for no fee. They do charge to print out documents or provide USB flash drives that searchers can use to transport digitized materials.

To begin searching the documents contained at these locations, you can use the archive’s Online Guide to the Collections, which is one of the few free public divorce records search options available.⁹

If you have a date range and a location, you may be able to look through a particular volume of records to find your decree. For example, this divorce index contains 11 volumes of records from the Sussex County Superior Court from 1951 to 1975.

If you know your record meets that criteria, or you suspect it does, send an email to archives@delaware.gov with the index information plus the name of the individual, the exact date of the record, or any other relevant information you might have. The archive asks that you limit your request to only five specific references at a time.

You can also visit the archives in person or call them during normal business hours using the contact information above.

How To Look Up Dissolutions of Marriage in the State of Delaware

There is no recognition of common law marriage in Delaware, so there is no common law divorce. The state does, however, allow for the dissolution of civil unions solemnized in Delaware.

The Family Court will handle the dissolution when just one spouse lives in the state or when both parties live out of the state if the states where they do live don’t permit the divorce.

If the dissolution you’re looking for meets the above criteria, you should be able to locate the divorce records the same way you would look up a divorce record from regular matrimony. Neither the state nor any of its cities or counties have any separate system for civil unions or their dissolutions.

How To Apply for a Divorce & Respond to Divorce Notices (Delaware)

The divorce process is a bit different in Delaware, depending on whether you’re the person filing for divorce or the one responding to divorce papers.

If you’re the spouse who is initiating the legal process, you’ll need to file a Petition for Divorce/Annulment with the family court in your county.¹⁰ Delaware is not an at-fault divorce state, so you do not need to provide proof of infidelity or abusive behavior to file a petition.

The spouse receiving the divorce/annulment petition filed in family court has two main choices. They can agree to the petition by filing an answer form or ignoring the petition for 20 days. Or, they can respond by contesting the petition, which will trigger an automatic hearing with the relevant court.

In an uncontested divorce, the petitioner has the choice of whether or not they want a hearing.

There are a variety of answer forms you may need to fill out and file with the family court when you’re responding to a petition or resolving disputes.¹¹ You’ll need to complete the Affidavit of Children’s Rights if you have one or more children under the age of 18.¹² You’ll also need to take a parenting class.

You may need the Waiver of Rights Under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act if you’re in the military and unable to attend court hearings. If requested by the court, you may also need to fill out an Ancillary Financial Disclosure Report to settle disputes related to paying child support or alimony.¹³

As of 2023, the fee for filing a divorce petition in Delaware family courts was $165. There may also be an additional $10 court security fee. In a contested divorce, the legal costs are likely to be significantly higher.

Retainers, hourly attorneys fees, investigators, expert witnesses, and other legal costs can be high. While representing yourself in family court can be much cheaper, it’s strongly advised that you seek knowledgeable legal counsel when going through a contested divorce in Delaware.

Delaware Family Court encourages divorcing couples to use mediation whenever possible to resolve disputes. Mediators are impartial professionals who strive to find workable solutions for both parties and any children involved. Any decisions made by the mediator must go to a judge for final approval.

The amount of time it will take for your divorce to finalize depends on a variety of circumstances that will be unique to your separation.

An amicable divorce where you and your spouse are proactive and don’t want a hearing can be completed in just a few days. A contested divorce with a court proceeding can take up weeks or months of your time.

Keep in mind that a married couple must be legally separated for at least 60 days before a divorce can be processed.

Upon reading this article, you have learned about Delaware law on divorce records, how to access them and the type of information you can view. Use the information provided here to help you in your search for Delaware divorce records and then check out the DE free public information lookup instructions to effectively obtain records of marriages, property taxes, court cases, criminal history background checks, and more.