If you are looking for divorce records or the marital status of an individual, they can be found through the documents listed below. In general, it is difficult to check for a divorce or remarriage unless you already have an idea of when it may have happened. If you have the minimum information required to find one of the documents in the list, select the name of that document. The items in the list are ordered from most to least important. If you do not have the minimum information required, read the paragraph below this list.

Vital records

To find a marriage or divorce record, you must at least know the full married name of one of the spouses for a divorce certificate or the full name of the groom and/or the full maiden name of the bride for a marriage certificate. You must also know the approximate year of the event, and the state or county where the event took place.

Church records

To get a copy of a church record, such as a marriage record, you must at least know the individual's name, and either the name of the church where the ceremony was performed or the name of the clergyman that appears on the certificate.

Newspapers

To get a copy of a wedding announcement, you must at least know the approximate date of the event, the full name of groom and/or the maiden name of the bride, and the state and city or town where the event took place (or where the announcement was likely to have been published).

Bible records

To find a divorce or subsequent marriage in Bible records that are no longer in the family's possession, you must at least know the individual's full married name or maiden name, as well as the state and county in which the individual lived.

Military records

To find an individual's marital status in a military pension record, you must at least know the veteran's name, the branch of service, such as Army, Navy, or Marine Corps, the state from which the veteran entered the service, and the war in which the veteran served. If the period of service was after 1916, you must also know entry and release dates, military ID number, Social Security number, whether an officer or enlisted, and date of birth.

For a description of any of the records listed above, see the topic Genealogy dictionary.

To get help finding the minimum information required to locate any of the records listed above, select one of the following items:

Finding the minimum information for vital records

Finding the minimum information for church records

Finding the minimum information for newspapers

Finding the minimum information for Bible records

Finding the minimum information for military records

Return to the Main Menu of the Genealogy "How-To" Guide