Divorce records.

[Loveless21]

I'm dating someone and I want to know what the official reason for divorce is. As well as other official papers. How do I look this up?? It's public record but can that be accessed for free or do u have to pay?? Anyone?

[d0nnivain]

In the US the complaint for divorce & the order of divorce are public records. The property settlement agreement is not a public record. You may have to go to the courthouse where the divorce was granted to get copies. Most of this stuff is NOT on line. Looking is free. Copying will cost money. If it was more than 1 year ago that they got divorced you may have to get the records from storage at your state capital. There will be a fee for that retrieval.

 

The complaint & the order are going to contain sanitized legaleeze like they are seeking a divorce for irreconcilable differences or constructive abandonment, which can mean anything from an affair to you don't cuddle with me anymore. You are not going to find the real "dirt" in those documents. If motions were filed, the certifications attached thereto may provide more details but they will also be expensive to acquire. Most lawyers draft them to omit the dirt for just this reason.

 

If discovery was exchanged between the parties during the pendency of the divorce, the dirt may be in the depositions but those are not public records & they do not have to be turned over to you.

 

Why do you want this stuff anyway? If you don't think your new partner is telling the truth, stop dating them. Don't start sluething.

[PegNosePete]

Why don't you ask your partner?

 

If you do not trust them, then the reason for the divorce is the least of your worries and going behind their back to find it out will not help your relationship in the long run.

 

Often the divorce petition is "watered down", or not the real reason for the divorce, anyway. It's often a case of "he said, she said". The recipient of the papers just signs them rather than arguing and putting their own viewpoint forward, because arguing those things is a waste of time and money. You know what they say, there are 3 sides to every story. The "official" divorce petition will only give 1 side.

[devilish innocent]

I agree with not putting too much stock into anything on public record. My sister tried to say that her ex-husband was cruel and abusive because it would have expediated the divorce proceedings, not because he actually was.

[carhill]

In our jurisdiction (California) the case summary of the proceeding was all that was online. The specifics were only accessible through the clerk of the court. However, the machinations of the case summary can be indicative of how the proceeding went, even if not getting into the specifics.

 

If you live in a jurisdiction which still allows 'fault' divorces, it's possible the court records will contain or allude to the fault. However, fault divorces can be expensive to litigate so average folks generally avoid them.

 

Myself, I'd simply check that a dissolution was entered, verifying any statements made, and leave the reasons to the nether. Having been divorced, the published 'reasons' can have little to do with the real reasons and their bearing on any future relationships.

 

Good luck!

[Art_Critic]

In my county every compliant, filing, serving etc etc is online.

All documents are online, scanned in with the exception of financial documents filed thru discovery.. I think there might be some other info not online relating to the children but most of it is out there and is all free.

 

If you look up older stuff though.. like 10-15 years ago all you find is the summary of filings.

 

If I were you I wouldn't read up any of it.. it can change the way you view people and even though it is a public record and accessible that doesn't mean everybody should read them.

 

If you are in Canada then good luck.. Canada is great for keeping all info private..

 

Google the county they were divorced in with the tag "court records search" and see if the county records search page comes up.