Are there any free marriage and divorce records search websites?

Copyright (c) 2009 Ed Opperman

nternet forums, questions and answers websites, and even blogs are rampant with questions about how to find totally free marriage and divorce records search websites. The question is asked frequently, but to put the debate to rest -- is there such thing as a completely free website or database to find marriage and divorce records?

The short answer is no, there are not, at least not on a large scale, and not in a way where you can receive useful results without paying for them. While there are, literally, hundreds of thousands of web pages that purport to offer free marriage and divorce records searches, these websites may, as the advertising conveys, offer free 'searches', but that's the clincher -- you can search for free, but it's the results that you have to pay for. A free records search without free results is like receiving one of those $1,000 shopping spree vouchers that entitles you to receive 'free' gifts, and your only obligation is to pay twice the gift's value in shipping in handling charges; in other words, free searches and paid results aren't really free at all. The thing is, marriage and divorce records are a matter of public record, so you can access these records in the right situations, if you have the right information, and you're willing to spend a few dollars to get this information. While there is a lot of free information on the internet, and there is plenty of premium information online that people pay for, even though it can be found free elsewhere, marriage and divorce records search websites are not a part of that group.

There are exceptions to this rule, however. Some counties in the USA do offer free marriage or divorce record information online without cost, and some websites do offer online marriage records, though the records are far from comprehensive, and will probably be of little-to-no value for the majority of records seekers. At the end of the day, there just are not any wide-reaching options for individuals who want to look up marriage or divorce records without cost. If you know the state and county of the marriage or divorce, there's a good chance that you can obtain the information you require from the county courthouse for a fee. However, if you do not have this information, your options are unfortunately limited.

While there are a lot of websites that purport to offer a 'free marriage search' or 'free divorce search', nearly all of these claims are, at best, misleading, and really makes you wonder about the integrity, and reliability, of a records search website that misleads you just to get you to visit their website. If you don't want to trust your money to a 'free' marriage and divorce record search website, you might want to consider hiring a private investigator who works in the industry.

Investigators are not the ones making the false claims, and if the information is available, a private investigator will be able to get that information for you the first time around.