Massachusetts Divorce Records

Long gone are the days when you have to call a government clerk or mail a letter to obtain a divorce record. Thanks to the internet, you can find all types of official documents, often within a matter of minutes. When you cannot locate a certain record, you can easily find the contact information of a person or agency who can help you. If you are searching for Massachusetts Divorce Records, here are a few helpful tips to start your search below.

Visit Mass.gov … This is a great online resource to find Massachusetts public records

This website should be your first stop when searching for divorce records in Massachusetts. You can learn how to search for certain types of documents within the legal system. In addition to divorce records, you can locate civil claims cases, probate and family cases, even cases brought before the Massachusetts Superior Court. In order to make your search easier, you should have the following information:

• First names of both parties
• Last names of both parties
• Company name (if applicable)
• Dates of birth
• Case numbers when possible

With this information in hand, you are more likely to obtain the divorce records you want. However, if you are looking for records that are decades old, they may not have been placed into the electronic documents system. When this is the case, you will need to contact the court system directly.

When you want to access the actual divorce document, you will need to visit a county probate court. Since 1922, Massachusetts county probate courts have been the storehouses of divorce records. In order to determine which county probate court you will need to visit, you will need to know in which county the couple filed for divorce. This is not always the same county in which they last lived together, so it is important to determine what might be a significant difference. You can also find mention of every divorce since 1952 at the Massachusetts Department of Health’s Registry of Vital Records, located in Boston. However, this facility only houses an index of all divorces since that date, not the actual divorce records themselves.

Finding Massachusetts divorce records prior to 1922 is difficult but not impossible. Previous to this date, divorce cases were heard by a variety of state courts. Prior to 1887, however, all divorce cases were brought before Supreme Judicial Court. These divorce records were placed into dockets, which can be found at Massachusetts Archives, located in the Judicial Archives section. Access to these records will require an in-person formal request or the use of a third-party company. As with the search for modern divorce records, it is crucial to obtain as much information as possible about the two parties in question before visiting or requesting such documents. This can help you save time and money, as well as get faster results.