How to Obtain and Use Information in Iowa Divorce Records

If you are getting ready to apply for Iowa divorce records, you are only partly lucky. Iowa is one of the few states with a really centralized, uniform system for accessing vital records – birth, death, marriage and divorce. That is saying a lot in a country where over a million Americans get divorced every year, and among them there are a lot of people from Iowa. According to some estimates, anywhere between 40% and 50% of those of the current population that get married later get divorced.

Iowa itself ranks pretty low among all the US states on its divorce rate. It was among the four lowest when last counted in 2005. However, it still adds up to quite a few Iowa divorce records to be sought and retrieved. There are of course quite a few divorced people from Iowa if you count all those who have moved out of the state after a divorce.

What all this shows you is that when you are searching for divorce records in the state, you can be quite sure that you will find what you want. This is because the state and the county offices are legally obliged to maintain the vital statistics including divorce records, and Iowa's have been doing exactly this.

Unlike many states where birth and death records started early but marriage and especially divorce records took a long time to be recorded, Iowa’s birth, death and marriage records started being kept in June 1880; its divorce records have been maintained since 1906.
 
Like all other US states, Iowa divorce records are primarily kept in the counties. Like many forward-looking states, this state also has taken the time to network its county records with its state vital records office at Des Moines.

Much like very few states, Iowa actually prefers you to obtain all vital records – obviously including divorces – from the state office and not from the counties. Very many states do the very opposite!

This can be very helpful for you if you do not know precisely in which county the divorce was filed and granted, as is the case in a huge number of instances. With the assistance of modern digital record-keeping, you can now have a search performed at one central spot and there is no need to search for it all over the Iowa countryside. In any case, Iowa counties can only provide brief statistical records of divorces, and not the certified copies of documents.

As of January 1st, 2005, Iowa has also standardized its fee for searches certified copies of records from state and county sources. It is $15 across the board. You will need to pay this by a personal check or money order that is payable to the Iowa Department of Public Health when you are submitting your request.

While you are applying for your divorce records, do not forget to enclose a stamped and self-addressed envelope to receive your desired document.

What You Need to Know When Applying for Your Divorce Records

To get a certified copy of a vital record from the county where the event occurred, as the applicant you must have a direct or tangible interest in the record. In other words, you must be a principal person named on the record, or have a lineal relationship to the person whom you are searching. This includes being a legal parent, grandparent, spouse, brother, sister, child, legal guardian or legal representative. You cannot just be a reporter or a licensed private investigator searching for someone.

All requests or applications for each certified copy must be submitted in writing and include the purpose for acquiring the certificate. You must complete the application form for your copy of a vital record, and attach your check or money order to the Iowa Department of Public Health, Bureau of Vital Records, Lucas Office Building 1st Floor, 321 East 12th Street, Des Moines, IA 50319-0075.

If you are applying in writing, you will need to provide the most complete, relevant and accurate information you can. If you do not know the exact dates, you will have to specify a likely span of years for a search. Do remember to try and keep the span as small as possible. If you are applying by phone, you have to pay an additional $5.50 processing fee by credit card -
AmEx, Discover, MasterCard and Visa are accepted.

You can also submit that application over the phone by calling (515)281-4944. Do keep in mind that the office is deluged daily with a volume of calls, and you may expect to hold the line for possibly 20 minutes or more while you wait for the next available operator.

Using the Internet to Apply for Your Divorce Records

There is now another option to find these records, and this is the Internet. Yes, you can now do it over the Web and for a lot of people this is a great advantage because they can save a lot of hassles and time too. There are private websites that can help you. The costs can be a little more here, but there are obviously great advantages as well.