How to Obtain Oregon Divorce Records

All across the US, and also in the State of Oregon, a divorce is almost as common as a marriage today. In fact, the statistics are quite shocking…

•    40% of all people who are married or have been previously married in the US have a divorce history.
•    As many as 1 out of every 3 marriages today in the country are ending in a divorce.
•    There are more than 1 million divorces in the country every year these days.
•    Many people who get remarried get divorced again, and the percentage here is higher than first time divorces.

The trends are similar in the State of Oregon as well and thus the state is not an exception. Since the state and the county offices are legally bound to maintain all vital statistics including divorce records, the divorce database is growing with every passing year.

Reasons Why You May be Interested in Oregon Divorce Records

There are actually many reasons why you may be interested in the divorce records of Oregon.

•    You may want the divorce record when you are planning to get re-married. This divorce record can be the proof of your single status, thus proving that you are eligible to apply for a marriage license if you have been married before. In many cases, this might be mandatory.
•    You need to get divorce records for other purposes too, such as changing your name and immigration procedures once you have ended the marriage.
•    Divorce records are also accessed for background checks and verification of personal particulars for employment screening and other official purposes.
•    Perhaps you are yourself getting married to someone you know was married before. Just as a precaution you want to be certain that the person is indeed divorced. This is of course a reasonable request because if he or she is not yet divorced, then the consequences could be disastrous.
•    Divorce records play a lesser role in genealogy research when compared to marriage records, but they can still help. If you are a family historian and trying to map your family tree, you are sure to face a daunting task when you are tracking someone who left the family and also faded from memory. If the divorce happened years ago, this is sure to be the case. We really know so little about our family members, particularly about the ex-spouses.

Accessing the divorce records can be of great help in all the above mentioned circumstances. A large number of people are faced with such situations and so there are a huge number of requests for divorce records in Oregon and other states as well.

Divorce Records are Considered Public Domain: The Legalities

The good news is, divorce records in the US are in the public domain. What this means is that when you submit the application correctly and approach the right authorities, the state and the county authorities are bound legally to provide you what you want. Of course, they are also legally obliged to maintain the vital statistics including divorce records.

You are entitled to the information you want because your interest is protected under the Right to Information Act. You must also know that the person who got the divorce also has his/her interest protected under the Right to Privacy Act.

The state is concerned about your interest and also about the interest of the divorced person. Since a divorce is an emotionally-charged event, the person obviously can attempt to keep the incident under wraps. On the other hand, you can also demand to know what happened, because otherwise your interests might be at jeopardy.

Given all this, you can know certain things about the divorce and certain other information cannot be made available to you. Do not worry. You can still know the most important thing – that is the confirmation about whether the person is indeed divorced or not. You can also find out about the date of the divorce and the county where it was granted.

On the other hand, if you yourself want proof of the divorce so that you can apply for a new marriage license, the document that you will be given should be enough. The information that will not be disclosed to you includes the reason for the divorce, as well as issues related to settlement and child custody.

How Can You Obtain Your Oregon Divorce Records?

Remember, divorce records are always maintained at the county level. Thus, you must send your request to the County Clerk’s office. In many cases there are quite a few applicants who are unsure about the particular county from where the divorce was granted.

If this is your story as well, then you can send your application to the following office:

Oregon Vital Records
P.O. Box 14050
Portland, OR 97293-0050
www.http://www.ohd.hr.state.or.us.
Phone:  503-731-4095

In such a case, the office will forward the request to the relevant county from where you will finally receive the record that you want.

So go ahead and submit that application for your divorce record in the State of Oregon. Before you make that request, you need to know how to make it correctly. While you are legally bound to receive the information, you should also remember that your request will be processed and you will get the record only when you do it the right way.

Always ensure that you are providing the following information when you are making the request:

•    The date of request
•    Full name of husband (last name in caps)
•    Full name of wife (maiden name in caps)
•    The date of divorce or annulment
•    The place of divorce (city or town, county, state)
•    The type of final decree
•    Your relationship to the person on whom you want the record
•    The purpose for which the record is needed
•    Your name & address
•    Your driver's license number & state (some counties require it)
•    Your signature

The divorce records in the State of Oregon have been maintained since 1925. Since you will be getting the information from the state, you can be sure about its accuracy. Do also keep in mind that this is not a free service. You will need to pay a nominal fee of $20.00 when you are placing the request.

Using the Internet to Find Your Divorce Records

You can now use the Internet as well to find your divorce records. There are private websites that can make the process faster and for you. This is why there are many people who are now using these private websites whenever they need to search the divorce record database.