Acquire Free Marion County Indiana Divorce Records

Free Marion County Divorce Record Search
Find out if someone in Marion County, Indiana is divorced, free of charge.

Retrieve free Marion County Indiana divorce records to check out details of local marriage dissolutions.

Divorce records (or divorce papers) often consist of the certificate of separation and the decree issued by the court. These documents can contain a wide range of information, such as details of the divorcees, the circumstances of the separation, and other matters like alimony, division of assets, child custody, and child support.

This brief resource helps interested citizens conduct a free divorce records lookup in Marion County, Indiana, via various official sources.

How To Track Down Free Marion County Indiana Divorce Records

Citizens can conveniently search divorce records in Marion County through the County Clerk’s Department.1

The County Clerk Department – specifically its records division – maintains the complete records of cases heard in Marion County Courts. The County Clerk’s website has a specific page dedicated to providing information to interested individuals on how to access divorce records online, free of charge.

The page further leads to the public database of Indiana Judicial District 13, which is the centralized court circuit in Marion that hears all cases in the county.2

This database can be searched to look up divorce cases through the MyCase Online Search Tool, a government-managed centralized source also endorsed by the Marion County Clerk.3 Interested residents can search cases through party names, case details, and attorney names.

When searching by case, searchers can use case number, citation number, or cross-reference number for records on specific Marion divorces. Furthermore, the researcher must select “Marion County” in the “Court” section so specific results can be obtained. In addition to that, citizens must limit their search to only divorce cases by checking “Family” in the “Limit Search To” section.

Screenshot of the search tool for court cases featuring the search by name tab with fields for name, birthday, business, a drop-down for court location, and tick boxes for search limitations, with Marion County and the family court highlighted with arrows.
Source: Indiana Courts3

When searching by party name, residents must enter the full name of one of the divorcees (first, last, and middle name) along with their date of birth. Similarly, when searching by attorney name, the full name of the legal representative must be entered.

Furthermore, researchers can also further narrow down their divorce records search by clicking on “Advanced Search Options.” This allows users to enter a time frame (search starting date as well as an ending date) to get more accurate results. “Case Status,” if known to the searcher, can also be selected as “closed”, “open”, or “all” to get even more precise records.

As another option, interested individuals can also reach out to the Department of the Marion County Clerk directly for a public divorce records search. The contact details of the Clerk’s Office are as follows:

Marion County Clerk – Main Office
200 East Washington Street
Suite Number W122
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204

Phone Number: 317-327-4740
Fax: 317-327-3893
Email: [email protected]

The Records Division of Marion County Clerk can be contacted at:

Marion County Clerk – Records Division
1330 South Madison Avenue
Indianapolis, Indiana 46225

Phone Number: 317-327-4715

The office of the records division is open from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM to receive walk-in records search requests (it is important to note that the office is closed during weekends and public holidays).

Additionally, individuals can also ask for a divorce records search through the phone by calling the aforementioned official number. A mail or an email can also be sent to the department to request the desired records at the above-given credentials.

Residents must provide the office staff with appropriate primary details to help them conduct a conclusive search from their database. These details can include the full names of the people involved in the case, attorney names, dates, locations, case numbers, or the name of the judge who heard the divorce case.

Citizens can also order divorce records from the Marion County Clerk’s Department. A Public Records request form will have to be filled out and submitted to the clerk’s department online.4 Walk-in or phone record orders are usually processed within 24 hours whereas online or mail requests can take up to 7 days.

A screenshot of the record request online form displaying the filled drop-down menus for agencies and type of records requested, and a short note for the succeeding fields.
Source: City of Indianapolis & Marion County, Indiana4

The department can also choose to deny a citizen’s records order for a variety of reasons. In this case, the citizen can either receive a direct denial through phone or mail (depending on the details they have provided) or no response at all.

In case the resident believes that they are wrongly being denied the records, they can choose to contact the county public access counselor at 317-327-4055 or the state public access counselor at 317-234-0906.

How To Look Up Divorce Records for All of Indiana via the State Judicial Branch Public Court Records Search Portal

If the desired divorce records can not be found at the county level, there could be a chance that they are available at the state level. This is why researchers must know which state-level agency to search divorce records from if they cannot find them through the Marion County Clerk.

The State Judicial Branch has a public database that can be used to search Indiana court records, including divorce records at the statewide level.3 Residents can search divorce records by case numbers, party names, or attorney names. The results will provide primary details of the case including filing date, judge assigned, status, etc.

Users can also choose to narrow down the search to specific counties or localities in those counties, specific periods of time, or statuses through the options available in the search tool. In case residents have any queries on how to access or are having difficulty accessing the search tool, they can check out the FAQ page of the Indiana Judicial Branch website.5

Screenshot of a case summary from Indiana Courts, MyCase, showing the case title, case number, court, case type, filed date, status, names of parties, and events in chronological order.
Source: Indiana Courts6

In case records are still not found or if the researcher is looking for more detailed records, they can contact the County Clerk’s Department of the district in which the divorce took place.7

Researchers can also choose to search older divorce records for genealogy purposes, ancestry information, and lineage details. In the state of Indiana, older records of marriage dissolutions that date as early as 1852 are maintained in a divorce index at the county level by the Clerk of the Court.8 The Marion County Circuit Court Clerk can be contacted at:

Marion Circuit Court Clerk
200 East Washington Street
Suite Number W122
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204

Phone Number: 317-327-4740
Fax: 317-327-3893
Email: [email protected]

Are Divorce Records Open to the Public in Marion County Indiana?

Divorce records, both certified and non-certified (including common law) are open to the public in Marion County, Indiana. The Indiana Access to Public Records Act (APRA) ensures the availability of court records (including divorce records) to the general public except if otherwise ordered to be sealed by the court.9

Divorce certificates are single-page documents that announce the official dissolution of a marriage and are conveniently available to the public. Divorce decrees, which are complete court orders about a separation case, can sometimes be difficult to obtain for people unrelated to the divorcees or the case.

It is also important to understand that some sensitive details in the divorce records about the people involved in it can be restricted by the agency that is providing them.

Sensitive information in divorce records, for example, can include the exact address of the divorcees, social security numbers, and details of asset settlement. Furthermore, details of minors involved in the divorce case are also not disclosed for safety and privacy reasons.

There are various third party sources that residents can also use to look up divorce records as such tools utilize government resources. However, it is extremely important that the citizen does not use the details obtained from third party sources in official matters unless an official agency endorses it.

This resource has complete details on how to conduct a free Marion County Indiana divorce records search through various official lookup tools and agencies.


References

1Marion County Clerk’s Office. (n.d.). Marion County Clerk’s Office. Retrieved February 20, 2024, from <https://www.indy.gov/agency/marion-county-clerks-office#activities-section>

2Indiana Judicial Branch. (n.d.). Marion County Courts. Retrieved February 20, 2024, from <https://www.in.gov/courts/local/marion-county/>

3Indiana Courts. (n.d.). Case Search. MyCase. Retrieved February 20, 2024, from <https://public.courts.in.gov/mycase/#/vw/Search>

4City of Indianapolis & Marion County, Indiana. (n.d.). Public Record Request. Retrieved February 20, 2024, from <https://www.indy.gov/workflow/public-record-request>

5Indiana Judicial Branch. (n.d.). Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved February 20, 2024, from <https://courts-ingov.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/categories/115000874788-Courts-FAQs>

6Indiana Courts. (n.d.). Case Summary. MyCase. Retrieved February 20, 2024, from <https://public.courts.in.gov/mycase/#/vw/CaseSummary/eyJ2Ijp7IkNhc2VUb2tlbiI6IklSQ2xrZTlKWkpKZFJKeVJTUVNXSm50aVNKaUZEcHVfY2IxUGUtNzctZjAxIn19>

7Indiana Judicial Branch. (n.d.). Directory of Courts & Clerks in Indiana. Retrieved February 20, 2024, from <https://www.in.gov/courts/files/court-directory.pdf>

8Indiana Archives and Records Administration. (n.d.). Clerks of the Circuit Court Address List. Retrieved February 20, 2024, from <https://www.in.gov/iara/divisions/state-archives/collections/clerks-of-the-circuit-court-address-list/>

9City of Indianapolis & Marion County, Indiana. (n.d.). Access to Public Records Act. Retrieved February 20, 2024, from <https://www.indy.gov/activity/access-to-public-records-act>