Delaware Marriage & Divorce Records: The 50-Year Marriage Release

Delaware is small enough to have no county health departments and no town clerks, but it still runs a genuine three-way custody split for marriage and divorce records. The unusual feature is a statutory clock that opens marriage records to the public on a fixed schedule, with divorce conspicuously left out of it.

This page is about obtaining documents. For grounds, residency, and process, see Delaware divorce laws. For the national comparison, see the marriage and divorce records hub.

The 50-year rule, and what it does not cover

Delaware's disclosure statute sets automatic release dates by record type. Section 3110(f) of Title 16 reads: "When 72 years have elapsed after the date of birth, 40 years have elapsed after the date of death, or 50 years have elapsed after the date of marriage, the records of these events shall become public records and information shall be made available in accordance with regulations which shall provide for the continued safekeeping of the records."

Two things follow, and the second one is routinely reported wrong.

Marriage: yes. A Delaware marriage more than 50 years old is a public record. Anyone may access it, and in practice those records move to the Delaware Public Archives.

Divorce: no. Divorce is not among the record types the subsection releases. The provision names birth, death and marriage only. So the widely repeated claim that Delaware opens marriage and divorce records alike after 50 years is half right. We did not locate another statutory provision creating an equivalent automatic release for divorce records, which means a Delaware divorce record has no fixed public-release date on the vital-records side. Delaware does codify the divorce-record side elsewhere, in 16 Del. C. section 3128, but that section registers divorces for statistical purposes and points certified copies to Family Court rather than setting any release date. Access to the divorce case file is a separate question governed by court rules, and Family Court remains the office to ask. Family Court's own records-access page says members of the public may review its files in person at the Records Room with photo identification and may obtain copies of legal documents such as complaints and court orders, but not of social documents like custody investigations or psychological evaluations unless a judicial officer orders it.

Delaware marriage records

The Office of Vital Statistics, part of the Division of Public Health, is the state custodian of marriage certificates and holds records from 1976 to the present. Marriage licenses are issued by the county Clerks of the Peace, and the certificate of record is centralized at the state, but the fee statute contemplates either office issuing the copy: section 3132(b) directs that the fee "shall be collected by the Bureau of Vital Statistics or the Clerk of the Peace, whichever agency issues the certified copy." If your marriage license came from a particular county, it is worth asking that Clerk of the Peace as well as the state office.

Records older than 50 years, which currently means the pre-1976 range, are handled by the Delaware Public Archives rather than Vital Statistics. That is the same line the statute draws, applied administratively: once the record is public, it moves to the archive.

Ordering options that Delaware names on its own site include in-person service at the three Office of Vital Statistics locations in New Castle, Kent and Sussex, a mail-in application using the state's marriage certificate form, and online ordering through VitalChek or GoCertificates. Both vendors are named explicitly by the state, which is worth noting, because in most states only one is.

The fee is set by statute rather than left to a rate sheet. Under 16 Del. C. section 3132(b), "the fee charged for each certified copy of a marriage license/certificate shall be $25, except that upon production of a valid military identification card, active members of the military and their spouses shall be exempt from paying such fee." Section 3132(a) separately caps the State Registrar at a fee "not to exceed $25" for each certified or noncertified copy of a certificate or record, or for a search of the files when no copy is made. Online vendors add their own service charges on top of the statutory fee, so an online total above $25 is the vendor's markup, not the state's price.

Eligibility inside the 50-year window is statutory too, in the same section that sets the release clock. Section 3110(b) directs the State Registrar to issue a certified copy to the registrant, the registrant's spouse, children, parents or guardian, or their respective authorized representative. It then opens a second route for everyone else: "Others may be authorized to obtain certified copies when they demonstrate that the record is needed for the determination or protection of their personal or property rights or for genealogical purposes." So a researcher with no family tie is not automatically shut out of a marriage record under 50 years old. The burden is to demonstrate a personal or property-rights need or a genealogical purpose, and the Department is directed to adopt regulations further defining who may obtain copies. Expect to identify yourself and state your basis, and ask Vital Statistics what documentation your situation requires.

Delaware divorce records: decree from Family Court

Delaware's divorce structure is cleanly split, and unusually cheap on the court side.

The certified divorce decree comes from the Family Court in the county where the divorce was granted, meaning New Castle, Kent or Sussex. The court's page does not publish a coverage start year; reporting commonly places Family Court's divorce jurisdiction from 1979 forward, though we could not confirm that year against a primary source, so ask the Records Department before assuming an older decree is held there. The court's own page sets the fee at $4.00 for a certified copy and $1.00 for a non-certified copy, with an additional charge possible if the decree must be pulled from archives. Requests are made in person with photo identification, or by mail with a notarized signature.

For older divorces, predating Family Court's jurisdiction, the county Prothonotary offices or the Delaware Public Archives are the custodians.

The state-level layer is an index, not a product you can buy, and that split is codified rather than merely administrative. Section 3128(a) requires the petitioner or the petitioner's legal representative to prepare the divorce record on a form prescribed and furnished by the State Registrar and to present it to the Family Court with the petition, and provides that "in all cases the completed record shall be a prerequisite to the granting of the final decree." Under subsection (b), Family Court forwards the previous month's records to the Office of Vital Statistics on or before the fifteenth day of each calendar month. Subsection (c) settles where the paper comes from: "Records of divorce are collected by the Office of Vital Statistics for statistical purposes only. Certified copies of a divorce decree may be issued by Family Court in the county in which the decree was granted." The form itself is Form 441, the Certificate of Divorce or Annulment. Reporting suggests the resulting state index runs from 1935 forward, though we could not confirm that start year against a primary source. What matters practically is settled by the statute: if you need paper proving a Delaware divorce, Family Court issues it.

That $4.00 fee is worth emphasizing because it is roughly a fifth of what a state divorce certificate costs in a typical state. If a website quotes you several times that for a Delaware divorce record, you are being charged a markup on a four-dollar court document.

How to order, step by step

Marriage certificate:

1. Work out which side of the 50-year line the marriage falls on. Older than 50 years means Delaware Public Archives; newer means Office of Vital Statistics.
2. For a recent record, apply in person in New Castle, Kent or Sussex, by mail with the state's form, or online through VitalChek or GoCertificates. The Clerk of the Peace in the county that issued the license may also issue a certified copy.
3. Budget $25 per certified copy under section 3132(b), or nothing if you are an active member of the military or the spouse of one and can produce a valid military identification card. Ask Vital Statistics what identification your situation requires, and if you are not the registrant or an immediate family member, be ready to state the personal, property-rights or genealogical basis section 3110(b) requires.

Divorce decree:

1. Identify the county where the divorce was granted.
2. Contact the Family Court Records Department in that county and confirm it holds a decree of that age.
3. Apply in person with photo identification, or by mail with a notarized signature as the court's page directs.
4. Pay $4.00 per certified copy or $1.00 per non-certified copy, plus any archive-retrieval charge.
5. If Family Court does not hold a decree that old, contact the county Prothonotary or the Delaware Public Archives.

Genealogy and historical research

The Delaware Public Archives is the destination for marriage records past the 50-year line and for older divorce material. Because the statutory release makes older marriage records genuinely public, Delaware is friendlier to genealogists than states that keep a permanent relationship gate.

Inside the 50-year window, genealogy is still a recognized basis rather than a dead end. Section 3110(b) lets the Registrar authorize a certified copy for someone outside the family circle who demonstrates that the record is needed for genealogical purposes, so a documented research request is the route to try before assuming the record is closed.

Delaware does not permit common-law marriage to be formed in the state, so there is no informal-marriage record to search; see Delaware common-law marriage.

Related Delaware pages

For the court-file access route and general request framework, see Delaware public records laws. See also Delaware death records, which the same 3110(f) clock releases after 40 years, plus how to get a copy of your marriage certificate and how to find out if someone is married or divorced.