Nebraska Marriage and Divorce Records: How to Get a Copy (2026)

Nebraska is one of the minority of states where the state health department issues certified copies of both marriage and divorce certificates. The DHHS Office of Vital Records in Lincoln holds both event types and charges $16.00 per copy, with a relationship rule that is narrower than most people expect.

Information last verified on 2026-08-04. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

This page is part of our state-by-state guide to marriage and divorce records. It covers who holds each record in Nebraska, who is allowed to order a certified copy, what it costs, and where to go when the state office is not the right custodian.

Who Holds Nebraska Marriage Records

Two offices matter, and they hold different documents.

The county clerk in the county where the couple applied issues the marriage license and keeps the original returned license. Neb. Rev. Stat. section 42-104 requires that the license be obtained from a county clerk, and section 71-614 describes the completed license as the record on file in the county clerk's office. Applications made with a county court before January 1, 1987 were processed and the licenses issued by that court, so older paperwork traces back through the county court, but the county clerk is the office to approach today.

The DHHS Office of Vital Records in Lincoln holds the marriage certificate, the vital record created when the completed license is filed with the state. The CDC's national directory dates Nebraska's state marriage and divorce records to January 1909; the department's own page publishes no start year, so treat that date as the federal directory's figure rather than a DHHS statement. The state office is the right place for a certified copy of a modern Nebraska marriage; the county clerk is the right place for anything older, and often faster for a recent marriage while the state filing is still catching up.

Nebraska has no covenant-marriage or confidential-marriage regime layered on top of this. There is one important gap on the other side: Nebraska does not recognize new common-law marriages, so a couple who never obtained a license has no certificate to order. Our Nebraska common-law marriage page explains what that means for proving a relationship without a record.

Who Holds Nebraska Divorce Records

The same two-layer split applies, and getting it wrong is the most common reason a Nebraska request comes back unusable.

The divorce decree is the court's judgment. It contains the terms: property division, support, custody, the date the marriage ended. It is filed with and issued by the Clerk of the District Court in the county where the divorce was granted. If a lender, an immigration filing, a pension administrator, or a remarriage application asks for "divorce papers," this is usually the document they mean.

The divorce certificate is the vital record. DHHS holds these from the same 1909 starting point the CDC directory reports for marriage. It confirms that a divorce happened, who the parties were, and when and where it was granted. It does not contain the terms, and it is not a substitute for the decree when the terms are what the requester needs.

If your question is about how a Nebraska divorce actually works rather than how to get the paperwork afterward, see Nebraska divorce laws.

Who Can Order a Certified Copy

Nebraska's statutory standard is broad on its face and narrow in practice.

Neb. Rev. Stat. section 71-612 directs the department to supply certified copies "to any applicant for any proper purpose, as defined by rules and regulations of the department." The statute itself sets no relationship test; it delegates the definition of proper purpose to DHHS regulation.

DHHS implements that authority restrictively. Its vital records page states plainly that "You may get a marriage certificate for yourself or your parents" and applies the same sentence to divorce certificates. A requester who is not the registrant or a parent has to document the relationship, for example by supplying a birth certificate showing the couple as parents. Practically, that means a sibling, a cousin, a researcher, or a curious member of the public should not expect a certified state copy on request.

The county layer is a separate question with a separate answer. Court filings, including divorce case records at the district court, are governed by Nebraska's public records and court records rules rather than by the vital records regulation. That distinction matters often enough that our Nebraska public records laws page is a useful companion when the court file, not the certificate, is what you need.

What It Costs and How to Order

As of August 2026, a certified copy of a Nebraska marriage or divorce certificate from the state office costs $16.00. VitalChek is not named as an ordering channel for these records on the department's page. DHHS offers three channels of its own:

• Online through the state's own system at nevitalrecords-dhhs.ne.gov, which accepts Visa and MasterCard.
• By mail to Nebraska Vital Records, P.O. Box 95065, Lincoln, NE 68509-5065, with a check or money order.
• In person at 301 Centennial Mall South, First Floor, Lincoln.

County fees for a copy of the license from the county clerk, or a certified copy of the decree from the clerk of the district court, are set locally and vary. Ask the specific office for its current schedule rather than assuming the state figure applies.

For the general mechanics that apply in every state, including what identification to send and how to handle a name that changed after the marriage, see our guide to getting a copy of your marriage certificate.

Records Before 1909, and Genealogy

On the CDC directory's dating, Nebraska's statewide filing of marriage records starts in January 1909, so a marriage from 1890 or 1905 will not be at the state office at all. The county where the license was issued is the custodian for those years, and the county clerk is the office to contact today, since that is where marriage licenses are obtained and filed under Neb. Rev. Stat. section 42-104. Licenses applied for through a county court before January 1, 1987 were issued by that court, so a very old file may be described in county court terms. County holdings often run back to the county's own organization date. Divorce is the same story: the district court file exists for as long as that court has existed, whether or not a state certificate was ever created.

Because DHHS applies the self-or-parents rule to certified copies, genealogy requests for a grandparent's or great-grandparent's Nebraska marriage are usually better routed to the county clerk or to archival collections than to Lincoln. Nebraska has no time-based unlock in the vital records rules that converts an old marriage or divorce certificate into a public document after a set number of years, which is a real difference from states like New York City or Delaware that do have such a threshold.

Trying to Confirm Whether Someone Is Married or Divorced

Nebraska publishes no free statewide marriage or divorce index, which makes this harder here than in states with an open searchable database. The realistic routes are the county clerk's records for a marriage license, and the district court's case records for a divorce filing.

Two cautions apply regardless of state. Commercial background-check products are unreliable for exactly this data point, because marriage and divorce data is fragmented across thousands of county offices and several major vendors have dropped it entirely. And using any consumer report to screen someone for employment or tenancy brings the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act into play, with permissible-purpose and notice obligations that a personal curiosity search does not satisfy. Our guide to finding out if someone is married or divorced covers the lawful routes in more detail.

If you are researching a deceased person, the death record is often the faster document and follows a different custody rule; see Nebraska death records.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about how Nebraska marriage and divorce records are held and released. It is not legal advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Fees, ordering channels, and office procedures change without notice; confirm current details directly with the Nebraska DHHS Office of Vital Records or the relevant county office. For advice about a specific situation, consult an attorney licensed in Nebraska.

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Last updated: 2026-08-04. Fees and procedures reflect the sources cited as of that date.