New York Marriage and Divorce Records: State, NYC and the 100-Year Rule (2026)

New York runs three separate systems that people constantly merge into one. The state health department holds marriage records from 1881 for everywhere except New York City, holds divorce certificates from 1963 for the whole state, and the divorce court file itself is confidential for 100 years under Domestic Relations Law section 235.

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. New York is the state where the most requests go to the wrong office, so the sections below are organized by custodian rather than by record type.

Marriage Records: The State, Except New York City

New York State Vital Records states the boundary itself: it "has Marriage records (since 1881) for marriage licenses purchased in all of New York State except New York City. It does not have these records for licenses purchased in New York City including the boroughs of Manhattan, Kings (Brooklyn), Queens, Bronx, and Richmond (Staten Island)."

Two things follow. If the license was purchased in Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, or anywhere outside the five boroughs, the state office in Albany is the custodian, with holdings back to 1881. If the license was purchased in any of the five boroughs, the state office has nothing, no matter how the request is worded.

Eligibility at the state level runs through one of three doors: you are one of the spouses; you are a third party with a documented judicial or other proper purpose, typically evidenced by an official agency letter; or you hold a New York State court order.

Fees as of August 2026 are $45 for an online or telephone order, plus the vendor's processing charge, or $30 by mail to Albany. The state runs its ordering system on its own site rather than through a general vital-records vendor.

New York City Marriage Records Are a Different Agency Entirely

NYC marriage records come from the Office of the City Clerk, which is a mayoral-administration office. It is not the state health department and it is not the city health department, which is why requests routed to either of those come back empty.

The City Clerk's holdings and the way it releases them differ from the state's in every respect that matters:

• Year ranges. The City Clerk generally holds records from 1950 forward, with in-person service at the Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, and Staten Island branch offices covering 1996 forward. Records from 1866 to 1949 sit with the Department of Records and Information Services, a third custodian at 31 Chambers Street in Manhattan.
• The 50-year rule. The City Clerk states that "A Marriage Record older than 50 years from today's date is considered a historic record and is available to the general public." Below that threshold, a requester must be a spouse, hold written notarized authorization from a spouse, be purchasing the record for mailing to the other spouse on a sworn statement, be an attorney who needs it as legal evidence, be establishing that both spouses are deceased with death certificates in hand, or show a judicial or other proper purpose.
• Fees. A domestic short-form certificate is $15 for the first copy and $10 for each additional copy. The extended certificate used for foreign purposes is $35 for the first copy and $30 for each additional. An apostille adds a two-step chain: a County Clerk authentication, currently $3, followed by the New York State Department of State apostille, currently $10.
• Search fees, charged separately. If the City Clerk has to search for the record, the charge is $5 for the first year searched, $1 for the second year, and $0.50 for each additional year, with a $15 minimum that applies even when you supply the license number. Budget for the search on top of the copy fee rather than assuming a known license number makes the search free.
• Ordering. In-person appointments are booked through the City Clerk's own system, or requests can be mailed directly to the City Clerk. The state's ordering system does not reach these records.

Divorce: The One Layer That Does Not Split by NYC

Divorce is where New York gets simpler and most explanations get it wrong. New York State Vital Records holds the Certificate of Dissolution of Marriage for all divorces and civil annulments granted in New York State since January 1, 1963, and that coverage includes New York City. There is no separate NYC divorce certificate system to hunt for.

The state's own explanation of the two documents is the clearest statement of the distinction that runs through this entire cluster. The divorce decree "is prepared by the court," is "signed by the judge and filed with the County Clerk," and contains the terms of the dissolution. The divorce certificate "is filed with the New York State Department of Health for divorces granted on or after January 1, 1963," and records the basic facts, including the date and place the marriage ended.

For divorces before January 1, 1963, no state certificate was ever created. The only document is the court-filed decree, obtained through the County Clerk, generally in the county where the plaintiff resided.

Eligibility for a certified copy or certified transcript of the divorce certificate is tighter than for a marriage record: either spouse, or a person holding a New York State court order. Public Health Law section 4139(4) is the source of that limit, providing that a certified copy or certified transcript may be furnished to someone other than a party to the action "only upon order of a judge."

A narrower proper-purpose route does exist on the divorce side, and it is easy to miss because it does not produce an orderable certificate. Public Health Law section 4139(5) provides that "whenever in his opinion, information as to the dissolution of a marriage is required for a legal or other proper purpose, the commissioner may make a search of the files" and furnish the applicant a certification giving the names of the parties, the county and county seat where the decree was granted, and the date the decree was entered. That is a discretionary bare-facts certification, not the certified copy the state's ordering system sells, and it is not part of the standard online or mail order path.

Fees match the marriage schedule at $45 online or by phone and $30 by mail.

For the substantive law of dissolution rather than the records process, see New York divorce laws.

The 100-Year Rule Under DRL Section 235, and Why It Is Not the 50-Year Rule

The most persistent confusion in New York involves three numbers attached to three different things.

Domestic Relations Law section 235 governs the matrimonial court file, meaning the case papers in a divorce, separation, or annulment action. Subdivisions one through three impose confidentiality limits on those records, and subdivision five sets the endpoint: "The limitations of subdivisions one, two and three of this section in relation to confidentiality shall cease to apply one hundred years after date of filing, and such records shall thereupon be public records available to public inspection."

One hundred years, running from the date of filing, and applying to court papers held by the County Clerk.

That is a separate rule from the NYC City Clerk's 50-year historic-record threshold, which applies to marriage records held by the City Clerk and has nothing to do with divorce case files. It is also separate from the eligibility rules the state health department applies to its own certificates, which are relationship-based and purpose-based rather than time-based.

Three custodians, three rules, three record types. A genealogist looking for a 1930 Brooklyn marriage is working with the City Clerk's 50-year rule and will find the record public. A researcher looking for the papers in a 1970 Westchester divorce is working with DRL section 235 and will not, because 100 years have not run. Neither is asking the state health department anything.

Where a record is being sought as a court record rather than a certificate, New York's general access framework is covered on our New York public records laws page.

Which Document Do You Actually Need

For a divorce, the answer is usually the decree, not the certificate. Lenders, pension administrators, immigration filings, and courts in other states typically need the terms of the judgment, and the state certificate does not recite them. Order the decree from the County Clerk in the county where the action was filed.

The certificate is the right document when an agency asks only for proof that a marriage legally ended, or when a remarriage application requires evidence that a prior marriage was dissolved.

For a marriage, the question is simply where the license was purchased. Outside New York City, order from the state. Inside, order from the City Clerk, and note the extended certificate if the document is going abroad, since the short form is often rejected for foreign use and the apostille chain runs through the County Clerk and the Department of State.

Our general walkthrough on getting a copy of your marriage certificate covers identification requirements and mail-order mechanics.

Looking Up Someone Else's New York Record

Neither the state nor the City Clerk publishes a free searchable index of marriage or divorce records, so there is no equivalent of the open state indexes available in a handful of other states.

The realistic public routes are the NYC historic records more than 50 years old, which are open to anyone, and matrimonial court files more than 100 years old, which DRL section 235 makes public. Everything more recent runs into the eligibility rules described above.

Commercial background-check products are a poor substitute here. Marriage and divorce data is fragmented across county and municipal systems nationally, and several major vendors have stopped carrying it. Any consumer report used to screen someone for employment or housing also brings the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act into play, with permissible-purpose and notice duties that a personal search does not satisfy. See our guide to finding out if someone is married or divorced.

For the sibling record type, with its own separate NYC split, see New York death records.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about how New York marriage and divorce records are held and released. It is not legal advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Fees, ordering systems, and office procedures change without notice; confirm current details with New York State Vital Records, the NYC Office of the City Clerk, or the County Clerk holding the court file. For advice about a specific situation, consult an attorney licensed in New York.

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