Washington Marriage and Divorce Records: Anyone Can Order One

Washington is one of the most open states in the country for marriage and divorce records. The Department of Health states plainly that anyone can request a marriage or divorce certificate and that you do not need to provide proof of identity or qualified relationship status to the subjects of the record. Fees start at $25 per copy, and state records begin in 1968.

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

This article is about Washington records, not Washington divorce procedure. For grounds, timelines, and property rules, see Washington divorce laws.

Washington's Open-Access Rule, Stated Plainly

Most states gate marriage and divorce certificates behind a relationship test: you must be a spouse, a parent, a child, or a legal representative. Washington does not. The Department of Health's own ordering page says that anyone can request a marriage or divorce certificate and that you do not need to provide proof of identity or qualified relationship status to the subjects of the record.

That is a genuine outlier, and it is worth understanding why. Washington restricts birth and death certificates the way other states do, so the openness here is a deliberate choice about these two record types rather than an oversight. The federal directory of state vital-records offices reflects the same split: the ordering steps it lists for a Washington marriage record ask for names, an approximate date, and a county, and they do not include the qualifying-relationship documentation step that appears for births and deaths.

What that means in practice: you do not have to justify the request. You do have to know enough to find the record, which normally means both names, roughly when the event happened, and the county.

How to Order a Washington Marriage or Divorce Certificate

Fee. Nonrefundable fees start at $25 per certified or noncertified informational copy. Other fees may apply depending on the ordering method and shipping option, so the total on a rush order is higher than the base figure.

Channels. DOH names three:

• Online through VitalChek, which DOH identifies as its ordering partner.
• By phone through VitalChek, at 1-866-687-1464, available 24 hours a day.
• By mail, using the department's marriage and divorce order form.

Timing. DOH gives 3 to 7 business days for VitalChek orders, depending on the shipping option chosen, and 6 to 8 weeks by mail after payment is received and processed. If you are on a deadline, the mail route is usually the wrong choice.

A faster local option. For a marriage within the past five months, DOH points you to the county auditor's office where you obtained the marriage license, which can issue a county-certified white copy. Newly married couples chasing a name change at Social Security or the Department of Licensing usually find this the quickest path.

Pro tip: Washington's fee is a fee for the search, not a guarantee of a certificate. Because the fee is nonrefundable, spend a few minutes narrowing the county and the approximate date before you order. A wrong county is the most common reason a Washington request comes back empty.

Which Years Washington Holds, and Where the Rest Are

The state vital-records office holds marriage and divorce records from 1968 to the present.

Before that, custody is local:

• Marriages before 1968: the county auditor's office in the county where the marriage license was obtained.
• Divorces before January 1, 1968: the superior court clerk in the county where the divorce was finalized.

That split reflects how the records were created. The county auditor has always been Washington's marriage-licensing office, so auditor records reach back further than the state's do. Genealogists working before 1968 should plan on county-level research, with the Washington State Archives as the secondary stop for historical holdings.

Certificate Versus Decree: The Distinction That Matters Most

The $25 divorce certificate DOH sells is a short record that a divorce occurred. It is proof of the event. It is not the decree, and it does not contain the terms.

The decree of dissolution and the underlying case file are court records held by the superior court clerk in the county where the case was filed. If you need to show a lender who received the house, prove a support obligation, enforce a parenting plan, or read what a judge actually ordered, the clerk's file is the only source.

This is the single most common wasted purchase in this area. People order the state certificate, discover it says almost nothing, and then have to order again from the county.

What Is Actually Public in a Washington Divorce File

Washington's General Rule 22 governs access to family law, protection order, guardianship, and therapeutic court records. Its general policy is open: except for the carve-outs it names, all court records shall be open to the public for inspection and copying upon request, and the clerk may charge legally authorized production fees.

The restricted list is specific rather than open-ended. GR 22 limits access to items including the Law Enforcement and Confidential Information Form, sealed financial source documents, the Domestic Violence Information Form, a notice of intent to relocate, a sealed personal health care record, retirement plan orders, and confidential reports such as parenting evaluations and domestic-violence assessment reports. The rule defines sealed financial source documents concretely, listing income tax returns, W-2s and schedules, wage stubs, credit card statements, financial institution statements, checks, check registers, and loan application documents.

The rule also keeps restricted personal identifiers out of filings in the first place. Parties are generally not required to put a Social Security number, driver's license number, telephone number, financial account number, or a minor child's date of birth into filed documents.

Two consequences follow for anyone reading a Washington divorce file:

1. You should generally expect to see the decree, the parenting plan, and the orders. Those are not on the restricted list.
2. You should expect the financial exhibits and any psychological or parenting evaluation to be unavailable. That is by design, and it is not the clerk being unhelpful.

Separately, GR 22 does not reach records sealed under GR 15 or restricted by other law. A judge can still seal a specific file for cause.

Watch out: Because Washington certificates are open to anyone, this state is unusually attractive to commercial data brokers and lookup sites. Their marriage and divorce data is still frequently stale or wrong, and using it for employment or tenant screening moves you into federal Fair Credit Reporting Act territory. Read how to find out if someone is married or divorced before paying one of them.

Related Washington Records

Washington does not allow new common-law marriages, though its courts recognize a related doctrine for committed intimate relationships; the background is in Washington common-law marriage. Note that where no license was ever issued, no marriage certificate exists to order.

For the state's much more restrictive death-record rules, see Washington death records. For the Public Records Act route into agency files, see Washington public records laws. For every other state, use the marriage and divorce records by state hub, or the general how to get a copy of your marriage certificate guide.

Disclaimer

This article provides general legal information about Washington marriage and divorce records, verified against official sources on 2026-08-04. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Fees, processing times, and court rules change; confirm current details with the Washington State Department of Health or the relevant superior court clerk. For advice about a specific situation, consult a lawyer licensed in Washington.

---

Last updated: 2026-08-04.