West Virginia Marriage and Divorce Records: Where to Get a Copy

West Virginia's most useful record fact is a nuanced one. State law directs the Vital Registration Office to index every divorce granted in West Virginia and, under West Virginia Code Section 16-5-36(d), to issue certified copies upon request, but the office's current public-facing service does not include a divorce certificate among what it processes. In practice, you get a certified divorce copy from the clerk of the circuit court in the county where the divorce was granted. Marriage certificates are different: the state issues those, and marriage records stay confidential under West Virginia Code § 16-5-27 until fifty years have elapsed, at which point § 16-5-27(d) makes them available to the public without restriction. The state's application form restates the same rule.

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

This page covers West Virginia records. For the substantive law on grounds, residency, and property division, see West Virginia divorce laws.

Why West Virginia Divorce Copies Come From the County in Practice

Start with what the statute does and does not accomplish.

West Virginia Code § 16-5-36 requires that a record of each divorce or annulment ordered by any court in the state be filed by the clerk of that court with the state's section of vital statistics. The petitioner or their legal representative prepares that record on the State Registrar's form and hands it to the clerk with the petition, and on or before the tenth day of each month the clerk forwards the prior month's records to vital statistics. Section 16-5-35 does the parallel job for marriage: each county clerk sends the state a report of the marriage records it made in the previous month.

So the state receives divorce data every month, and the statute even says the State Registrar shall preserve and index the records and shall upon request issue certified copies of them.

In practice, the agency does not offer that service to the public. The Vital Registration Office's own description of what it issues names certified copies of birth, death, fetal death, and marriage certificates. Its certificate request forms page lists exactly four forms: birth, stillbirth, death, and marriage. There is no divorce request form, and the page says nothing about divorce records.

The practical rule, therefore, is the one the federal directory of state vital-records offices also gives: certified copies of West Virginia divorce orders come from the clerk of the circuit court in the county where the divorce was granted. Treat the state's holdings as an index establishing that a divorce happened, not as a source for a document you can hand to a bank.

Watch out: If a website offers to sell you a "West Virginia state certified divorce certificate," that is a sign you are on a reseller site rather than a government one. The document you actually need is a certified copy of the decree from the circuit clerk.

Getting a West Virginia Marriage Certificate

The state does issue these, and the process is straightforward.

Fee. A $12.00 nonrefundable search fee must accompany the application, and that fee includes one copy if the record is found. Each additional copy is $12.00. Because the fee is a search fee, an unsuccessful search costs the same as a successful one.

Years. The state office indexes marriages from 1921 forward and issues certified copies from 1964 forward. For a marriage before 1964, or for any record the state does not have on file, contact the county clerk in the county where the marriage license was issued.

Where to send it. The Vital Registration Office, Room 165, 350 Capitol Street, Charleston, WV 25301-3701. The office's phone number is (304) 558-2931.

What to include. The application asks for both parties' names as they appear on the record, the date and county of the marriage, your relationship to the parties, and a valid ID. For a mailed request, a photocopy of the ID is sufficient. The form warns that intentionally making a false statement on the application, or obtaining, possessing, or using a vital record other than as allowed by law, is a felony under West Virginia Code § 16-5-38.

The 50-Year Confidentiality Rule

The rule comes from the statute, not from agency practice. West Virginia Code § 16-5-27(d) provides that once "fifty years have elapsed after the date of ... marriage, or divorce or annulment, the records of these events in the custody of the state Registrar and local custodians shall ... become available to the public without restriction unless otherwise prohibited or restricted by law." Until that point, § 16-5-27(b) makes it unlawful to disclose confidential information contained in a vital record except as the article, a legislative rule, or a court order allows.

West Virginia's marriage application states the same rule in one sentence: marriage records are confidential and not open to the general public, except for those that are at least 50 years old.

Within that window, the form lists who is entitled to obtain records:

• the parties listed on the marriage certificate;
• adult children who were a product of the marriage; and
• legal representatives, with proof of legal representation.

The form adds that proof of relationship may also be required.

That operational list is narrower than the statute behind it. Section 16-5-28 directs the State Registrar to issue a certified copy to the registrant, their parents, spouse, adult children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren, legal guardian, or their respective authorized representatives, and allows others to obtain a copy when they demonstrate that the record is needed for the determination or protection of a personal or property right.

If you fall inside the statute's list but outside the form's list, for example a grandchild researching a grandparent's marriage, the sensible approach is to call the Vital Registration Office and explain the basis of the request rather than assuming you are barred. Cite the personal-or-property-right provision if it genuinely applies to you; do not stretch it if it does not.

Section 16-5-28 also carries a separate restriction worth knowing. Under § 16-5-28(e), the "Information for Statistical Purposes Only" section of a marriage or divorce certificate may not be disclosed unless the State Registrar specifically authorizes it for statistical or research purposes, and that information is not subject to subpoena or court order and is not admissible before any court. That statistical block is a research field set, not part of the public record of the divorce, and the Registrar's authorization power does not run to releasing it to an individual requester for a personal or property-right purpose.

Reading a West Virginia Divorce Case File

Divorce in West Virginia runs through the family court, with the circuit clerk maintaining the case file. Those files contain the decree, any property settlement, and any parenting or support orders. Access procedures and copy fees are handled at the courthouse level, so the reliable move is to call the circuit clerk's office in the right county and ask what it needs from you.

If you are approaching a court or agency file as an outside requester rather than a party, it helps to understand the state's general records framework first; see West Virginia public records laws.

Pro tip: Before calling, pin down the county. West Virginia has 55 of them, and both the marriage record and the divorce record are filed where the event happened, not where anyone lives now. A license issued in Kanawha County and a divorce granted in Cabell County means two different courthouses.

Genealogy and Older Records

For marriages before 1964, the county clerk is the primary custodian, and county clerks in West Virginia often hold marriage registers reaching well past the state's 1921 index. For divorces of any vintage, the circuit clerk is the only practical source of a certified document; although West Virginia Code Section 16-5-36(d) directs the State Registrar to issue certified copies upon request, the state's public-facing service has not included divorce certificates in practice.

Marriage records at least 50 years old fall outside the confidentiality rule under § 16-5-27(d), which makes genealogical marriage research substantially easier than research into recent records.

Related West Virginia Records

West Virginia abolished common-law marriage, so no license and no certificate exists for a relationship that was never formalized. The background is in West Virginia common-law marriage.

For the state's death-record rules, which the Vital Registration Office does handle directly, see West Virginia death records. To compare other states, use the marriage and divorce records by state hub, the how to get a copy of your marriage certificate guide, or how to find out if someone is married or divorced.

Disclaimer

This article provides general legal information about West Virginia 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 and office practices change; confirm current details with the West Virginia Vital Registration Office or the relevant circuit clerk before sending payment. For advice about a specific situation, consult a lawyer licensed in West Virginia.

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Last updated: 2026-08-04.