View & Obtain Free Greene County Divorce Records (Ohio)

Acquire free Greene County divorce records today. Divorces and dissolutions of marriage are available in Ohio, and information contained in them can be found without stress or fees.

State and county custodians of dissolution of marriage records provide databases where divorce information can be checked conveniently. Plenty of other lookup methods are available as well; all you need to know is where to look and how to submit a request.

Perform a divorce records search in Greene County, Ohio, quickly and seamlessly using the guidance below.

How To Look Up Free Greene County Divorce Records

The best place to begin a divorce records search in Ohio is through a county agency. In fact, according to the Ohio Bureau of Vital Statistics, public divorce records can only be obtained from the county clerk where the event was recorded.¹

The Greene County Clerk of Courts is the records custodian for dissolution of marriage records.² Anyone has the privilege to not only request certified copies of divorce records at a cost but also to view information concerning the proceeding for free online.

The Greene County Clerk of Court CourtView system is an online database containing information pertaining to every case filed, including dissolutions of marriage. Interested researchers navigating the system may elect to search a divorce by name, case type, or case number. It is unlikely that a researcher would know the specific case number for a particular divorce, so the next best option is to search by name or case type.

If you do not know a party to a divorce’s name, you may elect to search by case type, which is essentially a date-based search. You must enter a date range of when the dissolution of marriage occurred and then sift through the divorces that took place during that period.

You should know the name of the person you are researching, so the name-based search will likely be the best chance at locating the information you are looking for.

Users must include a divorce party’s last and first name. To limit the search exclusive to divorces, select ‘Dissolution of Marriage’ and ‘Divorce/ Legal Separation/ Annulment’ under the ‘Case Type’ section.

Once results are generated, you may see a number of dissolution or divorce cases in a chart. Navigate to the ‘Party/Company’ and ‘Date of Birth’ columns and use the information in each to locate the correct person. When you locate the correct person, select the case number to review information about the particular divorce case.

You will be able to review the name, date of birth, address, and attorney information of both parties to the dissolution of marriage.

Under the ‘Events’ section is where the time and date of the proceeding occurred and whether it involved children or not. The docket information will display each event that occurred within the proceeding, including all filings, hearings, and the final judgment.

The Greene County Clerk of Court does not offer instructions on how to order a divorce certificate or decree. There is no option to order a common law divorce certificate, as no such thing exists in Ohio. However, the Clerk of Court does provide general instructions on how to request records.⁵

Anyone submitting a request to the Greene County Clerk of Court must provide sufficient information to allow the office to identify, retrieve, and review the requested records. The request does not have to be in writing, nor does the requester have to reveal their identity or reason for the request.

The cost of copies is located at the bottom of the general instructions. A normal black and white copy is $.06 per page. It is unclear what a certified copy costs.

Requests may be submitted online, over the phone, in person, by mail, or by fax. The Greene County Form Center is where an interested party may submit a ‘Divorce/Dissolution’ inquiry.⁶ It should be noted that anyone who makes a request via this method must provide their first and last name and phone number.

Otherwise, a requester may submit an inquiry to the Greene County Clerk of Courts by using the contact information below.

Greene County Clerk of Courts
Greene County Courthouse
45 North Detroit Street
Xenia, Ohio 45385

Phone: 937.562.5290
Fax: 937.562.5309

The Greene County Clerk’s Office is open to the public from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

How To View Divorce Records Throughout the Entire State via the Ohio Department of Health

There is currently no option for interested parties to request dissolution of marriage records on the statewide level.

Typically, a state’s office of vital statistics will allow members of the general public to request certified or informational copies of vital records. Some states may even place safeguards around the vital records and ensure that only eligible requesters, like family members, can obtain the records.

In Ohio, the only way to obtain divorce records is by contacting the county clerk’s office where it occurred. Use the methods described in the section above to obtain a divorce record in Greene County.

Nonetheless, the Ohio Department of Health posts a free online divorce index that displays the statistics of marriages and dissolutions by year by county. Users must download a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that contains the information. Contact the Ohio Department of Health if you have questions.⁷

Ohio Department of Health
246 North High Street
Columbus, OH 43215

Phone: 614.466.3543

The Ohio Archives & Library holds some county divorce records.⁸ The library maintains a collection that includes divorces granted in Ohio before 1843. Interested persons must visit the Ohio Archives & Library located at the history center.

Ohio Archives & Library
800 East 17th Ave.
Columbus, OH 43211

Phone: 614.297.2510
Email: [email protected]

Who Can Track Down a Person’s Divorce Records in Greene County?

Divorce and dissolution records are part of public records in Greene County, Ohio. Dissolutions are essentially uncontested divorces.

Divorces, dissolutions, other marital records, birth, and death records are part of a group called vital records under the Ohio Revised Code Section 3705.01(O).⁹

Under ORC Section 3705.23, Ohio government agencies, including counties, must issue certified copies of vital records to any applicant unless an exemption applies.¹⁰ None of the statutory exemptions in the law concerns divorces or dissolutions of marriage. Therefore, divorce records are public in Greene County, Ohio.

You may have heard the term ‘divorce papers’, which generally refer to the initial filing documents that begin the procedure. This is not to be confused with divorce decrees, which are the final judgments issued at the end of the procedure.

If state or county agencies cannot provide you with the divorce information you need, a third party may be able to assist. However, unless endorsed by the state, any records you receive cannot be used for official purposes.

Greene County divorce records are readily available to anyone with internet access; use the information contained in this article to perform an effective search today.