Utah divorce records live in two different places, and which one you need depends on what you are being asked for. The decree — the signed order that ends the marriage and states its terms — comes from the district court that granted the divorce. A divorce certificate, which is a short vital-records document proving the divorce happened, comes from the Utah Office of Vital Records and only for divorces between 1978 and 2010. Almost everyone who says “I need a copy of my divorce” needs a certified copy of the decree.
Ask the clerk of the district court where the divorce was granted — not the county you live in now, and not the state. You will need the case number if you have it, or the names of both spouses and the approximate year if you do not. Requests can be made in person at the courthouse, and most courts also take them by mail or phone.
Fees are the Judicial Council’s statewide schedule — see the court fee schedule. A certified copy carries the clerk’s seal and is what banks, the SSA, the DMV and a retirement plan will accept; a plain photocopy is not. An exemplified copy is a certified copy that a judge also authenticates, and is occasionally required by another state or a foreign government.
Partly, and the split is precise. UCJA Rule 4-202.02(4)(B)(i) makes the records in a Utah divorce action private — except that the case history, judgments, orders, decrees, letters of appointment and the record of public hearings are public records.
In practice that means anyone can see that a divorce happened and read the decree and the orders, while the material people actually worry about — the financial declaration, the non-public information forms carrying addresses and identifying numbers, the pleadings about the children — is not open to the public. A judge can also seal a decree by order, in which case even that is closed.
Utah’s court record system is Xchange, a searchable repository of district and justice court case information. It is not free, and it is not a document delivery service for certified copies — images of public documents can be purchased, but a copy downloaded from Xchange is not certified.
Current rates are on the Xchange subscription page. If all you need is your own decree, skip Xchange and call the clerk — it is cheaper and the copy is the one institutions accept.
A divorce certificate is a vital record — a short document from the Utah Office of Vital Records stating that a divorce occurred, the names and the date. It is not the decree and it states none of the terms, so it will not satisfy a plan administrator dividing a retirement account or a title company needing to know who was awarded a house.
Order through vitalrecords.utah.gov. Photo ID is required, and mailed requests are returned without it.
More than one. Several of the things you have to do after a divorce want a certified copy handed over and not returned, and going back to the clerk each time costs another $4 plus postage and a week. The usual list:
Three or four certified copies covers most people. Ask for them all at once and you pay the per-document fee each time but make one trip.
Ask the clerk of the district court that granted the divorce — not the county you live in now. Bring the case number if you have it, or both spouses' names and the approximate year. A certified copy costs $4.00 per document plus $0.50 per page; an exemplified copy, which a judge also authenticates for use in another state, is $6.00 plus $0.50 per page. Certified is what the SSA, the DMV, a bank and a retirement plan will accept — a plain photocopy is not.
Partly. UCJA Rule 4-202.02(4)(B)(i) makes the records in a Utah divorce action private, except that the case history, judgments, orders, decrees, letters of appointment and the record of public hearings are public. So anyone can read the decree and the orders, while the financial declaration, the non-public information forms and the pleadings about the children are not open to the public. A judge can seal a decree by order, which closes even that.
Through Xchange, the Utah courts' repository of district and justice court case information. It is not free: a one-time-use account is $10 up front with searches at $0.35 and documents at $1.00 each, and a subscription is $25 to set up plus $40 a month for up to 500 searches. A document downloaded from Xchange is not certified, so if you need your own decree for an institution, call the clerk instead.
The decree is the court order that ends the marriage and states its terms — custody, support, who gets what. The certificate is a short vital record saying only that a divorce happened, to whom and when. Anything that turns on what was actually ordered needs the decree; the certificate will not satisfy a retirement plan administrator or a title company.
From the Utah Office of Vital Records, and only for divorces between 1978 and 2010 — outside those years they refer you to the district court that granted it. The fee is $18 for the search plus one certified copy, and $10 for each additional copy. It can be ordered by the person of record, an immediate family member, a legal guardian or a designated legal representative, and photo ID is required.
Three or four covers most people. Several post-divorce steps want a certified copy handed over and not returned — Social Security and the DMV for a name change, a retirement plan administrator alongside a QDRO, a lender or title company for the house, a bank for joint accounts — and going back to the clerk each time costs another fee and another week. Ask for them all in one request and keep one you never give away.