Find Free Cuyahoga County Divorce Records (Obtain Certificates)

Look up free Cuyahoga County divorce records today for any reason.

Divorce records in the county are available to the public because of Ohio’s Open Records Law and, by extension, the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Requesters in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, can obtain these records via several methods, which are clearly outlined in this streamlined resource.

How To View Cuyahoga County Divorce Records for Free

Patrons who need to find divorce records in the county can do so by getting in touch with the Cuyahoga County Clerk of Court of Common Pleas – Domestic Relations Court.¹

The Domestic Relations Court is a division of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas that carries out dissolutions and is the custodian of these records.² The Clerk of Court files, stores, and disseminates these records to the public.

Interested parties have two ways they can view these records: online or by visiting the court house. The Clerk of Court has a Cuyahoga County Court Records Search Tool permitting the public to view dissolution decrees for free.³

Users searching for these records will select “Civil/Domestic Search” and can find domestic relations records by party name or case number. When looking for these records using this divorce index, select “Domestic Relations” to locate dissolution records.

Upon finding a divorce case, summary information such as case number, party names, case designation (such as divorce with children) and the filing date is shown. Users can also obtain more information on the file, including costs, docket information that details the case dockets and service (serving of divorce papers).

In addition, patrons may obtain certified copies of divorce certificates by visiting the Cuyahoga Clerk of Courts.⁴ Requestors will pay $1.00 per page for certified copies of dissolution records and can make their request at the address below. For questions, call 216.443.8800 or view these frequently asked questions.⁵

Cuyahoga County Courthouse
Room 35 1 West Lakeside Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44113

Please note that the Clerk of Courts only issues certified copies of divorce records and not informational copies. However, patrons may print unofficial copies of dissolution records when viewing them online from the search tool above.

Browse Cuyahoga County Divorce & Dissolution Records via Local Cities

Cuyahoga County has several cities, and divorces occur at different locations within the county; the search for records can be expanded to local agencies. Looking for divorce records at the county level provides a wide-scope search since it encompasses all cities and towns in Cuyahoga County.

Looking for public divorce records in city public agencies is helpful since they tend to cater to smaller populations and may have more attentive staff. Moreover, record requests from these smaller offices may take a shorter time due to having a smaller caseload. To demonstrate the search for divorce records in urban areas, the top five most populated population centers in the county will be used as examples; they are Cleveland, Parma, Lakewood, Euclid and Strongsville.

After 1913, Ohio began filing divorces in the Court of Common Pleas – Domestic Relations Court Division; therefore, these records must be sought from this county agency.⁶ While cities such as Cleveland have municipal courts, these city agencies are not the custodians of divorce records. It should be noted that the municipal court can conduct marriage ceremonies, these records are also at the County Courts.

Therefore, patrons who need to view or obtain certified copies of divorce records while residing in cities in the county must revert to the Cuyahoga County Clerk of Court of Common Pleas, as seen above.

How To Track Down Divorce Records Throughout All of Ohio via the Courts of Common Pleas

It is not uncommon for when searching for divorce records in Cuyahoga County to discover that the dissolution was not recorded in the county. In cases like this, the Cuyahoga Court of Common Pleas cannot be a viable source of records since it has custody of dissolution documents of annulments that took place in the county alone.

In instances like this, and as is the case in many states, requestors would turn to state agencies to find records from the county; to be specific, they would contact the State Vital Records Offices. However, the Ohio Department of Health does not maintain divorce records for events in the state; the agency advises interested persons to contact the county agency that finalized the separation.⁸

Therefore, patrons need to ascertain the county that finalized the divorce and contact the respective Clerk of Court of the Common Pleas.⁹ Many counties will have online search tools as Cuyahoga does to view dissolution records, and some will give citizens the option to mail in their requests, visit the courts and view records at computer terminals and request certified copies if desired.

Lastly, citizens who want to perform a search for older divorce records in Cuyahoga County may do so at the Ohio Archives & Library. The library provides online search tools and resources for where to find these records. Requesters should note that the Courts of Common Pleas have custody of dissolution records from 1843 to the present.

Interested parties can call the Ohio History Connection Library at 614.297.2300 or 800.686.6124.¹⁰ They may also visit the library at the address below:

Ohio History Connection 
800 East 17th Avenue
Columbus, Ohio 43211

Can Anyone View Divorce Records in Cuyahoga County?

Cuyahoga divorce records are part of public data, which means anyone can view these documents—this accessibility is due to Ohio Open Records Law.¹¹ These documents also include common law divorce records. While Ohio does not recognize common law marriages, it acknowledges couples who have moved from a state that permits these unions by law; it also recognizes those that took place in the state before 1991 as valid.¹²

Regarding divorce documents, there is a clear distinction between records and dissolution decrees. Dissolution decrees are the actual divorce documents signed by the judge and provide details of the separation, such as alimony, child custody or division of assets. Both spouses receive copies of their dissolution decrees upon approval.

Divorce records are generated due to a separation granted by a judge in the Court of Common Pleas in Cuyahoga County. They will be an abstract of the actual decree and do not contain much information on the divorce but serve as a record to show the vital event. These records are certified.

The public can however print non-certified copies of these records from the Clerk of Courts Online Search Tool when viewing a case. In addition as seen earlier, citizens may also order certified copies of divorce from the Court of Common Pleas.

Dissolution records are available for public view in Ohio and, by extension, Cuyahoga County. Nevertheless, only certain authorized persons, such as a party of the record, immediate family members and legal counsel, can request and obtain divorce decree documents.

Moreover, in some cases, parties to the divorce may elect to seal their records; in cases like these, divorce records will not be accessible to the public except by court order.

Finally, requesters can turn to third-party vendors to aid them in locating divorce records. These companies scour government databases to locate required documents and can find records if the requesters are unsure of their location. Documents these companies gather can only be official legal papers if state and county agencies have authorized them.

Cuyahoga County divorce records are mostly found through county sources, and citizens who require them to verify marital status or settle legal matters can use the information provided in this guide to help them find these documents.