Track Down Free Ada County Divorce Records & Dissolutions

Find free Ada County divorce records and details of anyone’s marital status using this streamlined resource.

Unlike other forms of public records, divorce documents are all housed in one place in this county; what’s more, there’s only one form to fill out and a few different methods of officially filing a records request. This article will detail all those things and more to make searching for official divorce paperwork in Ada County, Idaho, as streamlined and efficient as possible.

How To Conduct a Free Ada County Divorce Records Search

The custodian for divorce decrees in Ada County is the county clerk’s office, where all public records for the area are housed.¹ Citizens seeking this information can place a request via an online submission, over the phone, or in-person. The quickest method is online.

From the clerk’s office webpage, individuals should select “Court Public Records Request” from the records request types. From here, fill out the record request form for a “family law case.”²

In order to view any records or obtain a decree of divorce, the case number will need to be known, or the names of both parties involved.

The Ada County Clerk’s Office can be reached by phone at 208-287-6879 or by email at [email protected].

While individuals can call the office for more information and to help begin the process of requesting records, they will most likely be redirected to fill out the online form. If opting to go to the clerk’s office in person, it is located within the Ada County Courthouse at the following physical address:

Ada County Courthouse
200 W. Front Street
Boise, ID 83702

The courthouse is open from 8:00am – 5:00pm from Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays. The clerk’s office is located on the first floor.

Another option for viewing and obtaining divorce papers online would be to fill out Ada County’s general public records request form. While this form is more tailored for situations where an individual might not know which department their sought-after record is kept in, it will still send the request over to the correct office, in this case the clerk’s office, for the submission to be processed.

Unfortunately, there are fees involved with obtaining divorce records. The clerk charges $1 for each page of public records, and a $1 cost for records to be certified with a seal.

Public divorce records are not available through the cities, towns, and municipalities within Ada County. All attempts to locate these documents through these custodians will be redirected back to the county courthouse.

How To Find Divorce Records for All of Idaho via the Bureau of Vital Records & Health Statistics

It is not uncommon for individuals that are searching through divorce indexes at the county level to realize that they may be looking at the wrong county, and that the event actually took place in a neighboring jurisdiction. When this happens, the county level custodians will no longer be of service. Instead, citizens can utilize Idaho’s Department of Health & Welfare.³

The department’s Bureau of Vital Records & Health Statistics has archived certificates of divorce dating back to 1947, and orders for certified copies can be placed by mail or online.

As a side note here, Idaho legally allowed common law marriages until the start of 1996. Because of this, it’s worth noting that common law divorce does not exist; any common law marriage that was absolved would have ended in divorce, just like legal marriages, and the records of both kinds of events will be archived together.

For the mail-in option, which is also the more economic option, individuals need to include three items with their request: first, a completed copy of Idaho’s Vital Records Certificate Request form (there is also an option for a Spanish version of the request form) OR a signed letter containing all the same information as on the request form.⁴

Some of the details needed are as follows:

• Addresses of anyone receiving a copy of the certificate
• Email addresses of anyone receiving a copy of the certificate
• The date of and city where the divorce occurred
• The record seeker’s relationship to the people named on the certificate

The second thing needed is a photocopy of the requester’s driver’s license, or another accepted form of identification, such as a passport or a state ID card.⁵

The third and final thing to include is a signed check or money order, made out to Idaho Vital Records, for the amount of however many certified copies of certificates requested (searchers can review the state’s fees for certified copies of records before submitting a request).⁶

These items can be mailed together to the following address:

Idaho Bureau of Vital Records & Health Statistics
P.O. Box 83720
Boise, ID 83720-0036

To reach the Bureau by phone about any matters related to divorce records, call 208-334-5980, or send an email to [email protected]. More information on the Bureau can be found on its contact page.⁷

For the fastest processing time, citizens can utilize VitalChek — an independent company that the Idaho Department of Health & Welfare partners with — to obtain certified divorce papers. However, payment will go up significantly if using this option, as the company charges its own fee on top of the department’s.

Are Divorce Records in Ada County Publicly Accessible?

Divorce records are considered public information in Ada County, at least in part because of Idaho’s Statute 74: Ethical & Transparent Government, which made these documents accessible to the public at the state level.⁸ However, there are some exceptions.

If attempting to access the divorce certificates offered by the state of Idaho, the records are considered confidential for 50 years before becoming public record. Furthermore, the state decides who is authorized to obtain these certificates, and typically only grants requests to those determined to have a “direct and tangible interest,” which is typically immediate family members or authorized representatives, such as a lawyer.⁹

Fortunately, there are less stipulations when requesting a decree of divorce from the Ada County Courthouse. A decree is the official document that grants the termination of the marriage, while the certificate of divorce offered by the state just act as proof that the absolution occurred.

The Ada County Clerk’s Office allows the public full access and availability of all decrees of divorces, but does redact some information in the cases where children were part of the marriage and subsequent divorce.

Sifting through records and information pertaining to government processes and systems can come with frustrations. To cut down on this as much as possible, this brief hopefully does a lot of the work for any curious individuals.

The main things to remember when searching Ada County divorce records are: the county clerk’s office is the official custodian of these records, submitting requests for decrees is most efficiently done through the clerk’s office online request form, and that everyone has complete access to these documents.

If searching at the state level, a different kind of document will be copied, and only to a select group of people for each record.