California Marriage & Divorce Records: Mail-Only Since July 2026

California has the most fragmented marriage and divorce records system of any large state, and it got harder to navigate in July 2026 when the state health department cut off online third-party ordering. The result is a system with real gaps: specific years the state simply cannot serve, a divorce product that covers 22 years and nothing else, and a parallel confidential-marriage track that no state office touches.

This page is about obtaining documents. For the dissolution process itself, see California divorce laws. For the state-by-state comparison, see the marriage and divorce records hub.

The July 2026 change: CDPH takes mail applications only

CDPH's own notice is unambiguous: "Effective July 1, 2026, CDPH-Vital Records (CDPH VR) will no longer accept applications submitted through online third party vendors. CDPH VR only processes applications submitted by mail. If you choose to apply through a third party vendor, they may either mail your application to CDPH VR or send it electronically to the county where the event occurred." CDPH adds that it "cannot assist with fees, refunds, corrections, or any additional services offered by third party companies."

Three practical consequences, as of August 2026:

• There is no live online ordering channel at CDPH. If you want the state's copy, you mail an application and a check or money order payable to CDPH-VR.
• Vendors still advertising online California ordering are either mailing your paperwork in on your behalf or sending it to a county. You pay their markup for that.
• The faster route is often the county in the first place. County Recorders and County Clerks maintain their own counter and mail service, and for several year ranges they are the only source anyway.

California marriage records: the year-range problem

CDPH publishes an explicit list of the years it can serve, and it has holes. In CDPH's own words, it "can ONLY provide certified copies of certificates for public marriages that occurred in the years: 1905 to 1999, 2001 / 2008 to 2025," and it "is not able to provide certified copies of certificates for the years 2000 and 2002 through 2007."

Read that carefully, because it is not a historical cutoff. It is a gap in the middle of living memory. A marriage in 2004 cannot be certified by the state at all. Neither can one in 2000. Those requests go to the County Recorder in the county that issued the license.

CDPH notes that it updates this list as indexing progresses, so the window can move. Check the current list on CDPH's page before mailing, particularly near the recent end of the range.

The County Recorder is a permanent alternative for every year, not just the gaps. The county has held the record continuously since the license was issued, so if you know the county, going straight there avoids the year-range question entirely.

Authorized copies versus informational copies

California splits marriage certificates into two products, and the difference matters.

An authorized certified copy can be used to establish identity. California limits who may obtain one to the registrant and a defined family class: parent, legal guardian, child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, or domestic partner, plus law enforcement and government agencies acting in official business.

An informational certified copy is available to anyone else. It contains the same data but is stamped to show it cannot be used to establish identity.

That structure is why California can be described as both restricted and open. The underlying public marriage record is available to anyone; only the identity-establishing version is gated.

Confidential marriages are a completely separate track

California is the leading state for confidential marriage, and the record behaves nothing like a public one. CDPH says so directly: it "does not maintain records of confidential marriages. Certified copies of confidential marriage records are only available from the County Clerk's Office in the county where the confidential marriage license was issued. Only the two individuals named on the marriage certificate can obtain copies of confidential marriage records."

The statute behind that is Family Code section 511, which makes the confidential marriage certificate not open to public inspection except upon order of the court issued on a showing of good cause. So there is no family-member workaround, no informational copy, and no state-level fallback. A child, a parent, or an estate representative who needs a confidential marriage record needs a court order.

If you do not know whether a marriage was public or confidential, that is itself a diagnostic question worth asking the County Clerk before you spend money at the state level.

California divorce records: the 1962 to June 1984 window

This is the branch that surprises people most, so take CDPH's own statement in full: "The California Department of Public Health - Vital Records (CDPH-VR) maintains divorce records for only 1962 through June 1984. These records consist only of the face sheet of the divorce action, not the actual divorce decree. CDPH-VR is only able to provide you with a Certificate of Record, which includes the names of the parties, filing date, county, and case number of the divorce. Copies of the actual divorce decree can only be obtained from the Superior Court in the county where the divorce took place."

Unpack what that means.

Outside 1962 to June 1984, the state has nothing. A 1990 divorce, a 2015 divorce, a 1955 divorce: CDPH cannot help with any of them. The Superior Court is the only source.

Inside the window, what you get is thin. The Certificate of Record is the face sheet of a filing. It shows that a divorce action was filed, by whom, when, where, and under what case number. Critically, a filing is not a judgment. The Certificate of Record does not establish that the divorce was ever finalized. If you need proof that a marriage actually ended, this document does not supply it on its own.

The decree is always a court record. The Superior Court in the county where the case was heard holds the judgment with all the terms: property division, spousal support, custody, name restoration. Court copy and certification fees are set locally and change, so ask the clerk's office for its current schedule.

The upshot: for almost every real-world need involving a California divorce, the answer is the county Superior Court, not the state.

How to order, step by step

1. Classify the record. Public marriage or confidential marriage. Divorce inside 1962 to June 1984 or outside it.
2. Pick the custodian. CDPH for public marriages in its listed years and for a Certificate of Record inside the divorce window. County Recorder for marriages in the gap years or when you want speed. County Clerk for confidential marriages. Superior Court for any decree.
3. Choose your copy type for a marriage record, authorized or informational, and be ready to complete the sworn statement an authorized copy requires.
4. Mail the CDPH application with payment. Fees as of August 2026 are $19.00 per marriage copy and $18.00 per divorce Certificate of Record, by check or money order payable to CDPH-VR. There is no CDPH online channel.
5. For a decree, contact the Superior Court in the county of the divorce and ask for its certified-copy process and current fee.

Older records and genealogy

CDPH's marriage coverage begins in 1905. For anything earlier, the County Recorder in the county of issuance is the custodian. Because California's counties have kept these continuously and CDPH's own gaps push modern requests back to them anyway, the County Recorder is the workhorse office in this state for both historical and recent research.

For pre-1962 or post-June 1984 divorces, there is no genealogical shortcut through vital records at all. Superior Court archives and county historical holdings are the route.

California does not permit common-law marriage to be formed in the state, though it recognizes one validly created elsewhere. That is a records problem as much as a legal one, because such a marriage generates no California license and no certificate to order. See California common-law marriage.

Related California pages

Court files are the other access layer, and access disputes there run through court rules and the state's public-records framework; see California public records laws. See also California death records, which runs through the same CDPH office and the same July 2026 mail-only change, plus how to get a copy of your marriage certificate and how to find out if someone is married or divorced.