Delaware Marriage & Divorce Records: The 50-Year Marriage Release

Delaware is small enough to have no county health departments and no town clerks, but it still runs a genuine three-way custody split for marriage and divorce records. The unusual feature is a statutory clock that opens marriage records to the public on a fixed schedule, with divorce conspicuously left out of it.

This page is about obtaining documents. For grounds, residency, and process, see Delaware divorce laws. For the national comparison, see the marriage and divorce records hub.

The 50-year rule, and what it does not cover

Delaware's disclosure statute sets automatic release dates by record type. Section 3110(f) of Title 16 reads: "When 72 years have elapsed after the date of birth, 40 years have elapsed after the date of death, or 50 years have elapsed after the date of marriage, the records of these events shall become public records and information shall be made available in accordance with regulations which shall provide for the continued safekeeping of the records."

Two things follow, and the second one is routinely reported wrong.

Marriage: yes. A Delaware marriage more than 50 years old is a public record. Anyone may access it, and in practice those records move to the Delaware Public Archives.

Divorce: no. Divorce is not among the record types the subsection releases. The provision names birth, death and marriage only. So the widely repeated claim that Delaware opens marriage and divorce records alike after 50 years is half right. We did not locate another statutory provision creating an equivalent automatic release for divorce records, which means a Delaware divorce record has no fixed public-release date on the vital-records side. Access to the divorce case file is a separate question governed by court rules, and Family Court remains the office to ask. Family Court's own records-access page says members of the public may review its files in person at the Records Room with photo identification and may obtain copies of legal documents such as complaints and court orders, but not of social documents like custody investigations or psychological evaluations unless a judicial officer orders it.

Delaware marriage records

The Office of Vital Statistics, part of the Division of Public Health, is the state custodian of marriage certificates and holds records from 1976 to the present. Marriage licenses are issued by the county Clerks of the Peace, but the certificate of record is centralized at the state.

Records older than 50 years, which currently means the pre-1976 range, are handled by the Delaware Public Archives rather than Vital Statistics. That is the same line the statute draws, applied administratively: once the record is public, it moves to the archive.

Ordering options that Delaware names on its own site include in-person service at the three Office of Vital Statistics locations in New Castle, Kent and Sussex, a mail-in application using the state's marriage certificate form, and online ordering through VitalChek or GoCertificates. Both vendors are named explicitly by the state, which is worth noting, because in most states only one is.

On fee, be careful. Delaware publishes its vital-records fees through its certificates guide and application forms rather than in a single durable page we could quote as of August 2026, and figures circulating on non-official sites are not reliable. Confirm the current per-copy charge with the Office of Vital Statistics before mailing payment.

We were also unable to confirm a verbatim eligibility clause for marriage certificates inside the 50-year window on an official Delaware page; the state publishes that guidance inside a PDF application. So rather than paraphrase a rule we did not read, the honest statement is this: expect to identify yourself and your connection to the record for a marriage under 50 years old, and expect no such requirement once it is past the line. Ask Vital Statistics what documentation your situation requires.

Delaware divorce records: decree from Family Court

Delaware's divorce structure is cleanly split, and unusually cheap on the court side.

The certified divorce decree comes from the Family Court in the county where the divorce was granted, meaning New Castle, Kent or Sussex. The court's page does not publish a coverage start year; reporting commonly places Family Court's divorce jurisdiction from 1979 forward, though we could not confirm that year against a primary source, so ask the Records Department before assuming an older decree is held there. The court's own page sets the fee at $4.00 for a certified copy and $1.00 for a non-certified copy, with an additional charge possible if the decree must be pulled from archives. Requests are made in person with photo identification, or by mail with a notarized signature.

For older divorces, predating Family Court's jurisdiction, the county Prothonotary offices or the Delaware Public Archives are the custodians.

The state-level layer is an index, not a product you can buy. Delaware Courts use Form 441, the Certificate of Divorce or Annulment, which the Clerk of Court files with the Office of Vital Statistics after a final decree. That creates a statistical and index record at the state, and reporting suggests the index runs from 1935 forward, though we could not confirm that start year against a primary source. What matters practically is that Vital Statistics does not issue a certified divorce document. If you need paper proving a Delaware divorce, Family Court issues it.

That $4.00 fee is worth emphasizing because it is roughly a fifth of what a state divorce certificate costs in a typical state. If you have been quoted $25 or more for a Delaware divorce record by a website, you are being charged a markup on a $4.00 court document.

How to order, step by step

Marriage certificate:

1. Work out which side of the 50-year line the marriage falls on. Older than 50 years means Delaware Public Archives; newer means Office of Vital Statistics.
2. For a recent record, apply in person in New Castle, Kent or Sussex, by mail with the state's form, or online through VitalChek or GoCertificates.
3. Confirm the current fee and the identification requirements with Vital Statistics before sending payment.

Divorce decree:

1. Identify the county where the divorce was granted.
2. Contact the Family Court Records Department in that county and confirm it holds a decree of that age.
3. Apply in person with photo identification, or by mail with a notarized signature as the court's page directs.
4. Pay $4.00 per certified copy or $1.00 per non-certified copy, plus any archive-retrieval charge.
5. If Family Court does not hold a decree that old, contact the county Prothonotary or the Delaware Public Archives.

Genealogy and historical research

The Delaware Public Archives is the destination for marriage records past the 50-year line and for older divorce material. Because the statutory release makes older marriage records genuinely public, Delaware is friendlier to genealogists than states that keep a permanent relationship gate.

Delaware does not permit common-law marriage to be formed in the state, so there is no informal-marriage record to search; see Delaware common-law marriage.

Related Delaware pages

For the court-file access route and general request framework, see Delaware public records laws. See also Delaware death records, which the same 3110(f) clock releases after 40 years, plus how to get a copy of your marriage certificate and how to find out if someone is married or divorced.