Mississippi Marriage and Divorce Records: How to Get a Copy (2026)

Mississippi splits marriage and divorce records between two very different offices. The Mississippi State Department of Health holds marriage records going back to 1926, but it does not maintain divorce records at all. The certified divorce decree comes from the county Chancery Clerk.

Information last verified on 2026-08-04. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

This page is part of our guide to marriage and divorce records by state. It covers who holds each Mississippi record, what the state can and cannot issue, what it costs, and how far back the files go.

Where Mississippi Marriage Records Live

Two offices hold pieces of a Mississippi marriage. The Circuit Clerk in the county that issued the marriage license keeps the original license and the return filed after the ceremony. The Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) maintains a statewide file assembled from those county filings, and it is MSDH that issues a certified state copy.

The MSDH file is not continuous. Its own marriage records page states that "Marriage records are available for January 1, 1926 to June 30, 1938, and for January 1, 1942 to present." Anything solemnized inside the roughly three and a half year gap from mid 1938 to the start of 1942, and anything before 1926, has to be traced through the county Circuit Clerk instead.

MSDH also warns that the statewide file is not complete even inside those ranges: "Though required by law to be registered with MSDH, not all marriage records may be on file with the Office of Vital Records." If the state search comes back empty, that is not proof the marriage did not happen. The next step is the Circuit Clerk in the county where the license was issued, which MSDH itself points applicants toward.

Divorce Records in Mississippi: the Decree Is a Court Record

Start with the distinction that decides where you write. A divorce decree is the court's judgment, signed by a chancellor and filed in the Chancery Court that granted it. A vital-records certificate or verification is a much thinner document created by a health agency to confirm that a divorce was recorded. Many states issue both. Mississippi issues only one.

MSDH is unambiguous on this: "MSDH's Vital Records office does not maintain divorce records." There is no state-issued Mississippi divorce certificate to order. What MSDH does offer is a search of its divorce index, which locates "the county where the divorce was granted, the book, and the page number in the Chancery Clerk's office where it was recorded." That is a pointer, not a document, and it costs the same $17 as a certificate search.

The certified decree itself comes from one place. MSDH directs applicants that "The Chancery Clerk's office will need to be contacted directly in order to obtain a certified copy of the divorce decree." Fees for that certified copy are set by each Chancery Clerk rather than by the state, so check the schedule for the specific county rather than assuming a statewide number.

The MSDH divorce index covers the same two windows as the marriage file, January 1, 1926 to June 30, 1938 and January 1, 1942 to the present, and carries the same completeness caveat. If you already know the county, skip the state entirely and go straight to the Chancery Clerk.

Who Can Request a Mississippi Record

Mississippi is not an open-inspection state for certified vital records. Its marriage record application instructions describe the eligible class this way: "If you are applying for yourself, or you are applying for someone else as their spouse, parent, grandparent, sibling, child, grandchild, guardian, or legal representative, then you must provide a completed application and a copy of your valid photo identification."

A guardian or legal representative has to document that status with the application. Attorneys are asked for a bar number, the name of the person represented, and the nature of the representation. Everyone else in the eligible list needs the application and the photo ID, nothing more.

The rule behind that list is a discretionary interest test. MSDH's own regulation, Registration and Certification of Vital Events, provides at Rule 2.1.2 that "The State Registrar shall not permit inspection of, or disclose information contained in any records relating to vital events, or copy or issue a copy of all or part of any such record unless he is satisfied that the applicant has a legitimate and tangible interest in such record," citing Miss. Code Ann. sections 41-57-1, 41-57-2, and 41-57-7 as its source.

The regulation then lists who qualifies, which is where the immediate-family list comes from, and lists who does not. Commercial, political, and for-profit requesters are expressly named as applicants without a legitimate and tangible interest. That is worth knowing if you are considering a paid records service: the state has already decided that a commercial requester does not clear its own bar.

The court layer works differently. Chancery Court files, including divorce files, are court records rather than health-agency records, and access to them runs through the clerk and the court's own rules rather than the MSDH eligibility list. Our guide to Mississippi public records law covers how records requests work in the state generally.

What It Costs and How to Order

MSDH charges $17 for a search of the records and a certified copy, and $6 for each additional copy of the same record ordered at the same time. The $17 is a search fee as much as a copy fee, which means it is charged whether or not a record turns up.

Three ordering channels exist, as of August 2026. You can mail a completed application with payment to Mississippi Vital Records in Jackson. You can order online or by phone through VitalChek, which MSDH describes on its own site as the private company that "provides the following services for Mississippi Vital Records" and which adds a service fee to the $17. Or you can walk into the MSDH office at 222 Marketridge Drive in Ridgeland during business hours.

For the divorce decree, none of that applies. Contact the Chancery Clerk in the county of the divorce, and expect that office's own form, fee, and turnaround. A step-by-step walkthrough of ordering a marriage certificate copy covers the paperwork common to every state.

Records Before 1926 and Genealogy Research

Because the MSDH file starts in 1926, anything older is county material. The Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) holds a statewide marriage index compiled by the Works Progress Administration, listing the name of the groom, the name of the bride, the date of record, the presiding official, and the county of marriage. MDAH also holds microfilm of county marriage books, though the extent of that collection varies county to county.

MDAH does not describe an equivalent divorce collection. For a pre-1926 Mississippi divorce, the realistic path is the Chancery Clerk in the county where it was granted, and for very early cases, the legislative session acts, since divorces were once granted by act of the legislature rather than by a court.

Confirming Whether Someone Is Married or Divorced

Mississippi's eligibility list means you cannot simply order a stranger's marriage certificate to check their status. If you have a legitimate personal reason to confirm a marital history, the $17 MSDH index search is the honest route where you fall inside the eligible class, and the Chancery Clerk's index is the route for divorces where you know the county. Our guide to how to find out if someone is married or divorced sets out the lawful routes generally, including the states that publish far more of this than Mississippi does.

Commercial background-check products are unreliable for exactly this data point, because marriage and divorce filings are county-scattered and inconsistently digitized nationwide. Treat any paid "marriage records search" result as a lead to verify at the county, not an answer. None of this may be used for employment, tenant, or credit screening, which are regulated uses under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act.

If the relationship in question was never licensed at all, no certificate exists to find. Mississippi abolished common law marriage decades ago, and our page on Mississippi common law marriage explains what that means for couples who never got a license. For the law of ending a marriage rather than documenting one, see Mississippi divorce laws. For the sibling records franchise, see Mississippi death records.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about how Mississippi marriage and divorce records are held and released. It is not legal advice, and record custody, fees, and processing times can change. Figures and procedures described here reflect official Mississippi State Department of Health sources as of August 2026. Anyone dealing with a contested record, a sealed file, or a legal proceeding should consult an attorney licensed in Mississippi.

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Last updated: 2026-08-04.