Virginia, Divorce Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Virginia

What Is in the Collection?
This collection consists images of divorce records located at the Virginia State Department of Health. The collection covers the years 1918 to 1988. Certificate images courtesy of Ancestry.com.

What Can This Collection Tell Me?
These records contain the following information:


 * Names of interested parties
 * Divorce date
 * Name of court
 * County of court
 * Conditions of the divorce decree

In addition the records may also contain:


 * Ages or calculated birth year of husband and wife
 * Names of minor children
 * Names of other relatives
 * Court costs

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:


 * The names of those in the divorce case.
 * The approximate divorce date.
 * The divorce place.
 * The names of children who may be named in the divorce.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page: To search the collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒Select the "Browse" link in the initial search page ⇒Select the "Place" ⇒Select the "Record Type and Year Range" which takes you to the images

Look at each image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination. Keep in mind:
 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names or variations of their name throughout their life.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. Save a copy of the image or transcribe the information. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details such as age, or wife's maiden name. Add this new information to your records of each family. You should also look for leads to other records about your ancestors.

I Found Who I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Use the information found in the divorce record to find the marriage record.
 * Use the information found in the divorce record to find the family in census records
 * Use the information found in the divorce record to find the family in land records
 * Use the information found in the divorce record to find the family in additional county and state records.

I Can't Find Who I'm Looking For, What Now?

 * Look for variant spellings of the names. You should also look for nicknames and abbreviated names.
 * Look for another index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume. Local genealogical and historical societies often have indexes to local records.
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby localities.

Citing This Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection Citation:

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):

Image citation: