California Divorce Index - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States California

What is in the Collection?
The collection consists of indexes to divorces from the California Department of Health Services in Sacramento for the years 1966 to 1984. Index provided by Ancestry.com.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The index lists the following information:


 * Name of husband
 * Name of wife
 * Docket number
 * Divorce date
 * Divorce place
 * Reference number (page, volume, entry number)

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search, it is helpful to the following:
 * The name of the person at the time of the divorce.
 * The place where the divorce occurred and divorce date.

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images.

For more tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Copy the citation below, in case you need to find this record again later.
 * Use the age or estimated birth date to find other church and vital records such as birth, baptism, marriage, and death records.


 * Use the information found in the record to find land, probate and immigration records.
 * Repeat this process with additional family members found, to find more generations of the family.
 * Church Records often were kept years before government records were required and are a good source for finding ancestors before 1900.

I Can’t Find Who I’m Looking for, What Now?

 * Copy the citation below, in case you need to find this record again later.
 * Use the information found in the record to find land, probate and immigration records.
 * Use the information found in the record to find additional family members in censuses. Witnesses were usually family members.
 * Repeat this process with additional family members found, to find more generations of the family.
 * Church Records were kept years before counties began keeping records. They are a good source for finding ancestors before 1900.

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): ‘’’Top of Page’’’