Yes, divorce records are public in Indiana. Anyone can search basic case information online or request copies of filings from the county clerk, whether or not they were part of the case. A few pieces of sensitive data are stripped out before the file reaches the public, and in unusual circumstances a judge can seal all or part of a case, but the default is open access.
What You Can See in a Public Divorce File
An Indiana divorce case file contains every document filed from the petition through the final ruling. Depending on the case, that can include the petition for dissolution of marriage, financial declarations listing each spouse’s income, assets, debts, and expenses, any settlement agreement the spouses reached, the final decree signed by the judge, and, when children are involved, custody and parenting time orders, child support calculations, and income withholding orders.
Not every file has all of these. An uncontested divorce with no children will be short. A contested case with custody disputes will be much longer. Whatever documents exist are part of the public record unless the court has ordered otherwise.
How to Look Up an Indiana Divorce
MyCase for Basic Case Information
The state’s court records portal at mycase.in.gov is free and open to anyone.1Indiana Judicial Branch. Searching MyCase You can search by party name, case number, or citation number.2Indiana Judicial Branch. MyCase Search Tips For a divorce case, you’ll typically see a timeline of events and a list of filings.
What you won’t always see is the documents themselves. Some orders in civil cases are viewable, but many filings aren’t, and older cases often have nothing available online. The portal itself cautions that what it shows should not be treated as the official court record.1Indiana Judicial Branch. Searching MyCase Certified copies of divorce decrees are not available through MyCase at all.3Indiana Judicial Branch. How to Request Public Records
The County Clerk for Actual Documents
To get copies of the filings themselves, contact the clerk of court in the county where the divorce was filed. You can visit in person, and most clerks also accept phone or mail requests. Have the names of both parties and an approximate date ready. Indiana law sets the copy fee at $1 per page.4Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 33-37-5-1 – Preparing Transcript or Copy of Record Certification fees vary by county; in Marion County, certification costs $3 regardless of page count.5Indy.gov. Request Copies of Records Call the clerk’s office first to confirm their certification fee and payment methods. The Indiana judicial branch website lists contact information for every county clerk.3Indiana Judicial Branch. How to Request Public Records
Decree or Certificate: Which One Do You Need
These two documents get confused often, and they come from different offices. A divorce decree is the court order signed by the judge that ends the marriage. It contains the full case terms: property division, custody, support obligations. Decrees come from the clerk of court in the county where the case was filed.
A divorce certificate is a shorter document from the Indiana State Department of Health’s vital records office. It confirms a divorce occurred and lists the parties, date, and location, but it has none of the terms. The first copy is $8, and additional copies are $4 each.6Indiana State Department of Health. Order Certificates
For remarriage, a name change, or general proof the divorce happened, the certificate is usually enough. If you need to know who got the house or what the support order says, get the decree.
Do You Need a Reason to Request the Record
No. Indiana’s Rules on Access to Court Records give everyone the same baseline access and state explicitly that access does not depend on who is asking or why.7Indiana Courts. Indiana Rules for Access to Court Records A journalist, an employer, a family member, or a stranger can all pull the same public case file. The parties, their attorneys, court staff, and certain government agencies get broader access than the public, but for the publicly available portions of a divorce file, everyone stands on equal footing.
What’s Redacted Before You See It
Public doesn’t mean everything. Indiana’s Access to Court Records Rule 5 requires that certain sensitive information be excluded from any document the public can view. This is standard for every civil filing, not something a party has to request. The excluded categories include complete Social Security numbers and full account numbers for bank accounts, credit cards, loans, and personal identification numbers. When someone files a document containing that information, they submit a redacted copy for the public file and a complete version for the court’s confidential use.8Indiana Courts. Court and Clerk Records Access and Maintenance – Access to Court Records Rule 5 and Confidentiality
So a public divorce file may reference specific debts or accounts in general terms, but the actual account numbers won’t be there.
When a Case Is Sealed
Sealing a divorce record in Indiana is possible but uncommon. The presumption is that court records stay open, and the party asking for sealing has to prove why their case should be an exception. A court has to issue specific written findings explaining why the public interest in open records is outweighed by a demonstrated need for secrecy, and the party generally must show that disclosure would create a serious and imminent danger to a protected interest. Embarrassment or a general preference for privacy doesn’t clear that bar.
When courts do grant sealing, they often seal only specific documents rather than the whole case file. If you search MyCase and find that a case exists but its contents are unavailable, a sealing order is one possible reason; a case involving domestic violence protections or minor children’s sensitive information can also be handled with narrower confidentiality rules.