Are Illinois Divorce Records Public or Restricted?

Illinois divorce records are public by default. Anyone can request them, and the main place to go is the circuit clerk in the county where the divorce was granted. What you’ll actually receive, how you request it, and what it costs depend on which document you need and which county holds the file.1Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Compiled Statutes 705 ILCS 86 – Court Record and Document Accessibility Act

Which Document Do You Actually Need

Illinois issues two very different divorce documents, and picking the wrong one wastes time and money.

The divorce decree, formally called a judgment of dissolution of marriage, is the full court order ending the marriage. It contains the substantive terms: property division, child custody and support, spousal maintenance, insurance obligations, and everything else the judge ruled on. The circuit clerk in the county of the divorce keeps this file.2Illinois Department of Public Health. Dissolution of Marriage Records

The verification certificate is a short document from the Illinois Department of Public Health confirming that a divorce happened. It lists the parties’ names, dates of birth, and the date and location of the dissolution. It does not include any of the terms of the divorce. IDPH can verify dissolutions that occurred from 1962 forward.2Illinois Department of Public Health. Dissolution of Marriage Records

If a bank, title company, court, or benefits administrator is asking, you almost certainly need the decree. A verification won’t satisfy those requests.

How to Request Records From the Circuit Clerk

To find the right file, you’ll generally need the names of both parties and roughly when the case was filed or the judgment entered.

In Person or by Mail

Every county accepts in-person requests. Many accept mail requests too, though the procedure varies. Cook County, for instance, requires a completed Record Search Request Form and a $6 search fee for each year searched, paid by check or money order. Cook County also has self-service terminals in the clerk’s office; searching yourself waives the search fee.3Circuit Court of Cook County. Record Search Request Form

Online

Illinois runs a statewide portal called re:SearchIL that covers all 102 counties. Attorneys, the public, and authorized government agencies can search case data through it.4re:SearchIL. re:SearchIL Each county sets its own rules about what public users see, so full documents may be available in one county and only docket summaries in another. Some counties also run their own case search portals.5Lake County Circuit Clerk. Lake County Circuit Clerk Online Portal

IDPH Verifications

If you only need confirmation that a divorce occurred, IDPH accepts verification requests by mail, fax, or in person. You submit a completed application and a valid, unexpired government-issued photo ID. The fee is $5. A missing, unreadable, or expired ID gets the request returned unprocessed.2Illinois Department of Public Health. Dissolution of Marriage Records

What It Costs

State law caps what circuit clerks can charge for copies. Under the Clerks of Courts Act, reproduction fees cannot exceed $2 for the first page, 50 cents per page for the next 19 pages, and 25 cents per page after that. Certifying a document can cost up to $6. Hard-copy printouts from automated systems are capped at $10 per page in counties with populations over 3 million (Cook County) and $6 per page everywhere else.6Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Compiled Statutes 705 ILCS 105 – Clerks of Courts Act

Search fees are separate. Cook County’s $6-per-year search charge stacks on top of copy and certification fees, so a multi-year search producing a long file can add up.3Circuit Court of Cook County. Record Search Request Form

When a File Is Restricted

Public access is the default, but a judge can restrict any case or document by court order. The Court Record and Document Accessibility Act sets out three levels:1Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Compiled Statutes 705 ILCS 86 – Court Record and Document Accessibility Act

  • Impounded records are available only to the parties; anyone else needs a court order.
  • Confidential records are available without a court order only to the party who filed them.
  • Sealed records are unavailable to anyone without a court order.

A party who wants a divorce file sealed or impounded files a motion explaining why public access would cause harm. Common grounds include domestic violence concerns, sensitive financial material like business valuations or trade secrets, and protecting children’s safety. The court decides.

Personal Information in the File

Even in a public file, certain identifiers should never appear unredacted. Illinois Supreme Court Rule 138 requires filers to redact Social Security and individual taxpayer identification numbers, driver’s license numbers, financial account numbers, and debit and credit card numbers.7Supreme Court of Illinois. Illinois Supreme Court Rule 138 – Personal Identity Information

The responsibility sits with the filer, not the clerk. Rule 138 explicitly states that neither the court nor the clerk has to review filings for compliance. A financial disclosure with a full Social Security number on it can sit in the public file until someone catches it.7Supreme Court of Illinois. Illinois Supreme Court Rule 138 – Personal Identity Information

If your information is exposed, you can file a motion asking the court to order redaction. The clerk pulls the document from public access while the motion is pending. If the court grants it, the redacted version replaces the original in the public file and the unredacted copy is impounded.7Supreme Court of Illinois. Illinois Supreme Court Rule 138 – Personal Identity Information

When You Need a Certified Copy

Certified copies of the decree, bearing the clerk’s official seal, are what most legal and financial transactions require:

  • Real estate transfers where a divorce awards property to one spouse. Title companies and county recorders generally want a certified decree along with a quitclaim deed or similar transfer document.
  • Remarriage. Some states and counties require proof that a prior marriage was legally dissolved before issuing a new marriage license.
  • Name changes. If the decree restored a former name, a certified copy is the proof used to update identification, bank accounts, and other records.
  • Benefits and insurance. Employers, insurers, and agencies handling Social Security or pension benefits often need a certified decree to process beneficiary changes or confirm eligibility.

An IDPH verification certificate will not satisfy any of these. For anything beyond confirming that a divorce happened, request the decree from the circuit clerk in the county where the case was decided.