Are Divorce Records Public in Alabama? Access, Sealing, and Costs

Yes, divorce records in Alabama are public. Court files sit under a presumption of openness, so anyone — not only the spouses — can request to see them, subject to specific categories of information the state automatically keeps confidential. The rules that govern what stays visible and what gets protected are the Alabama Rules of Court-Record Privacy and Confidentiality, which took effect January 1, 2025.

What You Can Actually See in a Divorce File

A divorce case at the circuit court is a running file, not a single document. It opens with the complaint one spouse files and the other spouse’s answer. In contested cases, it fills out with motions, discovery requests, and hearing transcripts. Many files also include income affidavits, child support worksheets, and custody agreements where children are involved. The file closes with the divorce decree, the order that dissolves the marriage and sets out property division, custody, and support.

Where an employer-sponsored retirement account is split, the file may also contain a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO), a separate order directing the plan administrator to pay part of one spouse’s benefits to the other.¹

What’s Automatically Kept Confidential

Public access doesn’t mean total access. Under Rule 202 of the Rules of Court-Record Privacy and Confidentiality, several categories are confidential in any court record:²

Complete Social Security numbers, employer or taxpayer identification numbers, and financial or medical account numbers.
Income tax returns, W-2 forms, tax schedules, wage stubs, credit card statements, bank statements, check registers, and similar financial records.

Rule 303 adds a separate obligation on the filer: anyone submitting a document that contains a full Social Security number, taxpayer ID, or financial account number must redact it to show only the last four digits before it enters the public record. That duty sits with the filing party, not the clerk.²

This matters more than it may sound. Tax returns and pay stubs are routinely attached to divorce filings to support income claims. Because they’re categorically confidential, a member of the public pulling the file shouldn’t see them even though they live inside it.

One assumption worth correcting: children’s full names are not automatically replaced with initials in Alabama divorce records. The protection for minors’ names applies to minor crime victims in criminal cases, not civil divorce proceedings. A judge can order additional redactions for good cause, and some attorneys ask for them, but the rules don’t require it.

Divorce Certificate or Court File — Which Do You Need?

Alabama runs two separate record systems, and mixing them up is the most common mistake people make.

The circuit court holds the full case file. The Alabama Department of Public Health, through its Center for Health Statistics, holds a short divorce certificate that confirms the divorce happened and lists basic details like the parties’ names and the date the divorce was granted. Divorce certificates are unrestricted and may be requested by anyone who provides enough identifying information.³ The Center for Health Statistics has filed certificates since 1950; for anything earlier, you have to go to the circuit court in the county where the divorce was granted.

The certificate search fee is $15.00 and includes one certified copy. Additional copies ordered at the same time are $6.00 each, and expedited processing is another $15.00.³ You can order by mail, in person at any county health department, or online through VitalChek.

A certificate is usually enough if you need proof the divorce happened — for a name change, a new marriage license, or a government application. If you need the actual terms, like the settlement, support obligations, or how property was divided, you need the court file.

How to Pull the Court File

At the Circuit Court

The most direct route is the circuit court clerk’s office in the county where the divorce was granted. Bring the full names of both spouses and the approximate year of the divorce, since clerks search by those identifiers. You can view the public portions on-site and request copies. The state-set copy fee is $5.00 for the first 20 pages and $0.50 for each additional page.⁴

Online Through Alacourt

Alabama’s statewide online court record system, at pa.alacourt.com, covers circuit and district courts and lets you search by name or case number. It’s pay-per-search, not free:

Name search: $9.99, which includes one case detail report. Each additional case detail is another $9.99.
Case number search: $9.99, including the case detail report.
Document images: $5.00 for the first 20 pages, then $0.50 per page.
Case monitoring: $29.99 for a circuit case, with updates for the life of the case.

A search that returns no matching records still counts as a search and still costs $9.99.⁵

When a Divorce Record Can Be Sealed

Public access isn’t absolute, but closing a divorce record takes work. Alabama starts from a presumption of openness, set out in Holland v. Eads (1993) and codified in Rule 301 of the Rules of Court-Record Privacy and Confidentiality effective January 1, 2025.²

Sealing requires a motion filed with the court that handled the divorce, a hearing, and written findings from the judge. The moving party has to show by clear and convincing evidence that the information falls into one of six protected categories, which include trade secrets, national security, information that could promote scandal or defamation, wholly private family matters like divorce, child custody, or adoption, information posing a serious threat of harassment or exploitation, and information that could harm third parties not involved in the case.⁶

The private-family-matters category is where most divorce sealing motions land, but it isn’t automatic. The court said in Holland that “there is a presumption in favor of openness, which can be overcome only by clear and convincing evidence that an individual’s privacy interest rises above the public interest in access.”⁶ Wanting privacy isn’t enough. You need concrete risk, like domestic violence, identity theft exposure, or business information that would cause real financial harm. A trial court can also seal records on its own initiative, but it still has to hold a hearing and make written findings under the same standard.²

Common Reasons People Request These Records

Most people pulling a divorce record have a specific use in mind.

If the marriage lasted at least 10 years before the divorce, a former spouse may qualify for Social Security benefits based on the other spouse’s earnings record, and the Social Security Administration will want documentation of the marriage and divorce to process the claim.⁷

Retirement plan divisions require a certified copy of the QDRO from the court file. If a share of a 401(k) or pension was awarded in the decree but the QDRO was never submitted to the plan administrator, the plan has no obligation to pay anything, regardless of what the decree says.¹

Tax questions can also send someone back to the file. For divorces finalized after 2018, alimony is neither deductible by the payer nor taxable to the recipient; the rule applies to agreements executed after December 31, 2018, and to earlier agreements modified after that date if the modification expressly adopts the new rule. Older unmodified decrees follow the prior rule, with alimony deductible for the payer and taxable for the recipient.⁸ The decree itself is what proves which rule applies.

1
U.S. Department of Labor. Qualified Domestic Relations Orders Under ERISA – A Practical Guide to Dividing Retirement Benefits
2
Supreme Court of Alabama. Alabama Rules of Court-Record Privacy and Confidentiality
3
Alabama Department of Public Health. Divorce Certificates
4
Alacourt. Terms and Conditions
5
Alacourt. Alacourt ACCESS V2.0
6
Justia. Holland v. Eads
7
Social Security Administration. More Info – If You Had a Prior Marriage
8
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 452, Alimony and Separate Maintenance