You can look up Indiana divorce records online for free through the state’s MyCase portal at mycase.in.gov. Every county in Indiana posts its court records there, and the case summary for any divorce that hasn’t been sealed is viewable without an account or a fee. What you won’t find is a single statewide index, so you need to know which county handled the case before you search.
What You Can See for Free on MyCase
MyCase covers court records from all 92 Indiana counties, each running on the Odyssey case management system.1Indiana Judicial Branch. Public Records For any divorce case that’s publicly accessible, you can pull up the Chronological Case Summary at no cost. The CCS is a running log of the case: every motion filed, every hearing scheduled, every order entered, the presiding judge, the case status, and the date of the final decree.
Many courts also upload the actual filings, including petitions, settlement agreements, and the decree itself. Whether individual documents are viewable depends on the court’s practices, but the summary is consistently there. Indiana’s court access rules prohibit charging any fee for remote electronic access to court records, so anything MyCase shows you is free.2Indiana Judicial Branch. Indiana Administrative Rule 9 – Court Records and Fees
How to Run the Search
Go to mycase.in.gov and choose the party name search. Enter the full legal name of either spouse as it stood at the time of filing. If spelling or name changes are a question, run separate searches for maiden names and prior legal names. Pick the county from the dropdown, because Indiana files divorces by the county where the petition was filed and keeps no central index.3Indiana State Library. Ask ISL – Indiana Divorce Records
Use the case type filter to narrow results. Divorce cases in Indiana fall under domestic relations or civil categories; without the filter, you may get unrelated traffic citations or small claims cases sharing the same name. If you already have a case number from another document, such as a deed or custody order, enter it directly for an exact match.
Knowing the approximate year helps a lot with common surnames. A three- to five-year window usually produces a manageable list. Once you find the case, click the case number to open the full CCS.
When a Record Doesn’t Appear
Not every Indiana divorce shows up on MyCase. Counties migrated to Odyssey at different times, and some only display cases filed after their go-live date. Others have backfilled older records, but coverage varies by county. The Indiana Judicial Branch keeps a roster of participating courts and their go-live dates, which gives you a rough sense of how far back the digital records reach.1Indiana Judicial Branch. Public Records
A case may also be sealed. Under Indiana’s Rules on Access to Court Records, a court can exclude records from public access either by sealing them under the public records law or by entering a specific exclusion order under Rule 6.4Indiana Judicial Branch. Indiana Rules on Access to Court Records – Rule 5 Records Excluded From Public Access The parties can’t agree to seal a file on their own; a judge has to order it, and in standard divorce cases this is relatively uncommon. When it happens, domestic violence concerns or sensitive information about children are usually the reason.
What’s Redacted on Public Records
Even when a divorce file is public, Indiana court rules strip out certain personal details before anyone views it:5Indiana Judicial Branch. Indiana Rules on Access to Court Records – Rule 5
- Complete Social Security numbers of living persons.
- Full financial account numbers, PINs, and passwords.
- Addresses, dates of birth, and phone numbers of witnesses or victims in civil protection order proceedings.
These redactions happen automatically. You’ll still see the substance of the divorce, including property division terms and custody arrangements; what’s gone are the raw identifiers that could enable identity theft.
Getting a Certified Copy from the County Clerk
When a screen view isn’t enough, or when the case predates the county’s digital system, contact the clerk of court in the county where the divorce was granted. Indiana divorce records are maintained at the county level, not by a state agency.6Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Where to Write for Vital Records – Indiana You can visit the clerk’s office in person during business hours or send a written request by mail with a self-addressed stamped envelope and payment, usually a money order or cashier’s check.
Indiana law caps the copy fee at $1 per page, with an additional $3 per document for certification.7Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code Title 33 Courts and Court Officers 33-37-5-1 Certification is the clerk’s stamp confirming the copy is a true reproduction of the original. You’ll need that stamp if you’re using the decree for legal proceedings, real estate transactions, or a name change.
There’s no fixed statutory deadline for fulfilling a records request. The standard is “reasonable time,” which depends on how many records you asked for and whether older files have to be pulled from off-site storage.8IN.gov. How Long Does the Agency Have to Give Me the Records I Requested A recent case usually comes back within a few business days. Decades-old archived records take longer.
Why Indiana Has No Divorce Certificate
Indiana does not issue divorce certificates. The Department of Health’s Division of Vital Records handles birth and death certificates only; divorce records live with the courts.9Indiana Department of Health. Order Certificates This trips up people who’ve lived in other states, where a vital records office issues a short certificate confirming the divorce.
What Indiana produces instead is the divorce decree, the full court order ending the marriage. It spells out every term the judge approved: property division, custody, child support, alimony, and any other obligations. A certified copy of that decree from the county clerk is the document you use to close joint accounts, refinance a home, revise estate planning documents, enforce a court order, or prove marital status for any other purpose.