It is undeniable that the word divorce conjures mostly bad images. A divorce is the end of a marriage, an end to a relationship that was brought into existence by a bond founded on love, trust, and commitment with each other and cemented by a vow made in front of often time’s dozens of witnesses that the parties would stay true to each other. On the day that the bride walks down the aisle into the arms of her waiting groom, one would be hard-pressed to find a naysayer amongst the gathered crowd.

It is, however, also undeniable that over the past few years, the divorce rate in the United States had gone up. Three out of every five marriages would end in divorce in the United States, a testament to the fact that not all endings are happy. There are many reasons why a marriage ends. Loss of trust, love, disappointment with each other and conflicting and changing priorities are just a few of the reasons why couples who professed to be in love ended up taking separate paths, preferably away from each other.

Divorce records are those set of records maintained by the authorities to keep track of divorces. The maintenance of such records are mandated both by law and for practical purposes. A divorced person do get married again, it is just that they often get married to someone else. Whoever would be their new partner, he or she would be well advised to ascertain whether or not their would-be spouse had indeed been divorced. This is where divorce records come in because they not only prove the existence of a divorce, they are also evidence that may be used by higher authorities to ensure that the substantial and procedural due process had been complied with.

Hall County was founded in 1876, and their district clerk, the local office charged with maintaining divorce records for divorces granted within the county, have divorce records dating back to the year 1890. The Texas Public Information Act, in force within the whole of the state of Texas, of which Hall County is a part of, assumes that all public documents, including divorce records, are available to the public.

The procedure of obtaining divorce records in Hall County is mandated by the same statute. Under the Texas Public Information Act, to obtain public records, one who seeks to obtain them should first write the local authority charged with maintaining the records and ask for a copy. It must be noted that the more information that could be provided in regard to the divorce, the faster and easier it would be for the district clerk to find the record. The District Clerk provides certified copies of divorce proceedings, but it must also be noted that any fee must be settled within ten days after the request for payment had been sent. Noncompliance would result to the request being considered as automatically withdrawn.

In the state of Texas, the state government could not provide certified copies of divorce records. What the Texas Department of State Health Services could do, however, is to provide divorce verification. This process would ascertain whether or not the divorce in question really did occur. This procedure costs twenty dollars and could take anywhere between ten to fifteen days to complete. The procedure for obtaining one starts either through the internet with the use of a credit card or by sending to the Department a filed out form downloadable for free at the website of the Department.

The easiest method available, however, to verify or even to gain a copy of the divorce record would be to take the search online. The World Wide Web plays host to countless specialized online search databases that provide information not only about divorce records but also about anything else under the sun. These databases are easy to use, in addition to the fact that they are mostly free and instantaneous in their results. Using these databases also have the added advantage of not leaving the comforts of one’s home or falling in line.