How can I find someone's marriage & divorce records?

[Brijo]

Jurisdiction

California

I have this soon-to-be ex friend who I suspect committed immigration fraud by marrying a friend of his from El Salvador so that individual could get US citizenship.

Out of the blue my friend posted lovey-dovey photos of them together on Facebook, and friend's status was changed to "married". Immediately it looked phony to me. Then about a year later, a photo of the El Salvador guy getting his US citizenship. Then recently the "married" status is no longer on my friend's profile. So I suspect it was all just to game the immigration system, then divorce once the guy got citizenship. My friend is from South America, got his US citizenship long ago. They were a gay couple, and "gay marriage" is legal in California, which if I'm not mistaken would make anyone he marries eligible for US citizenship too?

Friend & I are no longer in contact due to friend's behavior (I won't go into that here). I just wanna verify if my instincts are correct, for my own knowledge.

I was gonna check the civil court's database via their website--is marriage/divorce info available there?

 

[adjusterjack]

Divorce cases would be in the civil or family court records.

Marriage records, well, just google California marriage records and see what comes up.

 

[Zigner]

I have this soon-to-be ex friend who I suspect committed immigration fraud by marrying a friend of his from El Salvador so that individual could get US citizenship.

Out of the blue my friend posted lovey-dovey photos of them together on Facebook, and friend's status was changed to "married". Immediately it looked phony to me. Then about a year later, a photo of the El Salvador guy getting his US citizenship. Then recently the "married" status is no longer on my friend's profile. So I suspect it was all just to game the immigration system, then divorce once the guy got citizenship. My friend is from South America, got his US citizenship long ago. They were a gay couple, and "gay marriage" is legal in California, which if I'm not mistaken would make anyone he marries eligible for US citizenship too?

Friend & I are no longer in contact due to friend's behavior (I won't go into that here). I just wanna verify if my instincts are correct, for my own knowledge.

I was gonna check the civil court's database via their website--is marriage/divorce info available there?

Why do you care? Butt out. Really.

Oh, and gay marriage has been legal across the US for the better part of a decade now.

 

[Brijo]

Why do you care? Butt out. Really.

Oh, and gay marriage has been legal across the US for the better part of a decade now.

A lawyer is questioning why I want to access public information, seriously?? You don't need to know--why do YOU care? YOU butt out. Really. It's clearly stated in my post though.
Oh that's right, it IS legal across the country. I must have been thinking of when California banned it by *Constitutional amendment* from 2008-2013.

I knew my post would be targeted by at least one troll, but I didn't know it would happen so fast! Congrats, you work QUICKLY huh?!

 

[justblue]

A lawyer is questioning why I want to access public information, seriously?? You don't need to know--why do YOU care? YOU butt out. Really. It's clearly stated in my post though.
Oh that's right, it IS legal across the country. I must have been thinking of when California banned it by *Constitutional amendment* from 2008-2013.

I knew my post would be targeted by at least one troll, but I didn't know it would happen so fast! Congrats, you work QUICKLY huh?!

Charming. Go pay an attorney to advise you.

 

[Red Kayak]

They were a gay couple, and "gay marriage" is legal in California, which if I'm not mistaken would make anyone he marries eligible for US citizenship too?

There are steps. It takes time. Apparently they were convincing enough in their interview(s).

I was gonna check the civil court's database via their website--is marriage/divorce info available there?

Some of these records are more readily available than others. Ones that are on the more acrimonious side seem to be easier to find in a search, because the court dates show up.

Zig's actually more familiar with CA's court system than the others who have responded so far.

 

[cbg]

If you're really that determined to punish your ex-friend for whatever misdeeds they've committed, you don't need to go to all the trouble of digging out their records. All you need is right here:

ICE Tip Form

However, be advised that they will not report back to you what action they take or even if they take action. Also be advised that individual violations are very, very low on the hierarchy of ICE's concern. If they choose to ignore it, there's nothing you can do to force them.

 

[leslie82]

I have this soon-to-be ex friend who I suspect committed immigration fraud by marrying a friend of his from El Salvador so that individual could get US citizenship.

Out of the blue my friend posted lovey-dovey photos of them together on Facebook, and friend's status was changed to "married". Immediately it looked phony to me. Then about a year later, a photo of the El Salvador guy getting his US citizenship. Then recently the "married" status is no longer on my friend's profile. So I suspect it was all just to game the immigration system, then divorce once the guy got citizenship. My friend is from South America, got his US citizenship long ago. They were a gay couple, and "gay marriage" is legal in California, which if I'm not mistaken would make anyone he marries eligible for US citizenship too?

Friend & I are no longer in contact due to friend's behavior (I won't go into that here). I just wanna verify if my instincts are correct, for my own knowledge.

I was gonna check the civil court's database via their website--is marriage/divorce info available there?

Why do you care? Are they hurting anyone? Why is gay marriage in quotes? It's literally none of your business. At all. You have no idea whether or not it was real. I was married for a year. My ex husband was an abusive prick. That could have happened there too you know. Even if it was to get citizenship so what?

 

[leslie82]

A lawyer is questioning why I want to access public information, seriously?? You don't need to know--why do YOU care? YOU butt out. Really. It's clearly stated in my post though.
Oh that's right, it IS legal across the country. I must have been thinking of when California banned it by *Constitutional amendment* from 2008-2013.

I knew my post would be targeted by at least one troll, but I didn't know it would happen so fast! Congrats, you work QUICKLY huh?!

LOL you really asked the person responding to YOUR question in a public forum why do they care? You came here - and should probably read the disclaimer at the bottom of the pate.

No one is trolling by asking you why you care. It's a legitimate question. It doesn't affect you. You aren't friends with the one person. So why do you care? It's literally none of your business. It sounds like you're just vindictive.

 

[zddoodah]

I was gonna check the civil court's database via their website--is marriage/divorce info available there?

"The civil court"? Which one? There are 58 counties in California. All of them have websites, and they're all different in terms of what records are and aren't available. Note, however, that, in California, marriage records are generally not maintained by the courts. Of course, just because one lives in California doesn't mean that one gets married in California.

Unless you KNOW where the marriage occurred, this will be a painstaking and expensive process. If you want to throw money into something that doesn't appear to be any of your concern, hire a private investigator.

 

[Zigner]

"The civil court"? Which one? There are 58 counties in California. All of them have websites, and they're all different in terms of what records are and aren't available. Note, however, that, in California, marriage records are generally not maintained by the courts. Of course, just because one lives in California doesn't mean that one gets married in California.

Unless you KNOW where the marriage occurred, this will be a painstaking and expensive process. If you want to throw money into something that doesn't appear to be any of your concern, hire a private investigator.

It's also possible that a confidential marriage occurred (in CA), thus further stymieing efforts at obtaining a record of it.

 

[Tax Counsel]

I agree that determining where the marriage and divorce took place may be quite a challenge unless you know more than just the names of the married couple unless their names are incredibly unusual. What that means is that if you go this route, expect to pay the PI a lot in fees to track down where the marriage and the divorce/annullment took place. The marriage may have taken place someplace other than the county in which they reside. The divorce/annulment should be a bit easier to find since there are fewer options for where they can go to do that. In any event, it's likely to be a very time consuming venture unless you know the place that issued the marriage license, and that may be different from the venue where any wedding ceremony was done. That means a lot of your time or a lot fees to a PI to track this down unless you have some specific information about where these things took place.

Also, it is not the courts that issue marriage licenses in most states. It is generally the county clerk's office or other county agency rather than the courts.

But if you think he may have violated federal immigration law, you don't need to confirm the marriage never occurred or that it was sham before reporting it to ICE. The federal government is the only way his citizenship would get canceled and get deported. The federal government will already have the information regarding the marriage as that would have been disclosed in the citizenship application. If getting his citizenship revoked and having him deported (which would trigger a ban from returning to the US for at least 10 years), then why spend the time to and money to get this information? Apart from reporting the alleged immigration fraud to ICE it will do nothing other than to perhaps satisfy your own curiousity.

 

[welkin]

Also, it is not the courts that issue marriage licenses in most states. It is generally the county clerk's office or other county agency rather than the courts.

In many states such as NJ for example, the license is applied for and issued at the local municipal level where one of the parties resides. They are then recorded at Department of Health's Office of Vital Statistics and Registry and become available through the DHVSR or the county Registrar office.

Information about marriage licenses is not public in NJ unless the partners are both dead and 50 years or more has passed since the marriage. And even then, a relationship of the requester to the parties has to be proven.

 

[Tax Counsel]

In many states such as NJ for example, the license is applied for and issued at the local municipal level where one of the parties resides.

Sure. In some states it may be a county office that is charged with task, or it may be the city. Or, as my state, a little mix of the two.For example, I seem to recall that some dates have the cities do it if the city is a home rule city, and the county does it for any part of the county that is not in a home rule city.

Anyway, the key point I was focusing on is that the marriage license are not issued by the court thus to find them OP will need to find the appropriate office in that city/county where the license was issued. As was pointed by another member before, that may well have been done in some place other the city/county of residence of one or both of the persons getting married.

Information about marriage licenses is not public in NJ unless the partners are both dead and 50 years or more has passed since the marriage. And even then, a relationship of the requester to the parties has to be proven.

Some states have moved to limit the information from these kinds of records with the more intense focus that we have on privacy today. Still, the state law should provide something that confirms that they were married. No state I know completely hides ALL information about the marriage from the public. The public has a need to at least confirm the marriage; what the public should not get is information that we today generally consier private, like the SSNs of the marrying couple, etc.

The OP is posting from CA, and suggests that is likely where the marriage took place. So the starting point here would be CA law. NJ law only matters if the OP's searches turn up info that the marriage or divorce took place or NJ ends up being one of several (perhaps many) states that the OP would have search to find any information on the marriage after the mostly likely placest turn up empty. That, of course, can be a daunting task if the OP has to slog through the laws of every state, DC, or U.S. terriorties and possessions. And that's assuming they got married in the U.S. While that's probably the case, there people who marry or divorce in foreign countries for various reasons, including tax reasons.

Just my view, but I don't really see that the OP's search, even if successful, will do him any good. After all, even a one year marriage can be a legitmate marriage. Some marriages fall apart fairly quickly. So proving the marriage was short doesn't do a lot to advance whatever goal he's got in mind. If I recall correctly, ICE is skeptical of marriages that last less than one year, but it's not automatic they'd determine the marriage to be a sham on that fact alone. I'd consider this chase for information to be largely a waste of time. The OP doesn't need to do it to report the suspected fraud to ICE. And if reporting to ICE is not the goal, I don't know what good the information will do for the OP