Acquire Free Spartanburg County Divorce Records

Access Spartanburg County divorce records for free via various methods. Thanks to the South Carolina Public Records Law, any citizen can access divorce information as they are considered a public government record.

Citizens can search divorce records to learn more about someone in their life or to confirm their marital history. Often, a person must access divorce records to provide proof for business or legal reasons (e.g., updating a passport). However, you don’t need to have a specific reason and are free to look up divorce records purely out of curiosity.

This streamlined resource provides all you need to track down divorce records in Spartanburg County, South Carolina.

This resource was written by Attorney Robert Bailey Jr, who holds a Juris Doctorate from Widener University School of Law.

How To Search Spartanburg County Divorce Records for Free

If you are looking for ways to search public divorce records in Spartanburg County for free, you have a couple of options. The first option is to conduct an online search with the Spartanburg County Seventh Judicial Circuit Public Index.

To search with this online tool, you will have to take a couple of steps to narrow the scope of your search. First, you will want to select “Judgment” for the case type. Next, you will select “divorce” for the Case subtype.

If you have the case number, you can enter that. Otherwise, you can conduct a name search.

When you conduct a name search, you can search for either party to the divorce. You can also supplement your search with additional information to refine your results, such as a date range for when the case was filed or the divorce decree was issued.

The search results will provide you with the name and case number of the divorce record. You can also view the filed date, current case status, and when the divorce was finalized.

To view the complete online divorce record, you can click on the case number. Here, you can view additional information on the divorce case, both parties, and any related cases.

You can also search for divorce information online with the South Carolina Department of Social Services Family Court Public Access Tool.¹ To use this tool, select Spartanburg County under the location drop-down menu.

For case type select “domestic relations” and select “divorce” for the case category. You can then enter the person’s name and a filing date range.

The search results will provide you with the parties’ names, case captions, numbers, and court. For additional information, click on the case number. Here, you can view detailed divorce information, including a chronological history of all case events.

For alternative ways to access divorce records, you can contact the Spartanburg County Clerk of Court.² You can request divorce records by submitting an email to [email protected] or calling them at 864-596-2591. You can also go in person to ask any questions or conduct a search of divorce records at the address below.

Spartanburg County Clerk of Court
180 Magnolia St., Suite 500, Second Floor
Spartanburg, South Carolina 29306

The Spartanburg County Clerk of Court is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM. If you want to mail a request, you can send it to the address below:

Spartanburg County Clerk of Court
Post Office Box 3483
Spartanburg, South Carolina 29304

A last option at the county level is to submit a public records request online.³

In some counties, you may have the option to access divorce records in cities with their local clerk’s office. This can be a more convenient option in certain situations. In Spartanburg County, there is no option for accessing divorce records at the city or town level.

However, you can look up divorce records more broadly throughout the entire state. You will learn more about this in the next section.

How To Look Up Divorce Records for All of South Carolina via the Department of Health & Environmental Control (DHEC)

You may have completed your search of divorce records in Spartanburg County and did not find what you were looking for. It may be that the divorce record you were searching for was issued in another county in South Carolina.

If you want to access divorce records throughout the state of South Carolina, you can do so through the Vital Records Section of the Department of Health & Environmental Control (DHEC).⁴ The DHEC Vital Records Section can provide certified divorce reports that were issued as far back as July 1962. There are several options for requesting a divorce report, which are as follows:

In-Person or Drop-off: To make a request in person or to drop off, complete and bring in a Vital Records Divorce Application Form to the address below:⁵

SC DHEC – Vital Records
2600 Bull St.
Columbia, South Carolina 29201

A divorce report can be processed on average in less than an hour. The DHEC Vital Records Office is available for in-person requests any time between 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM on Monday through Friday.

Mail: Complete and mail the divorce record request form discussed earlier, along with a copy of your government-issued photo ID, to the address listed above.⁵

Online: The last option is to make a request through VitalChek, an approved third-party vendor with the DHEC. You can also submit a request with VitalChek over the phone at +1-877-284-1008. Both services are available every day of the week at any time.

However, there are two important things to note when requesting a divorce report. First, certified records will only be provided to the people listed on the divorce record, a spouse (current or former) or adult children. Anyone else can get an informational copy that indicates that the parties were divorced and the date and county where it occurred.

Secondly, in addition to the standard costs for a divorce report (see below), there is an additional $12.85 fee for using the online service.

The cost for a certified divorce report is $17.00, which includes a search fee that is non-refundable, even if the record is not located. There is also a $3.00 fee for each additional copy of the divorce report you are requesting, plus additional shipping fees if you want the record mailed to you.

For additional questions on requesting a divorce report in South Carolina from the DHEC Vital Records Section, you can call them at 803-898-3630.

You need to provide the following information when requesting a divorce report:

• Full name of both parties
• County where the divorce occurred
• Relationship to the parties on the divorce record

Since you will be required to provide specific information with your request, you may find that there is additional data that you do not currently have. One option is to use the South Carolina Judicial Branch Case Search Tool.⁶ This search tool can be used to perform a divorce case search in any county in South Carolina.

In some counties, you may find a divorce index that lists all dissolutions that have occurred there within a certain period of time. Spartanburg does not have a readily available index of divorces. For a statewide index of divorce or archived records, you can check the online resources provided by the South Carolina Department of Archives & History.⁷

You can also search there in person Tuesday through Saturday from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM (closed 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM on Saturday). For more information, you can call the South Carolina Archives Department at 803-896-6104 or go to the address below:

South Carolina Department of Archives and History
8301 Parklane Rd.
Columbia, South Carolina 29223

Can Anyone View Divorce Records in Spartanburg County South Carolina?

Access to divorce records in Spartanburg County is afforded through the South Carolina Public Records Law.⁹ There are a variety of divorce documents that are available in South Carolina, and it’s helpful to distinguish them as you may have a need for one of these specific types of records.

A divorce certificate (sometimes referred to as a “report”) is a document that certifies that two people were married, including the date and location. A decree is what is issued by the court to make a divorce official.

This contains detailed information about the results of the divorce, including division of assets, debts and spousal support. Lastly, divorce papers are a broad term that can include the documents initially submitted as well as other related records.

In certain counties, divorce records may be restricted for a certain period of time or based on your relationship to the people in the record. In Spartanburg County, you do not have to worry about these types of restrictions. While general divorce information is available, certified records are more limited.

For certified divorce records, you will only be able to request a copy if you are a party to the action, an adult child of the divorcees, or a spouse (current or former) to someone listed on the document.

The Spartanburg County Clerk does not specify the restrictions for requesting a decree. For information on who can access a decree, you can contact the Spartanburg County Clerk by phone at 864-596-2591, Monday through Friday, from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM.¹⁰ You can also go in person to the address below:

Spartanburg County Clerk
180 Magnolia St., Suite 500, Second Floor
Spartanburg, South Carolina 29306

In certain states, common-law marriage is allowed. Common law marriage is a situation where the court determines that two people can be considered legally married even though they didn’t follow the formal marital process. While common law marriage was abolished in 2019, there are still those that exist from prior to this time.

As a result, a citizen may also access the dissolution of these relationships (sometimes referred to as common law divorce).

While anyone can view divorce records in Spartanburg County, you may want to use the assistance of a third-party provider. They can assist individuals who just want to access divorce records out of curiosity.

Third-party providers like this can potentially access information that you had trouble finding when you conducted your search in Spartanburg County; but, unless they’re endorsed by a government agency (e.g., VitalChek), you shouldn’t rely on these documents for official proof of a divorce.

There’s a great deal to consider when conducting a divorce search. With the direction provided in this article, you should be well-equipped to search for Spartanburg County divorce records efficiently and seamlessly. Refer back to this article whenever you have questions about the availability and access to divorce records in Spartanburg County.