Where do I order certified copies?
From the office that holds the original record, in the state where the event was filed — not the state you live in now.
This is one of the few parts of a name change that really does differ from state to state, and it is why a generic answer is not much use to anybody.
- A marriage certificate comes from vital records. Some states hold marriage records centrally, most leave them with the county that issued the license, and a few split the two by date.
- A divorce decree or a court order comes from the clerk of the court that issued it. The name of that court changes at every state line — the Court of Common Pleas in Pennsylvania, where you ask the prothonotary; the Chancery Court in Tennessee, where the records officer is the Clerk and Master; the Supreme Court in New York, which is the trial court there and confuses almost everybody.
Order from the state where the event was filed, not the state where you live now. The record sits where it was created, and moving does not move it.
Finding the right office
Every state page on this site names the office that applies, what it is called there, and links to where the request goes. Your kit carries the same thing for your own state, at the top of the checklist, ahead of every step that depends on it.
Ask for certified copies by name. A clerk who hears "a copy" may hand you a file-stamped one, which is not the same thing and will be refused.
Other questions people ask
When you’re ready to do it
Two questions about your situation first, because there is one answer that means we can’t help — and we would rather tell you that before you pay than after.
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