How to Find the Final Date of Divorce in Washington State

Information on Seattle divorce cases is available at King County Superior Court.

In Washington State, a divorce is finalized on the date that the Decree of Dissolution is signed by the Court Commissioner and filed with the Clerk's Office. There are two avenues to follow to access this date: search online on the Washington Courts' website or contact the corresponding superior court directly. More recent divorces should have information available online, while older cases will likely have information only available by contacting the court directly.

Things You'll Need

• Name of the county in which the divorce was finalized
• Name of an involved party or the case number

Instructions

1. Search for the divorce at the Washington Courts' official website by accessing "Search Case Records," "Case Search Options" and "Superior Court Cases."

2. Select the court name (county) in which the divorce was finalized and search by utilizing the name of a participating party or the case number.

3. Click on the case number if it is hyperlinked and search for "decree of dissolution." The date listed to the left of that phrase is the final date of the divorce.

4. Contact the superior court of the county that the divorce was finalized if the case is not listed here or if the case number is not hyperlinked. Inquire there what procedures you need to follow to secure the final date of the divorce. Visit or call the court.

Tips & Warnings

• If the case was filed before the court started to enter information in the Judicial Information System, it will not be accessible online.

• Cases with non-standard case numbers (more or less than nine digits) will not be available online. These instances occur primarily with pre-1980 cases.

• Sealed cases are not accessible online.

• Information found online is not the official court record, and the Administrative Office of the Courts, the Washington State Courts and the Washington State County Clerks do not warrant that the information is accurate or complete. Contact the court of record directly to ensure the information accessed online is accurate.

References

• King County: "Do it Yourself" Marriage Dissolution Guidelines
• Washington Courts

Resources

• Washington Courts: Court Directory
• Washington Courts: JIS-Link Code Manual