The government department which is in charge of divorce records in Texas is the Texas Department of State Health Services and the service is provided out of its Vital Statistics Unit under the Report of Divorce Index section. These indexes can be downloaded free of charge from the department’s website. There are close to a hundred thousand divorce files maintained by the office but its function to this end is limited to primarily providing verification letters associated with divorce.

A Divorce Letter of Verification from the Vital Statistics Office only states whether or not a divorce was issued in the state of Texas. It contains the names of the divorcing parties, the county where the divorce was granted and the court case number. Fees are $20.00 for a letter. They are considered searching charges and hence not refundable or transferable to another record whether or not a search yields any results. However if a search results in a ‘no record found’, it can be used as proof of single-status (marital). Verification letters are available to divorces that occurred from 1968 to the last day of the year preceding the current one.

Texans are a special lot. The reasons behind their search for Texas Divorce Records are varied and flowery. There are also Texans who have resided in multiple states or county prior to Texas. As such, the complete divorce records of these folks will cut across state borders and the various state public record databases are not linked. As a result, employing government agencies for multiple-state divorce record searches becomes unfeasible. That’s why private record providers are the preferred option for Texas Divorce Records Search especially when time and personal bandwidth are a constraint. Their databases typically cover all states.

Commercial record providers are the end-all solution for those who can see past the fees involved but only if you signed up with the right one. The demand for this type of service has soared in recent times due to its obvious edge over using public agencies. This has consequently attracted many pretenders onto the bandwagon. Having that said, it’s not difficult to identify the bona-fide providers. One of the best ways is to check out the review or specialist sites which are abundantly found in any of the major search engines. They seldom miss.