Acquire Free Cobb County Divorce Records (Search Resource)

Find free Cobb County divorce records quickly and conveniently. Online and in-person tools can lead searchers to helpful information about anyone’s marital status.

The Georgia Open Records Act (GORA) establishes rules and procedures for making information readily available and accessible to anyone interested.

Everyone should feel comfortable accessing public records, and this resource will help them achieve their goals by pointing them to all available sources for finding out who’s divorced in Cobb County, Georgia.

How To Access Cobb County Divorce Records at No Cost

As it happens all around Georgia, citizens interested in locating and accessing public divorce records in Cobb County can conveniently do so with the support of the Superior Court.¹

The Superior Court Web Inquiry system allows concerned individuals to search all sorts of judicial records for free, which naturally includes divorce records.² Every marriage dissolution or annulment that happened under this court jurisdiction will show and help enlighten searchers.

When utilizing the Web Inquiry system, there are two ways to run effective searches, depending on the information available to the searcher. Citizens can search by name (using a full name or a partial name alike), and that type of search can be narrowed by adding details such as a date range for the proceedings, the opposing party name (in other words, the ex-spouse), and others.

Note: The more details are added, the more specific and targeted the results will be.

Or, as a second option, when little is known about the event that’s being searched, users can search simply by case type. In that case, searchers would choose divorce from the list of options and select a date range when the event they’re interested in likely took place.

This kind of search will lead to a more extensive divorce index, which will include each and every dissolution that occurred during the time frame selected. Searchers would then need to go over all the results in order to find what they’re looking for.

When the desired results appear, searchers using this system can click on the dark square in the “View” column next to the case they’re interested in and see more details about that case. It’s possible to find out the status of the divorce (if closed or open, still), information about the hearings and pleadings, and much more.

Also, citizens should know that the state of Georgia recognizes common law marriages. With that in mind, when someone who’s in a common law marriage decides to separate, they need to go through a divorce. Consequently, common law divorces will appear on the search, just like any regular divorce would.

Concerned citizens can request copies of divorce records with the Cobb County Superior Court.³ How to do that will be discussed in detail further in this article. However, this is how citizens can contact them when help is needed to locate divorce documents:

Cobb County Superior Court
Court & Administrative Divisions
70 Haynes Street
Marietta, GA 30090

Phone: (770)-528-1300

It’s important to mention that divorce papers and decrees aren’t the same. Individuals are served with papers when their spouse files for divorce.

Having been served papers merely indicates that a lawsuit is ongoing, but it doesn’t mean it’s finalized (or even close to it). Copies of records will become available when the divorce is finalized.

In some specific cases, the need may arise that a searcher decides to contact the municipal courts within Cobb County, for more information or details regarding one of the parties involved in a divorce case. Let’s take a look at how to accomplish that.

Look Up Divorce or Dissolution of Marriage Details via Municipal Courts in Cobb County Georgia

In general, municipal courts in Cobb County handle traffic, criminal, and environmental cases, among others. They don’t deal with family law, though, and consequently, aren’t responsible for handling divorce cases.

For that reason, the first advice is to always search the county tools first to ensure that a broader, more effective search is performed. Only after that, if still needed, contact smaller courts.

If, however, searching at the municipal level becomes a must, those are the addresses for the city courts in Cobb County:

Another challenge that often arises when searching for a divorce decree is discovering that it didn’t occur in Cobb County. Even individuals who got married in Cobb County might have filed for a divorce in a different county in Georgia for many different reasons. Below are the details on how to perform a wider search for divorces in Georgia.

How To Run a Statewide Georgia Divorce Record Lookup via the Administrative Office of the Courts

When the divorce happens in a different county, it’s necessary to look up other places in Georgia for information. Instead of searching each county separately, concerned citizens can utilize the Judicial Council of Georgia online platform provided by the Administrative Office of the Courts.⁴

Although this isn’t a tool that centralizes information about every lawsuit tried at Georgia Courts, it contains a pathway to each different court, facilitating the search for anyone interested in uncovering information. All a user needs to know is which county (or counties) they’d like to search to get started.

In most cases, to be able to search any court’s records, users may have to create a free account. Creating an account requires sharing some personal information with the system provider, such as name, email and phone number. However, the systems are free to search for, not requiring any sort of payment (unless copies of records become necessary).

Each local court has its own contact information, including addresses and phone numbers, but anyone who has questions about this particular directory can contact the Georgia Judicial Council by email at [email protected].

If the divorce being searched happened a long time ago, looking at the courts throughout the state may be insufficient. For a historical search, the best way to go is often with the Georgia Archives.⁵ They have many different indexes and collections that can be inspected when the desired record isn’t available with the courts anymore.

Searchers can explore the Georgia Archives using keywords such as “divorce records” (or any other keyword combination they want) and review the results. They can also contact the Georgia Archives using the following information:⁶

Georgia Archives
5800 Jonesboro Rd
Morrow, GA 30260

Phone: 678.364.3710

In many cases, concerned citizens need more than simply looking at information online. They need copies of the divorce certificates and decrees they’re searching for.

Data about divorces are public records in Georgia, and anyone can request a copy of those documents at any time. Let’s go over how to obtain them.

The Availability of Divorce Records in Cobb County

The best source for copies of divorce records in Cobb County is the Clerk’s Office of the Superior Court. They offer people different types of records depending on the individual needs of each searcher. This is what is available to individuals trying to obtain copies in Cobb County (with prices):

• Certified copies of final divorce decrees with an agreement – $24 each
• Regular copies of final divorce decrees with an agreement – $9 each
• Certified copies of final divorce decrees without an agreement – $10 each
• Regular copies of final divorce decrees without an agreement – $3 each

In general, the main difference between a certified and a regular copy is the fact that a regular copy is merely informational. It can never be used for official purposes, while a certified copy can. Certified copies can be used to establish identity or as a piece of evidence, for example.

The copies with an agreement will include any details about the dissolution of the marriage that have been reached by the parties or determined by a judge. Some examples of those things are custody agreements, any condemnations, and child support and alimony (among other things). Copies with an agreement (certified or not) will include all of those details, while a copy without the agreements will only show the basic information about the divorce.

Searchers can place a request with Cobb County Superior Court by mail. The order must include all the details of the divorce of interest and payment in the form of a check or a money order. It must also include a self-addressed pre-paid envelope so the requested copies can be sent to the interested individual.

This is the address where requests for copies of a divorce certificate should be sent to:

Clerk of Superior Court
Court Division
P.O. Box 3370
Marietta, GA 30061

In situations where support and more information is needed, concerned citizens can contact the Cobb County Superior Court directly using the following information:

Cobb County Superior Court
Court & Administrative Divisions
70 Haynes Street
Marietta, GA 30090

Phone: (770)-528-1300

Another thing to keep in mind is that, although in Georgia, copies of divorce records are only available at the Clerk’s Office of the Superior Court of each county, the Vital Records Office also has information about marriage dissolutions.⁷ The services they’re able to provide are limited to confirming a divorce, which can be useful to some people. If confirmation is all that’s needed, they’re able to help.

When contacting the Vital Records Office is the chosen course of action, those are the addresses for their main location and the Cobb County branch:^{8, 9}

Georgia Department of Public Health
Vital Records Office
200 Piedmont Ave SE
Atlanta, GA 30334

Phone: 404.657.2700

Cobb County Health Department
Vital Records Office
1650 County Services Parkway
Marietta, GA 30008

Last, but not least, when the search for marriage certificates extends to outside of Cobb County limits, interested citizen can work with the State Office of Vital Records. They accept requests by mail, in person, and online.

Online requests can be made using Request Official Vital Event Record (ROVER), the Georgian online tool created for that purpose.¹⁰ The state also works with VitalChek and GOCertificates.

Everyone requesting records by mail or in person must complete a Request for Marriage Records and have a valid form of payment ready.¹¹

In-person requests are fulfilled on the same day, while mail-in orders may take up to 10 weeks. This is the State Office of Vital Records address:

State Office of Vital Records
1680 Phoenix Blvd. – Suite 100
Atlanta, GA 30349

Phone: 404.657.2700

There are countless reasons why someone would need to perform a Cobb County divorce records search and uncover information about an individual’s marital status; anyone can do so seamlessly using this streamlined resource.