Tag Archives: divorce

Divorce Records in Wyoming

Wyoming divorce records are maintained by the Clerks of District Courts, the Wyoming Vital Statistics Services, and the Wyoming State Archives. The place to look will depend mostly on how old of a divorce record you are looking for, and how much detail you are interested in.

Clerk of District Court

The Clerk of District Court for each Wyoming county has kept their divorce records since the Court was established.

Your own divorce records

If you are looking for your own divorce records, this is the place to go. As one of the parties to the divorce, you can access the entire file that is in the courthouse.

You might need these records if you want to modify the existing orders, but somehow lost your papers in the move. Or they are in storage, and you don’t know which box they are in.

Anyway, you can always get copies of your own divorce records from the Clerk of Court, even if they have been sent to archives. You see, most Clerks keep court records on microfilm after they are archived. Nonetheless, each Clerk of Court sort of makes their own rules as to who they allow to access those records. Best practice? Be nice to the deputy clerks.

You should be aware that most Clerks charge a fee for copying your records. These fees vary, and so you should call ahead to get an idea of the amount you might need, and to find out what method of payment is accepted.

The Wyoming State Archives

The State of Wyoming has issued Certificates of Divorce only since 1941. After 50 years, the certificates become open public records. Anyone can get these records and they are available for research at the Archives. Certificates are released at the beginning of the next calendar year (i.e.: 1965 certificates become available in 2016).

Many District Courts transfer their inactive cases to the Archives, but they retain the indexes. You will need to know the County and the docket number (case number) to access the cases stored in the Archives.

Prior to 1941 – No certificates issued, but the District Court may have transferred their court files to the archives. Contact Clerk of District Court in the county in which the divorce was granted to find out. If the case has been archived, then get the docket number so you can make a search request at the the Archives.

1941-1962 – State issued certificates are public records. Certificates and index available on microfilm at the Wyoming State Archives. Contact county district court of origin for case or docket number if case transferred to the Archives

Wyoming Vital Statistics Services

Divorce records since May of 1941 are maintained by the Vital Statistics office, but access to them is limited. Only the husband or wife named on the divorce, or an attorney, can request those records.

Information Needed

A person requesting the records must provide the following information:

Full names of husband and wife, including the wife’s maiden name
Date of divorce
City or county of divorce
Signature of husband or wife named on certificate
A Mailing address where the record is to be mailed

Identification

In addition, the requestor must include a photocopy of their driver’s license, State ID card, or passport. Be sure to enlarge the copy of these documents, so that they can be read easily. If you do not want to send a copy of such identification, the office will also accept a notarized signature of the person making the request.

Fees

The fee for obtaining divorce certificates is $13.
If the divorce record is not located, the $13 fee will be retained as a searching fee.

To make your request, complete and print the divorce records application, and mail it with the photocopy of your ID, and a $13 check or money order, to Vital Statistics Services, Hathaway Building, Cheyenne, WY 82002

By Steve Harton

Wyoming Divorce Lawyers – How to Choose One?

by Steve Harton

Choosing a divorce lawyer overwhelms many a person facing a divorce. You are already under a great deal of stress, and probably under financial pressure, and now you must select a lawyer to help you through some of the most difficult times of your life. Hiring a Wyoming divorce lawyer is made even more difficult because Wyoming does not recognize certified divorce lawyers or family law attorneys. Therefore, you must rely on your own research.

In choosing a divorce lawyer, you can:

Ask your friends and family for recommendations,
Search through the Wyoming State Bar’s directory,
Look at advertisements in the yellow pages,
View divorce lawyer listings in online lawyer directories, and
Visit attorneys’ web pages.

Whenever you are researching on any of these places, look for clues as to the lawyers’ experience, their style and approach to family law, their interest in divorce law, and their willingness to share information about divorce laws and procedures.

Friends and family

Friends and family are generally a great source of information. However, you must dig deeper, and find out why they may be recommending a particular divorce lawyer. Is it because they themselves used the lawyer, or did they have one of their own friends and relatives use that lawyer? Are they recommending the lawyer because they got what they wanted? Or because the lawyer was cheap, prompt, nice, aggressive, etc. You should find out if your values line up with their values. Did they like the lawyer because he was a “bulldog” and punished the other side? Or did the lawyer help them work through the divorce in a civil manner? Find out their reasons for recommending the lawyer, and then evaluate whether those same reasons resonate with you as well.

Wyoming State Bar Directory

The Wyoming State Bar offers an online directory of attorneys, and they also have a lawyer referral service. The directory provides contact information and perhaps a link to the lawyer’s website, and it will also tell you whether the lawyer has had any disciplinary issues with the bar. Unfortunately, the directory does not tell you whether that attorney is a divorce lawyer, or some other type of lawyer. The lawyer referral service will provide you with a list of attorneys in a specific practice area, in a specific city or county. However, not all Wyoming divorce lawyers are listed in the referral service, because it costs money to list, and because the attorney must carry professional liability insurance. This policy is quite expensive, and many lawyers do not have it. Finally, many attorneys do not wish to pay to have themselves listed in the service, even if they do carry insurance.

Yellow Pages advertizing

Yellow Pages advertizing was once the king of lawyer marketing, but with clients’ increasing use of the internet, the Yellow Pages are no longer the only place to find out about an attorney. The biggest problem with Yellow Pages advertizing is that the most prominent listings are simply purchased. Anyone can fork out a thousand dollars (or much more) per month, and have the biggest ad in the book. So, when researching in the yellow pages of your phone book, don’t just look at the size of the ad. Ask yourself the following questions:

Does the ad copy tell you that a particular attorney focuses on divorce law (and other family law topics), or does is tell you that the attorney will represent you in many different kinds of cases?
If the lawyer claims to take five, ten types of cases, are they really going to be good in all of them?

So, when looking for a Wyoming divorce lawyer in the yellow pages, look for ads that show you that the attorney is focused on divorce law.

Choosing a divorce lawyer is not easy

As you can see, finding information on divorce lawyers is not that easy, but with a little research, you can save yourself some time and money by only contacting attorneys that show their interest or focus on divorce law.

Another place you can search for a Wyoming divorce lawyer is in online lawyer directories, and then you should always visit a lawyer’s website. To learn more about those topics, read Part 2 of this post.

By Steve Harton

Legal Separation

Divorce or Legal Separation

People often wonder whether they could get a legal separation instead of a divorce. There is a mechanism for obtaining a legal separation in Wyoming, but the process is very similar to a divorce proceeding. The end result is generally a division and separation of the parties’ property, while keeping the parties legally married.

Advantages of Legal Separation

Although it is much like a divorce, a legal separation does provide some distinct advantages to couples in unique circumstances.

Maintain health insurance coverage

In many marriages, one of the spouses provides health insurance coverage through their employment to both parties. The legal separation can be used to split the parties’ property, but preserve the legal institution of marriage.

This arrangement could be useful for couples near “retirement” age, in order to maintain insurance coverage until medicare kicks in. This would normally be a temporary situation, and the parties would still need to get a divorce later.

Preserve marital assets

A legal separation could also help a couple where one of the spouses suffers from a disability that creates a potential financial liability. For instance, some people cannot control their spending, others have substance abuse issues. Some people have a diminished mental capacity, and are easily talked into signing unfair contracts. This could be a long term, or even permanent, arrangement.

Disadvantages of Legal Separation

The Parties are still married, so neither can marry another person.

photo credit: Imagens Evangélicas

Legal separation is controlled by W.S. Section 20-2-106. To read these statutes, click here. If you would like to see an additional topic covered here at Wyoming Divorce, please leave a question or comment here.

By Steve Harton

Wyoming Divorce Overview

Divorce or Annulment

People often wonder whether they can avoid a divorce, and have their marriage annulled instead. However, in Wyoming, annulment is only available for people who entered into a marriage that is either void or voidable, or on the grounds of physical incapacity. If none of the grounds are applicable, then the parties must divorce to end the marriage. Annulment will be discussed in more detail in another post.

Divorce or Legal Separation

People also wonder whether they could get a legal separation instead of a divorce. There is a mechanism for obtaining a legal separation in Wyoming, but the process is very similar to a divorce proceeding. The end result is generally a division and separation of the parties’ property, while keeping the parties legally married. Legal separation will be discussed in more detail in another post.

Residency requirement

The State of Wyoming, as all other states, has a residence requirement for persons filing for a divorce. In order to get a divorce in Wyoming, the person filing for divorce must have been a resident of Wyoming for sixty days immediately prior to filing the Complaint for Divorce.

Grounds for Divorce

The grounds for divorce in Wyoming are either irreconcilable differences or insanity. The grounds of insanity are rarely used, as most people can point to some irreconcilable differences. These are commonly things like infidelity, abandonment, abuse, non-support, or incompatibility. Although most judges are not particularly concerned about the actual differences, Wyoming is not a no-fault divorce state, and the judge must find one of the Parties at fault in order to grant the divorce to the other.

Alimony and Property Division

In all Wyoming divorces, the Court must deal with the issues of alimony and marital property division. Alimony is rarely awarded in Wyoming. If one of the spouses needs support and the other is able to pay it, then the Courts prefer to adjust the property division to make that compensation. That is one of the reasons that in Wyoming, the division of marital property is “equitable.” This is a legal term, and it does not necessarily mean equal. The Court considers such factors as the merits of the respective parties and the condition in which they be left after the divorce. Another important consideration is through whom the property was acquired, and the burdens each party is left with, including support of children.

Children of Divorce

In the event that the parties have minor children at the time of the divorce, the Court will also decide the issues of child custody, visitation and child support.

Custody and Visitation

In Wyoming, there is generally a distinction between legal custody and physical custody of the children. Legal custody concerns a parent’s decision-making rights, responsibilities and authority relating to the health, education and welfare of the child. Physical custody concerns the child’s residence, and is the basis of child support determinations. In general, parents are granted joint legal custody of their children. However, minor children are usually placed in the primary physical custody of one parent, and the other parent is granted reasonable visitation privileges and ordered to pay child support.

Child Support

Child support is based on the amount of time the child spends with each parent, and on the net income of the parties. Both parties must generally provide health insurance coverage for the minor children, and they must share the out of pocket medical expenses.

In summary, a Wyoming divorce is available to people who meet Wyoming’s residency requirement and also have the necessary grounds for divorce. The divorce process divides the couple’s property and provides for alimony in rare cases. If the divorcing couple are the parents of minor children, the divorce will provide for the legal and physical custody of the children, set out visitation terms, and set child support amounts. Most divorcing couples agree on the terms of their divorce, but if they cannot do so, then the Court will decide these important issues for them.

To see a specific topic covered here at Wyoming Divorce, please leave a question or comment here.

By Steve Harton