Image: 1971 Divorce Record.
A sampling of divorce records issued by the State of Tennessee and available at the Library & Archives.
The Tennessee State Library & Archives holds divorce records that are older than 50 years. Divorce records are confidential for 50 years under state law. Records 50 years old or less are held by the Tennessee Office of Vital Records and must be requested from that office.
Tennessee began requiring that divorce records be kept statewide on July 1, 1945. Search county records for divorces prior to that date. Divorces were approved by the Tennessee General Assembly from 1796 to 1850. To find a divorce from that era, search the Acts of Tennessee 1796-1850
Indexes use the Soundex system, a code using the first letter of the last name and three digits based on the way a name sounds rather than the way it's spelled. An online Soundex converter can be found here: http://www.searchforancestors.com/utility/soundex.html
Items will be added to this collection as they are digitized.
