Divorce records are not public in New York. Under N.Y. Dom. Rel. Law § 235, every matrimonial file is automatically sealed the moment the case is filed, and it stays confidential for 100 years. Only the spouses, their attorneys, or someone with a court order or notarized authorization can access the sealed case file.
New York is one of the most privacy-protective states in the country when it comes to matrimonial records. Unlike Florida or California, where divorce filings sit in an open public docket, New York treats divorce actions as confidential by default. This guide explains exactly what stays sealed, what remains public, who can request records, the fees involved, and how to petition a court to seal or redact your judgment. Every figure is verified against New York Unified Court System and Department of Health sources as of March 2026.
Key Facts: New York Divorce at a Glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Index Number Fee | $210 (Supreme Court, per county clerk) |
| Total Mandatory Filing Fees | ~$335 ($210 index + $95 RJI + $30 note of issue) |
| Records Confidentiality Period | 100 years from filing date (DRL § 235) |
| Waiting Period | No fixed post-filing wait; 6-month irretrievable breakdown must predate filing |
| Residency Requirement | 1 or 2 years continuous residence (DRL § 230) |
| Grounds | No-fault (irretrievable breakdown) + 6 fault grounds (DRL § 170) |
| Property Division Type | Equitable distribution (DRL § 236) |
| Certificate of Dissolution Fee | $30 per copy by mail (NYS DOH) |
As of March 2026. Verify all fees with your local county clerk before filing.
Are Divorce Records Public in New York?
Divorce records are not public in New York. Under N.Y. Dom. Rel. Law § 235, the court seals all pleadings, affidavits, findings of fact, judgments, separation agreements, and testimony from the date the action commences. These sealed documents cannot be inspected by any person other than a party or a party's attorney, except by order of the court, for a full 100 years after filing.
This statutory sealing is automatic and requires no motion by either spouse. The moment an index number is purchased and the summons is filed, the entire matrimonial file becomes confidential. The rationale is privacy protection: divorce files routinely contain sensitive financial disclosures, allegations of abuse or infidelity, custody evaluations, and mental-health information that the Legislature determined should not sit in an open public docket. New York adopted this confidentiality standard precisely because the general public has no legitimate need to inspect a couple's private financial and family details. This makes New York's divorce records privacy regime among the strictest in the nation, in sharp contrast to states where anyone can pull a divorce file online with a name search.
What Divorce Information Remains Public in New York?
Even under DRL § 235 sealing, three categories of divorce information remain public in New York: the case caption, the certificate of dissolution, and published appellate opinions. The case caption includes the plaintiff and defendant names, the county, and the index number, and it appears on the court's online eCourts platform for anyone to view.
The most significant public document is the Certificate of Dissolution. Since January 1, 1963, every completed New York divorce has required a certificate of dissolution filed with the New York State Department of Health Vital Records unit. This certificate contains basic biographical facts: the former spouses' names, the date the marriage ended, and the place of dissolution. It does not contain the financial terms, custody arrangements, or the substance of the case file. Certified copies cost $30 per copy by mail directly from the DOH, or roughly $45 through the VitalChek online vendor. A third category is published court opinions. When a contested divorce proceeds to trial and then appeal, appellate courts publish their decisions free of the confidentiality restraints, and those opinions may quote directly from the trial record. These public elements are why a divorce records search in New York may surface a name and index number but not the underlying documents.
Who Can Access Sealed Divorce Records in New York?
Access to sealed divorce records in New York is restricted to four categories under DRL § 235: the parties themselves, their attorneys of record, any person holding an original notarized authorization letter from a party, and anyone who obtains a court order. Non-parties without a court order cannot obtain the substantive case file, though they may request a certificate of disposition from the judgment clerk.
The notarized authorization pathway is the most common route for a spouse who needs help retrieving old records. The authorization letter must name both parties to the action (Plaintiff v. Defendant), and it must include the index number or the approximate year the divorce was commenced so the clerk can locate the file. If you are not a party and lack authorization, your only route to the actual public divorce filings is a court order signed by a judge, which requires demonstrating a legitimate interest that outweighs the strong statutory privacy protection. Even authorized requesters do not always receive an unredacted file. Courts are permitted to redact addresses of children and other personally identifying or sensitive information before releasing records. This layered access system reinforces why public divorce filings in New York are functionally private for the century following the case.
How the 100-Year Rule Works
The confidentiality protections of DRL § 235 are not permanent. The statute expressly provides that the sealing limitations cease to apply 100 years after the date of filing, at which point the records become public records available for public inspection. A divorce filed in 2026 will therefore remain sealed until 2126.
This 100-year rule balances individual privacy against long-term historical and genealogical access. For living parties and their immediate descendants, the practical effect is that the substantive case file stays private for their entire lifetimes. Genealogists and historians researching families from the early 20th century, however, can access matrimonial files that have crossed the century threshold. For divorces granted before January 1, 1963, no certificate of dissolution exists in the Department of Health system, so the divorce decree held by the county clerk is the only record. Older records that have passed the 100-year mark can be inspected at the county clerk's office where the action was brought. Anyone attempting a divorce records search for a case less than 100 years old should understand that the sealed portion is legally inaccessible without party status, notarized authorization, or a court order.
How to Seal or Redact Your Divorce Judgment
While the case file is automatically sealed under DRL § 235, the divorce judgment itself is treated as a public court record, and sealing it requires a separate motion under 22 NYCRR § 216.1(a). That court rule allows a judge to seal records only upon a written finding of good cause, and the moving spouse carries the burden of proving that privacy interests outweigh the public's right of access.
To seal or redact your judgment, you file a motion in the same Supreme Court that issued the divorce, under the same index number. Your former spouse has the right to oppose the motion, and the court weighs competing interests before ruling. Courts do not grant these motions automatically; you must articulate a concrete harm, such as exposure of a trade secret, a safety risk to a domestic-violence survivor, or protection of a child's identifying information. Common outcomes include partial redaction rather than full sealing, where the court removes children's addresses, account numbers, or graphic allegations while leaving the core judgment intact. If your primary concern is keeping the underlying financial and custody terms private, remember that those are already sealed by statute; the § 216.1 motion typically addresses the judgment and any exhibits a court might otherwise treat as public. This is a key tool for anyone focused on seal divorce records questions and broader divorce records privacy.
Filing Fees and Costs for a New York Divorce
The core cost to open a divorce in New York is the $210 index number fee, paid to the county clerk of the Supreme Court where you file. Beyond that, the New York State Unified Court System charges roughly $335 in total mandatory fees, broken down as $210 for the index number, $95 for the Request for Judicial Intervention (RJI), and $30 for the note of issue.
Additional common charges apply as the case proceeds. Filing a settlement or separation agreement costs about $35, each motion costs approximately $45, and a certified copy of the final judgment costs around $8. Service of process typically adds $40 to $75 depending on whether you use a professional process server or the county sheriff. Low-income filers can avoid these costs entirely through New York's Poor Person Relief program under N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 1101; individuals receiving Medicaid, SNAP, or SSI benefits generally qualify automatically, and approval waives the index number fee, note of issue fee, and all motion fees. If a fee waiver is denied, you have 120 days to pay before the case is dismissed. As of March 2026, these amounts may vary slightly by county — verify with your local county clerk before filing.
Residency and Grounds Requirements
To file for divorce in New York, you must satisfy one of the five residency pathways in DRL § 230, most commonly one year of continuous residence if the marriage or the grounds have a New York connection, or two years of continuous residence with no other tie required. New York treats domicile and residence as synonymous, so physical presence plus intent to make New York your permanent home is required.
The two-year pathway under DRL § 230(5) is a reliable safety net when the couple married elsewhere, never lived in New York as spouses, and the grounds did not arise in the state. On grounds, New York became the last state to adopt no-fault divorce in 2010. The no-fault ground under DRL § 170(7) requires one spouse to swear under oath that the marriage has been irretrievably broken for at least six months before filing. This ground is unilateral and essentially uncontestable — the Appellate Division confirmed in Palermo v. Palermo (2012) that there is no right to a trial on irretrievable breakdown. However, no judgment can be granted until equitable distribution, spousal maintenance, child support, counsel fees, and custody are fully resolved. New York remains an equitable-distribution state under DRL § 236, meaning marital property is divided fairly but not necessarily 50/50.