Marriage and divorce records are some of the earliest legal documents created in Colorado. Created at the county level, there are several indexes (Research Tools below) for researches to easily locate and use these locational and linkage records.
MARRIAGE RECORDS
City and County of Denver Clerk and Recorder: Denver County Only
- Marriage Certificates/Licenses - April 21, 1903 through Current
- Marriage Applications - 1903 through 2003 are housed at Denver Public Library. Please contact the Clerk's office to access these records
- Marriage Applications- January 2, 2004 through Current
- Access/Copies: Clerk's Office provides access to these records and also will make certified copies.
- Visit the Clerk and Recorder's online database for marriage license indexes (1902-1986)
- Dataset entitled "Colorado, U.S., Select County Marriages, 1863-2018." (Denver and El Paso Counties only). Includes image of the marriage certificate.
Colorado State Archives Marriage Records
- Marriage records for most counties in the state of Colorado
- Certificates 1861-1952
- License Application Stub Books 1874-1902
- Certificates in Filings of Clerk and Recorder 1860-1899
- Marriages of Arapahoe County, Colorado, 1859-1901 (Index), Colorado Genealogical Society
- Denver Marriage Certificates 1861-1868 – scanned and available online
DIVORCE RECORDS
Colorado District Courts
Contact the District Court in which the divorce was filed to obtain the record. Most people who are looking for divorce records that concern themselves will need to contact the courts for their records.
Colorado State Archives
Colorado State Archives does NOT have most divorce records for people who are alive and need their own divorce records to file for Social Security, claim child support, or prove their divorce in order to be re-married. The Colorado State Archives' list of Divorce Records you can get at the State Archives outlines the counties and years for which they hold divorce records.
Ancestry Library Edition
Dataset entitled "Colorado, Divorce Index, 1851-1985.
Colorado Divorces: 1861-1941
An index to Colorado divorces listing the names of the plaintiff and defendant, the county, date and court where the divorce was granted, and the docket number.
Colorado Marriages Index: 1858-1939
An index to over 456,000 marriages cross listing the names of both bride and groom, the date and place of marriage, and the license number.
Denver Marriages: 1940-1974
An index to Denver marriages cross listing the names of both bride and groom, the license number, and the license numbers and dates covered in the volume.
Douglas County Marriages: 1800-2000
An index to Douglas County marriages listing the names of the bride and groom, the license number, the date of application and the date of marriage.