Clearance Certificate and Trial Record
After filing a Petition for Divorce with the court, you must wait to get a “Clearance Certificate” to attach when you file the Trial Record
After filing the Petition/Application for Divorce with the court and serving it on your spouse, you must file a Trial Record with the court in order to proceed with your divorce. However, you must wait to file your Trial Record until you receive your Clearance Certificate, because it has to be included with your Trial Record. This fact sheet offers more information about these two documents.
When you receive your “Clearance Certificate” in the mail, you may mistakenly think this must be your ‘proof of divorce.’ This is an important document but it is not your divorce judgment. A clearance certificate is proof that you or your spouse have not already started divorce proceedings.
The Trial Record is a package of documents you put together that contains everything the judge will need to see in order to grant you a divorce. These documents show the court that you have followed all the steps required in a divorce and are ready to proceed.
