If you’re engaged, you might wonder whether there’s a way to minimize the risk of your marriage ending in divorce. Some couples try living together in order to learn the intimate details of each other's lives and as a test run for marriage. But a growing trend with today’s younger couples is to perform a background check before the wedding.
Premarital background checks aren’t for everyone. But, if you suspect that your partner is hiding something, whether it’s a past relationship or criminal charge, you may want to learn a little more about who you’re marrying. Divorce is expensive and complicated, so if you have doubts before the wedding, running a background check might be the best way to avoid making a life-changing mistake. Or, it could increase your confidence about your chosen partner.
What Type of Information Is Available Through Background Checks?
In today’s technical world, there’s no shortage of available information on the internet. You can find most of what you want to know with a quick online search, but sometimes, you’ll need help from a professional. In either case, the following types of information may be useful before you get married.
Marital and Family History
In most relationships, couples discuss past relationships and marriages before getting to a point where they talk about making a lifelong commitment to each other. If you don’t trust your partner’s explanations, or if you’d like to verify the information for yourself, you can find out the answers to your questions by accessing the information through a background check, or local court document search.
Although most people don’t necessarily worry about a partner’s past relationships, if you’re considering marriage, it’s important to verify that your soon-to-be-spouse is legally single. Bigamy is illegal in all states, so if your partner is legally married to someone else at the time of your wedding, the state won’t recognize your relationship as legal.
Divorce documents are public records, so if you need more information about the circumstances surrounding your partner’s divorce—or to verify that the court finalized the divorce—a good place to look would be in the court where the legal proceedings took place.
Of course, to find this information on your own, you’ll need to know the date of your partner’s marriage and divorce and where it took place. If the court sealed the records, or the parties agreed to keep the divorce agreement confidential, you may not be able to access the documents.
Criminal History
No one wants to get married and later discover that their spouse is a convicted criminal or guilty of domestic violence or assault. However, it can happen if you don’t ask the right questions or dig deep enough into your partner’s past.
Except for crimes that occurred when your partner was a minor, criminal convictions are public records, and anyone can access the documents by requesting them through the local courthouse or another government office in the county where the crime occurred. If your partner was a juvenile (younger than 18 years old), the records are sealed and may have been expunged when the offender turned 18. Unless your partner is forthcoming with childhood legal troubles, you may never know if your fiancé had any run-ins with the law.
If you aren’t successful at the courthouse, most states maintain a registry for offenders where you can access a variety of information. For example, in Michigan, you can find offender information through OTIS, or the Offender Tracking Information System. If the person is in the database, you will find identifying data, such as information about scars and tattoos, aliases, current Department of Corrections status, criminal history, and probation status.
In most situations, you will need specific information about your partner, including name, address (current and past), date of birth, and sometimes, a Social Security number. The more information you can enter into the system, the better chance you’ll have of getting accurate information for your partner.
Verify Your Partner’s Identity
With the help of technology, it’s easy to obtain fraudulent identification and even create a fake online persona. If you and your partner met through the internet, it would be wise for you to run a background check to verify your partner's identity. Identity checks may not reveal any information that you don’t already know, but it’s best to confirm this basic information, rather than risk marrying a stranger pretending to be someone else.
Another place to look for identity information is the birth or vital records department where your partner was born. Most records are available to the public, like marriage and divorce documents, but with the influx of identity theft these days, you may find that many records are confidential.
What About Credit History?
We’ve all heard the phrase “what’s yours is mine, and what’s mine is yours.” When it comes to marriage, that catchy phrase can be accurate, but with some exceptions. Depending on where you live, the court may divide some of the debt you or your partner bring into the marriage between you. A credit check is an easy way to determine whether your partner has a significant amount of debt, and it’s best to verify this before you get married.
Obtaining the Information
If you don’t have any luck finding the information you seek through the local court or government agencies, you still have options. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of websites that advertise background and credit checks, for a fee. If you have serious doubts about your partner or have specific questions, you may want to talk to a local family law attorney about hiring a private investigator.