Foreign Civil Records Information

June 2011

The Consulate General is neither sufficiently staffed nor authorized to conduct local record searches. You may, however, wish to consider employing a local records investigator for that purpose. Two persons in this district authorized to perform such investigations are: Lic. Jose Laredo R. (Apartado Postal 746, Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico; Tel: 011-52-656-613-4487) and Mrs. Emma S. Loman (818 Elmwood CT, El Paso, TX 79932; Tel: 011-52-656-613-8021).

Should you decide to request the services of one of these individuals, please note that the Consulate can assume no responsibility for their professional ability or integrity. We have, however, received no complaints about their services. As of June 2011, fee to obtain a certified copy of a legal document were approximately $125 USD. The normal turnaround time for current records is approximately four weeks; older documents are in poorly organized storage facilities and may take longer to locate.

Another option is to request the document  in person from the Civil Registry or from the Juzgado Primero de lo Familiar (First Family Court). For certified copies of marriage, birth or death certificates, you need to go to the Registro Civil (Civil Registry), at Malecon y Gardenias, Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. For a certified copy of the divorce decree (provide divorce date and file number if available) you need to go to the Juzgado Primero de lo Familiar (First Family Court), at Eje Vial Juan Gabriel y Aserraderos, Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. Regrettably, requesting documents directly from Mexican courts can be an extremely unpredictable and time-consuming procedure. A third alternative is to retain a local attorney to perform the required records search. A list of attorneys in this district is available on this web site.

To obtain divorce records, someone requesting his/her own record must complete a request form in Spanish (PDF 61KB) to the Court for those records and (if applicable) authorize a researcher and/or attorney to receive a copy of the divorce decree. Included in the document, there's an informal English translation of the request; this is for information only and should not be submitted. The information to be inserted - name, the name of the person authorized to obtain the divorce decree, the docket number, address, and the date letter was signed - will be the same in English as in Spanish. This requirement for an authorization letter is to assist the Courts in preventing unauthorized access and misuse of documents.

If for a divorce that took place in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, regardless of which civil court issued the decree, records are now provided by the First Family Court (see above). If known, you need to give the person obtaining the documents the date of the divorce, the file/document numbers, and the name of the court in which the divorce was granted. Marriage, birth, or death certificates for the entire state of Chihuahua are now available through the Civil Registry in Cd. Juarez upon request.