State office vs. county office
Mercer County sits within West Virginia, which means birth and death records are held by the state — the West Virginia Vital Registration Office at 350 Capitol St, Room 165, Charleston, WV 25301, reachable at (304) 558-2931. The state agency holds the official copies of birth and death events that occurred anywhere in Mercer County since statewide registration began in 1917.
Marriage licenses and divorce decrees, however, are typically handled at the county level: marriage licenses by the Mercer County Clerk, divorces by the trial court (superior, circuit, or district court depending on West Virginia's naming convention) sitting in Mercer County. Pick a record type below for the specific routing.
Records for Mercer County
Birth Certificates
Birth certificate guide for Mercer County.
Open guide → MercerDeath Records
Death certificate guide for Mercer County.
Open guide → MercerMarriage Licenses
Marriage license guide for Mercer County.
Open guide → MercerDivorce Decrees
Divorce decree guide for Mercer County.
Open guide →Quick reference
| State | West Virginia (WV) |
|---|---|
| Statewide office | West Virginia Vital Registration Office |
| State office address | 350 Capitol St, Room 165, Charleston, WV 25301 |
| State office phone | (304) 558-2931 |
| Statewide registration since | 1917 |
| Standard turnaround | 4-6 weeks by mail |
About Mercer County
Mercer County is one of the larger counties in West Virginia by population, which means its courthouse handles a high volume of marriage license applications and divorce filings each year. Higher-volume counties typically offer more flexible request channels — in-person, mail, fax, and increasingly online — and frequently maintain a public-facing case search for civil filings, including divorce indexes.
If you are uncertain whether your event was filed in Mercer County rather than a neighboring county, consider both the address listed on the original document (if you have a copy) and where the parties were living at the time of filing. For old marriage licenses in particular, the license was issued in the county where the couple applied — not necessarily where they were married.
If you are out of state and unable to visit the courthouse in person, this remote document-retrieval comparison outlines the trade-offs between mailing a request, using the state's approved online vendor, and hiring an authorized agent.
Tips for working with the county courthouse
- Call before you visit. County clerk and court clerk hours vary, and some windows close earlier than the rest of the courthouse for cash handling.
- Bring exact change or a money order for older records that may not be in the credit-card system.
- For divorces, know the case number if you can — the clerk may charge a per-name search fee on top of the per-page copy fee if a full lookup is required.
- For marriage records older than the county's digital index, expect a longer wait while staff retrieve the physical book.