What is a BVS form in the State of Texas?

You will need to submit a BVS form to the Court for all divorces and other family law cases in Texas.

BVS stands for Bureau of Vital Statistics.

This form is sent to Austin to be filed -- it is entered into a central computer system available to people to "track" to see if you are divorced.

Before Texas started the BVS Form tracking system, attorneys had to call each county clerk's office to see if a person was divorced in that county.  It was time-consuming and inaccurate.

I think this tracking system started less than 10 years ago - but I could be wrong on the exact time of when it started -- quite frankly I've forgotten.  

Initially attorneys hated filling out the form because it required getting a lot of information from clients - Social Security numbers, dates of birth, Texas Driver's License Numbers, home addresses, city they were born in, race, maiden name, kid's social security number, kid's date of birth, etc.

Also, a lot of attorneys did not like a state agency having all of this information available on Texas residents - but now attorneys have gotten grown accustomed to it.

The judges will not grant a divorce without submitting the form -- no form - no divorce.

Now an attorney can just contact Austin and find out if a divorced has been filed -- quick and easy!