Saturday, December 21, 2013

Missouri Public Records

By Ben Kingsley


The state of Missouri is only one of the many states that have implemented the Freedom of Information Act. This means that the residents can request for any of the public records Missouri issues to its people. The records that the government keeps include the birth, death, marriage, divorce and criminal records.

Birth, marriage, death and divorce certificates are among the sources of information when conducting genealogy research. These documents can also prove one's identity especially when dealing with transactions in the government. Each document has its own purpose. Claiming the insurance of the decease would require a death certificate, while verifying the marital status of an individual can be checked from a marriage or divorce license. The criminal records are the primary source when conducting a background check. This is usually done by business owners to make sure that the people who work for tem have a clean criminal history.

The public documents that the state of Missouri issues to its people would contain the personal information of the one involved. The document has unique information that is related to the type of file it is. Death records would have information about when and where the person died while a marriage certificate would have information about the date and the place where a couple got married. One can find all of the crimes that an individual has committed on a criminal record.

The documents may have been opened to the public but access to it is allowed if the one who requested it is the person on the record or their immediate families. A public document also has the basics of the incident. There is information that remains private only to the person involved. An example would be the reason why the couple decided to separate. This particular information is not displayed on the public divorce record to protect the privacy of the divorcees. Another would be the witnesses of a crime is not indicated on the public document to protect them from potential harm.

The retrieval of each document would follow certain guidelines. Fees have to be paid but it depends on the type of document being requested. Family related files are only released if the date it was registered is not earlier than 1909. The Vital Records Section of Missouri and the county clerk office are offices where family related files can be requested. The office of the Department of Public safety is the one responsible for managing the criminal records of the state. Application forms have to be filled out by the requesting individual and it can help if the basic information about the record being requested is provided. Mail requests can ales be made in order to get a copy of any of the public document that Missouri provides.

Online retrieval of government public records in the state of Missouri is now allowed. This made the retrieval process easier and fast. A lot of websites now offer to search for the records for you. One has the option to do the search for free or to pay for the search. The cost would be higher than doing the search at the office but people prefer this because of convenience.




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