Friday, January 3, 2014

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.

Most of the family-related files: birth, death, marriage and divorce, are used when doing genealogy research. Such documents are used to prove one's identity. However, each still has its own unique function. For example, death certificates are required when claiming the insurance of the deceased. Marriage and divorce licenses are used when dealing with transactions that would verification about the marital status of an individual. Criminal records, on the other hand are used when conducting a background check. Employers refer to the criminal history of an individual to make sure they have clean records.

A public document would contain the name of the involved individual. The document would focus on information that is related to the type of document it is. Death certificates contain details about the death of a person. Marriage records would then have only the information about the marriage of a couple. Divorce license would contain the details about the separation of a married couple. The records of the crimes that an individual has committed are found on a criminal record.

Public records can only be released to the person himself or their relatives. Only the basic information can be obtained on the document. Details that may be sensitive and can affect the individual involved are kept away from public access. In a divorce record, one cannot find the reason why the separation was filed. In criminal records, the names of the witnesses are also hidden from the public to protect and secure them.

Retrieval of each document would follow certain guidelines. A processing fee has to be paid in order to get a copy of any document. Only birth, death, marriage and divorce which have been registered since the year 1909 are available in Missouri. One can go to the office of the Vital Records Section or the county clerk office in order to get family related documents while criminal records has to be obtained at the state's Department of Public Safety. One has to fill out the application form with the necessary information to help in the retrieval process. A mail request can also be sent to get copies of any document needed.

The state of Missouri now allows the retrieval of government public records through the Internet. A lot of websites even offer to search for the records on your behalf. There are sites that do it for free while others offer it for a reasonable charge. It may be a little expensive than doing it on your own directly at the office but it is faster and convenient.




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