Missouri Public Records Search

By Ben Kingsley


Missouri has become an open state after the Freedom of Information Act was in place. This has made the public records Missouri generates for its people available for request any time that they need such documents. These documents include, but are not limited to: birth, marriage, death, divorce as well as 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.

All of the public documents of Missouri contain the personal information of the involved individual. The information that can be found would depend on the type of document it is. A marriage license would not contain information about the death of an individual since such information can only be found on a death certificate. Likewise, marriage records would not have details about the divorce of a couple because it only contains information about the marriage itself. Criminal records on the other hand, have details about the crimes and offenses that an individual has committed.

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.

There are guidelines that should be followed in getting a copy of any of the public documents in Missouri. One has to pay corresponding fees in order to get the needed document. Records of birth, death, marriage and separation from 1909 up to the present are the only documents that the state can release to the people. One can get copies of those documents at the Vital Statistics office or the county where such event was registered. The criminal records of Missouri have to be requested at the Department of Public Safety. A request form has to be submitted with the basic information of the record being requested. This can somehow help speed up the process. One can also send a mail request to the appropriate offices.

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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