Saturday 30 November 2013

California Public Records Search

By Ben Kingsley


In the State of California, any Californian can request access to public records. This is in accordance with the Public Records Law which stresses out that all state agencies and institutions are held responsible for the citizenry. Such notion roughly creates a presumption that vital records created and maintained by the public entities are therefore public and are accessible to any member of the state in need. California public records comprise of vital and court records which are housed in the California Department of Health specifically in the Vital Statistics Division, and the Department of Justice.

However, California restricts access to certain records such as criminal and arrest records maintained by the Department of Justice to legitimate law enforcement agencies, authorized applicant agencies, and those persons named on the records only. Individuals have the right to access their own criminal history information for the purpose of reviewing such for accuracy and completeness. Requests from people whose purpose is neither any of these will not be catered. In case of background checks or genealogy research, an informational copy of the desire record may be provided by such offices.

When requesting for a copy of any public record, you have to secure an application form which can be downloaded online from the abovementioned agencies' websites. You must fill out the form in its entirety with all the important details required. For birth certificate requests, you have to provide the full name of the person, date of birth, and the name of the parents. For death record requests, you must input the complete and legal name of the deceased, gender, date of birth, date and county where the death took place, name of spouse and of the parents. For marriage and divorce record requests, you have to include the significant personal details of the couple, date and county where they tied the knot, date of the separation, and the county where the marriage license was issued or where the divorce was filed and affirmed. For criminal record requests, a live scan form must be filled out and must be submitted together with an image of your live scan fingerprints.

For birth record requests, essential details needed are the complete name of the person, date and place of birth, and the complete names of the parents. For death certificate requests, you have to input the legal name of the deceased, gender, date of birth, date and county of death, and the name of spouse and of the parents. For marriage and divorce records, please indicate the county where the marriage license was issued or where the divorce was filed and ratified. Vital records requests should be referred to the Vital Records Division, Department of Health. For criminal history information requests, a live scan form must be filled out with your significant personal details. Such form must then be submitted to the Department of Justice together with the copy of an image of your live scan fingerprints.

Payment must be through check or money order made payable to either the Department of Health or to the Department of Justice; and should be submitted along with the application or request form. A copy of a death certificate costs $20; a death certificate is worth $16; criminal record costs $25; a public marriage certificate costs $14 while a divorce certificate costs $13. Birth and death records that date back to 1905 take approximately 7 weeks to be processed; whereas those recorded from 1969 to present only take 4 weeks. For marriage and divorce records, on the other hand, the processing time can exceed 6 months. Unfortunately, there is no way to hasten this as the Office of the Vital Statistics cannot accommodate expedited requests.

If you wish to acquire government records fast, then pull a quick record review online. There are various online record providers proffering the same services yet for only a minimal fee to no fee at all. Unlike the typical way of getting government records, you can retrieve the records you need in the comfort of your own home with a computer and an Internet connection handy. Procuring records over the web will only take minutes to hours instead of the usual processing time that takes weeks to several months. Just see to it that you perform a quick background check on the record provider you are eyeing on to ensure less to no errors with the results of your record search.




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