Missouri Public Records Search

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.

Genealogy research is the primary use of birth, death, marriage and divorce certificates. It is also used as proof of one's identity especially when doing transactions with the government. The documents are also used in specific purposes. Death certificates are used by the family of the deceased when they process or claim the insurance. Some transactions in the government would call for a copy of a marriage or divorce certificate to verify one's marital status. The criminal records of an individual are used by employers to check on the criminal history of an individual.

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.

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.

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.

Government public records in Missouri can now be obtained online. There are several websites now that offer to do the search for you. Some offer it for free while other would charge certain fees. Fees may be higher than the usual but the convenience and the speed in the search process is priceless.




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