Florida Public Records

By Ben Kingsley


The Freedom of Information Act has mandated the government of Florida to allow the local residents to access their personal documents. Florida public records can be easily requested by the residents and other individuals if they have been granted to do so.

There are several types of public documents that the residents of Florida can access. Personal files are those that can help identify an individual such as birth and marriage certificates. Divorce and death certificates are also examples of personal documents that are opened to the public. Records which document the violations and offenses committed by an individual are categorized under the criminal records. This includes police reports, arrest documents and criminal records.

Personal files are primarily used in genealogy research. Researchers would refer to the certificates of birth, death and marriage to update the family tree. Divorce records are the last file that is checked in updating the family history. Divorce and marriage records are also used to verify the marital status of an individual. The criminal records are the source of information when conducting a background check on certain people. Business owners would regularly do this to make sure that they have people with clean criminal history. Investigators would also use it as part of their case investigations.

Fees have to be paid when requesting for a copy of any of the public records in Florida. It would depend on the type of document being requested as well as where it was filed. It is important that one needs to know the basic information of the record of interest in order to proceed with the search. The personal information of the one who requested for the file has to be indicated clearly on the request form. This is very important since most of the public documents are only given to the person himself or his/her immediate family. Wait time can also differ depending on the simplicity or the complexity of the search especially if there are problems with the retrieval.

The Department of Health under the Vital Statistics office is where the birth and death certificates as well as the marriage and divorce certificates are archived. The Department of Public Safety is responsible for managing the criminal records of Florida. One can check with the local county clerk office and court house and see if they can provide the record on their end. Requests can also be sent through a mail order but this can take time especially if there are problems during the search procedure. This can be avoided by requesting the record online.

Requesting for public records through the Internet can also be done. This method can help hasten the process. It saves one from going to any office since the request can be done anywhere that has Internet connection and the results are displayed in just seconds instead of days.




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