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Whether you are looking for a copy of your marriage certificate, conducting people search or checking whether a job applicant has committed crimes in the past, you will have to access public records. This is now easier than ever before as you can do it online regardless of the time of day or your location. The question is how to do it. Take a closer look at the main options.
Direct Request
You can just request the required public records from the institution responsible for keeping them, be it the court or the county clerk’s office. In many cases, you can send the request online by filling out a form on the institution’s website or by sending an email. You will usually be asked to provide a copy of your ID or driver’s licenses so you should have one in digital form at hand. You will also have to pay a fee. It is important to note, however, that in some cases, it is not possible to make a request for a copy of a document over the web. This will be clearly stated on the institution’s website. Still, you will be able to request the required copies by sending the request over the mail.
Intermediary Service
You can use a third-party service which will retrieve the required copy of the document for you. Usually, you place a request online by filling out a form and get approximations of the amount of time necessary to complete the search and the time necessary for delivery. The main advantage of using such a service is that they can search the public records in any state. You will have to pay search and shipping fees.
If you decide to use a service for getting the public records that you need, you must ensure that it has all the necessary authorizations. The easiest way to confirm that a service is legitimate is to check whether your local government works with it. This information is typically available on their website.
General Websites
Some genealogy sites, in particular, may have very old birth, death and marriage records. There are also those who contain copies of documents that have already been widespread by the media such as divorce certificates of celebrities. You will get instant access to the information which you are looking for. In many cases, it is free, but you should check this in advance just to be on the safe side.
Decide on the best way to search and public records and use it effectively.