In the United States are public records a huge reserve of free information, but very remote and inaccessible to most people in the past seemed.
Why? Because these billions of records used to be available only at county courthouses and state and federal agencies.
That is, in the past you had to physically hoof through your local courthouse and search in person for the entry that you need, when real estate records, litigation were records, records or any other thing.
What a headache.
The Internet has changed everything.
Now you can sit at your office or home computer and obtain access to public records stored anywhere - at just about any courthouse or agency -- in the country.
Now I'm not saying that all public records are now available online.
But a great many are, and those that aren't can often be accessed with a phone call to the Recorder's Office or County Clerk.
But before we get too excited, give a view of the specific type of information we're talking.
Below are listed some of the types of government records you have a right to view free of charge:
At the State level.
-Real Estate and Tax Assessor records -County Court Records (both civil and criminal) -Tax Liens (also available at State level) -Uniform Commercial Code records (also available at State level) -Voter Registrations (accessibility varies) -Vital Records (also available at State level)
Available at the Federal Level.
Records-Corporate filings EDGAR Federal Court Records Bankruptcy Records Military What-c is more than a large amount of demographic / economic / regulatory data are on different federal agency Web sites such lists are not exhaustive, but references to the type and amount of information that I can be free online access.
So why would you want to? A few good reasons come to mind, such as: research pertaining to investments; trademarks/patents research; background checks on potential business associates; real estate investment due diligence; determining a boyfriend's or girlfriend's true marital status; people searching; determining a potential partner's financial viability; determining whether a professional person's license is in good standing; finding out if a supplier has been sued; and many more.
Principles of public records is very important to realize, is a difference between public records and publicly available information.
The term "public records" pertains mainly to records maintained by government agencies that are freely available to the public, like real estate records and bankruptcy records.
On the other hand, contains your address book information public.
Generally, this is information people have chosen to allow to be publicly-accessed, even though they don't have to.
If you want to keep your address and phone number private, you can refuse to do so to be published in a phone book.
But with public record info, you really don't have a choice - the government makes it public, period.
Similarly, be aware that some information is private, such as medical records and credit information.
You can't go onto a government website and find out if somebody has certain medical or psychiatric problems, and you can't get a copy of their credit report without their written consent.
To do this against the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which Uncle Sam, who takes very seriously the way.
Even if you find an online information broker who promises to provide you with somebody's private information, you're wise to pass.
Remember how much trouble Patricia Dunn, chairman of Hewlett-Packard, was reached in a few years ago for rent, a hotshot private eye to investigate boardroom leaks, which involved examination of the personal lives of members of the Board of HP? You do not need this kind of problem.
So it's very important to understand the difference between public and private information, and there's also one other point to be aware of: jurisdictions (counties and states) are not uniform in their regulations regarding access to records.
For example, in some states it is possible to access for people driving records with relative ease (Colorado), others do not (California).
Some states regard criminal records as public (Texas); others don't (Massachusetts).
You need the rules of the state in which you are accessing the records.
Public Records Access
As said previously, many jurisdictions have not yet computerized their public records - particularly the smaller rural counties.
So you can not access their data online, but you can at least their phone numbers online and give them a call.
Oftentimes county clerks will run searches for you while you wait on the phone.
A good source for phone numbers County Courthouse background check gateway.com/statelist.
Of course, you can probably just the county name in Google and get the phone number also.
Incidentally, there may be a small search fee, and/or a small copying fee, but these will be modest - public record information is free unless you hire a professional document retriever to visit the agency or courthouse to access it for you.
If you check this option, visit brbpub.com.
The following is a brief guide to access to public records main categories: Business Records Access business records are largely concentrated in the Secretary of State office.
For example you might need to know if a given company is incorporated or the date of incorporation, or who the officers and directors are.
Or you could exchange information through a limited liability company, partnership or company, or sales tax on declarations shall.
For Security Exchange Commission other financial data, and for information pertaining to bankruptcies or patents and copyrights, you need to search at the federal level.
For information relating to mortgages, UCC, liens and real estate, you must be prepared for district or local (city) level - most often, the county level.
Court Records Access
Criminal records access presents a real challenge in the United States (though it's easier here than almost anywhere else in the world).
On the one hand, want the government to give you information so you can avoid criminal l rent and do business with criminals, and on the other hand, I will not give information in court files, why not rent or transactions with ex-offenders who are motivated then, more crimes are committed, to survive.
So it seems they compromise by making the information hard to get (or more likely, bureaucracy dictates that the process can not be streamlined and made reasonably efficient).
We found it not a single national repository of criminal records in U.S.
with the exception of the FBI National Crime Information Center, the only police organizations.
Criminal record information is maintained on a strictly piecemeal, jurisdictional basis.
So, if you lived in Colorado, you can search for nationwide criminal record, and can he / she come clean - but are in fact a convicted felon in Indiana.
Unless you also check Indiana, you'll never know this.
As a result, I think the left is a kind of public records research on the best professionals.
You can't realistically check every state.
And besides, most states do not give you the information anyway, so you have to check at the county level.
For criminal records searching I recommend you hire an information professional specializing in this kind of search, such as Intelius or USSearch.
What about civil litigation? This can get complicated, because cases can fall under county, state, or federal law.
If you're looking for federal cases - most of which are tried in U.S. District Courts - start with the U.
Party/Case Index.
This is an index at the national level for U.S.
District, bankruptcy courts and complaint.
If, using this index, you determine your subject is involved in federal litigation, you may be able to access docket information online using PACER (provided the litigation is current or recent).
If the older documents are maintained by different federal courts or the Federal Records Center.
At the state level, searching online is largely limited to the courts' docket sheets (case histories).
Today, many state courts provide Internet access to its policy.
For detailed information on state-by-state availability, visit brbpub.com or under Public Records Online, published by Facts on Demand Press.
Marriage/Divorce Records Access:
Our company, Washington Research Associates, Inc.
, Has developed an ebook (free download) which lists practically after every online source for finding someone Marital status.
You can download it at marriagedivorcerecords.
Recording Office Record Access
Your county or city recording office has remarkable complete information on nearly every piece of real estate in the county - sale prices, mortgages, liens, property descriptions, improvements, etc - and this is all public info.
Recording office data is now widely available on the Internet.
A good source is netronline.
Incidentally, for all the latest news about your county or any county of interest, try visiting naco.
How to Locate U. S. Government Portals
Washington Research Associates has also developed an extremely extensive list of the best governmental portals for accessing public records and other types of publicly-available information.
Why? Because these billions of records used to be available only at county courthouses and state and federal agencies.
That is, in the past you had to physically hoof through your local courthouse and search in person for the entry that you need, when real estate records, litigation were records, records or any other thing.
What a headache.
The Internet has changed everything.
Now you can sit at your office or home computer and obtain access to public records stored anywhere - at just about any courthouse or agency -- in the country.
Now I'm not saying that all public records are now available online.
But a great many are, and those that aren't can often be accessed with a phone call to the Recorder's Office or County Clerk.
But before we get too excited, give a view of the specific type of information we're talking.
Below are listed some of the types of government records you have a right to view free of charge:
At the State level.
-Real Estate and Tax Assessor records -County Court Records (both civil and criminal) -Tax Liens (also available at State level) -Uniform Commercial Code records (also available at State level) -Voter Registrations (accessibility varies) -Vital Records (also available at State level)
Available at the Federal Level.
Records-Corporate filings EDGAR Federal Court Records Bankruptcy Records Military What-c is more than a large amount of demographic / economic / regulatory data are on different federal agency Web sites such lists are not exhaustive, but references to the type and amount of information that I can be free online access.
So why would you want to? A few good reasons come to mind, such as: research pertaining to investments; trademarks/patents research; background checks on potential business associates; real estate investment due diligence; determining a boyfriend's or girlfriend's true marital status; people searching; determining a potential partner's financial viability; determining whether a professional person's license is in good standing; finding out if a supplier has been sued; and many more.
Principles of public records is very important to realize, is a difference between public records and publicly available information.
The term "public records" pertains mainly to records maintained by government agencies that are freely available to the public, like real estate records and bankruptcy records.
On the other hand, contains your address book information public.
Generally, this is information people have chosen to allow to be publicly-accessed, even though they don't have to.
If you want to keep your address and phone number private, you can refuse to do so to be published in a phone book.
But with public record info, you really don't have a choice - the government makes it public, period.
Similarly, be aware that some information is private, such as medical records and credit information.
You can't go onto a government website and find out if somebody has certain medical or psychiatric problems, and you can't get a copy of their credit report without their written consent.
To do this against the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which Uncle Sam, who takes very seriously the way.
Even if you find an online information broker who promises to provide you with somebody's private information, you're wise to pass.
Remember how much trouble Patricia Dunn, chairman of Hewlett-Packard, was reached in a few years ago for rent, a hotshot private eye to investigate boardroom leaks, which involved examination of the personal lives of members of the Board of HP? You do not need this kind of problem.
So it's very important to understand the difference between public and private information, and there's also one other point to be aware of: jurisdictions (counties and states) are not uniform in their regulations regarding access to records.
For example, in some states it is possible to access for people driving records with relative ease (Colorado), others do not (California).
Some states regard criminal records as public (Texas); others don't (Massachusetts).
You need the rules of the state in which you are accessing the records.
Public Records Access
As said previously, many jurisdictions have not yet computerized their public records - particularly the smaller rural counties.
So you can not access their data online, but you can at least their phone numbers online and give them a call.
Oftentimes county clerks will run searches for you while you wait on the phone.
A good source for phone numbers County Courthouse background check gateway.com/statelist.
Of course, you can probably just the county name in Google and get the phone number also.
Incidentally, there may be a small search fee, and/or a small copying fee, but these will be modest - public record information is free unless you hire a professional document retriever to visit the agency or courthouse to access it for you.
If you check this option, visit brbpub.com.
The following is a brief guide to access to public records main categories: Business Records Access business records are largely concentrated in the Secretary of State office.
For example you might need to know if a given company is incorporated or the date of incorporation, or who the officers and directors are.
Or you could exchange information through a limited liability company, partnership or company, or sales tax on declarations shall.
For Security Exchange Commission other financial data, and for information pertaining to bankruptcies or patents and copyrights, you need to search at the federal level.
For information relating to mortgages, UCC, liens and real estate, you must be prepared for district or local (city) level - most often, the county level.
Court Records Access
Criminal records access presents a real challenge in the United States (though it's easier here than almost anywhere else in the world).
On the one hand, want the government to give you information so you can avoid criminal l rent and do business with criminals, and on the other hand, I will not give information in court files, why not rent or transactions with ex-offenders who are motivated then, more crimes are committed, to survive.
So it seems they compromise by making the information hard to get (or more likely, bureaucracy dictates that the process can not be streamlined and made reasonably efficient).
We found it not a single national repository of criminal records in U.S.
with the exception of the FBI National Crime Information Center, the only police organizations.
Criminal record information is maintained on a strictly piecemeal, jurisdictional basis.
So, if you lived in Colorado, you can search for nationwide criminal record, and can he / she come clean - but are in fact a convicted felon in Indiana.
Unless you also check Indiana, you'll never know this.
As a result, I think the left is a kind of public records research on the best professionals.
You can't realistically check every state.
And besides, most states do not give you the information anyway, so you have to check at the county level.
For criminal records searching I recommend you hire an information professional specializing in this kind of search, such as Intelius or USSearch.
What about civil litigation? This can get complicated, because cases can fall under county, state, or federal law.
If you're looking for federal cases - most of which are tried in U.S. District Courts - start with the U.
Party/Case Index.
This is an index at the national level for U.S.
District, bankruptcy courts and complaint.
If, using this index, you determine your subject is involved in federal litigation, you may be able to access docket information online using PACER (provided the litigation is current or recent).
If the older documents are maintained by different federal courts or the Federal Records Center.
At the state level, searching online is largely limited to the courts' docket sheets (case histories).
Today, many state courts provide Internet access to its policy.
For detailed information on state-by-state availability, visit brbpub.com or under Public Records Online, published by Facts on Demand Press.
Marriage/Divorce Records Access:
Our company, Washington Research Associates, Inc.
, Has developed an ebook (free download) which lists practically after every online source for finding someone Marital status.
You can download it at marriagedivorcerecords.
Recording Office Record Access
Your county or city recording office has remarkable complete information on nearly every piece of real estate in the county - sale prices, mortgages, liens, property descriptions, improvements, etc - and this is all public info.
Recording office data is now widely available on the Internet.
A good source is netronline.
Incidentally, for all the latest news about your county or any county of interest, try visiting naco.
How to Locate U. S. Government Portals
Washington Research Associates has also developed an extremely extensive list of the best governmental portals for accessing public records and other types of publicly-available information.
