Thursday, August 29, 2013

Iowa Free Public Records

By Ben Kingsley


According to the Public Records law, all state agencies and institutions are accountable for the citizenry. This roughly generates a presupposition that vital records created and kept by the public entities are therefore public and are available to any member of the state in need. In the state of Iowa, such public records are accessible at the Vital Records Office, Department of Public Health and at the District Clerk's office where the event took place. Free Iowa public records comprise of documents of births, adoptions, marriages, divorces, and deaths.

In requesting a copy of any vital record, an application for must be filled out and acquiesced together with the corresponding fee required for a particular vital record. Such application form can be downloaded from the Department's website or obtained directly from the said office. Additionally, a personal check or money order should be made payable to the state's Department of Public Health. Written requests for certified copies of vital records will not be accepted unless they include a clear photocopy of the applicant's current government-issued photo ID and the applicant's notarized signature.

Government records only available from such agencies are those that cover the years 1880 to present. The processing fee for birth, marriage, and death records is around $15 for each vital record stated. Deaths that are recorded prior to 1904 do not include the parent's name of the decedent though. Divorce decrees, on the other hand, require a processing fee of $6 but such fee varies from county to county. Divorce records should be obtained from the office of the county clerk in the county where the divorce was file and ratified. Bear in mind that the state's law limits access of such records to the registrants and family members only, genealogists representing the family, or others with a tangible interests such as those conducting background checks.

The processing time for records requests is 4 to 6 weeks depending on what method is utilized. There are several ways on how you can obtain vital records. You can get a copy of vital records in the State of Iowa in person, via phone, mail, or online. If you want to apply for a copy in person, you can go to their office directly along with the aforementioned requirements and the results will be mailed to you the following business day.

Further, you can also obtain records via phone. The Vital Statistics phone number can be obtained from their website. The processing time for such requests is about 7 to 21 days. For mail requests, on the other hand, the usual turnaround time takes as much as to 20 days depending on the volume of requests in the Vital Statistics Office. Mail orders take 5 business days to reach such office, and another 5 business days to be returned to you. For genealogy requests, the processing time takes a minimum of 30 days or 1 month processing.

If you want to acquire vital records fast, then you can choose the online method. For the public's convenience, Iowa Department of Public Health Bureau of Vital Records has partnered with an independent company called VitalChek. An additional fee is charged by VitalChek for this service though, and all major credit cards are accepted. But if you wish to obtain government records for free, you can resort to other independent online records providers available all over the web. Like VitalCheck, these online service providers also have their own database containing all government records in the state. However, in lieu of the usual days to weeks processing fee, such records providers can give you the results in just a matter of minutes. With such, you get to save time, money, and effort.




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