Many Types Of Public Records
Most often when people think of the term “Public Records” they think of what can be found at the local court house or municipal administration building. While this is true, public records are not just created by government institutions for legal use.
The Most Common Use Of Public Records
Many people think that there are only a few ways to make use of public records; but with everything from court information to the telephone directory being in this category, this information can be used for many purposes.
- Genealogy searches
- Background information
- Legal searches
- Information searches
- Location search
The Different Public Records Available
There are so many different types of public records available today. Most often we have these records available to use and don’t even realize it. Here are a few of the many types of information and where they are..
- Property records – this recorded information is available from any county assessors office.
- Tax records – these you can easily get from the local tax office and will most often concern property taxes and assessment values, as well as taxes owed and by whom.
- Criminal records – most criminal records are made public and are available both online and from court records.
- Business listings – these are most often public records made available by the local chamber of commerce or through the phone directory.
- Birth and Death records – most often used by genealogists or someone looking up family history.
- Marriage records – also used by someone involved in family research or past history.
- Court reports – these public records are available from many offices within the various courts and also online.
- Municipal meetings – records of public meetings are often kept at municipal offices and while often free, there will usually be a charge for duplication or printing.
- Telephone directories – this is a type of public information which lists almost any person who has a land based telephone as well as their town of residence and sometimes the street address.
- Census reports – these records are free and more often online. These public records show the number of people in a region, their occupation, their income level, ethnic background, and other information.
In the modern world, most of the information contained in the category of information recorded and made public can be found both in physical form and online. Payments for information are usually involved when you want someone else to do the searching for you, or you need a great amount of information in a short time.
