Public records are, by definition, open without restriction (mostly) to the public. They often contain personal or private information. The government has designated these as public because the documents were voluntarily disclosed, or because the actions of the various agencies require disclosure.
All public records are supposed to be free. They were disclosed in the first place to allow public access. The records are kept by government agencies at all levels (national or federal, state, local).
Suppose you need a copy of a public record document. If you go to the right government agency, and simply ask for the record you want, you can generally get a copy. On occasion the agency may ask for a small fee to cover costs such as technical expenses and stamps.
How come some online sites charge more than a nominal fee, then, if these records are supposed to be free? Well, the answer is actually more than one answer. Different companies have different reasons.
One reason a site may ask you to pay is that they themselves purchased the documents from government agencies.
On some other sites, the document is free but the search service isn't. It costs a good bit of money to maintain a huge, complex database for you to search.
Suppose you need the information contained in a public record, but you don't have a way to pay for the record. Don't panic! You can always access public records for free online. Go to a major search engine, and search "public record access free sites."
You can also find websites to government agencies that allow free online access to records. Some other sites maintain databases of free records. These are generally smaller though than the sites that will charge you.
All public records are supposed to be free. They were disclosed in the first place to allow public access. The records are kept by government agencies at all levels (national or federal, state, local).
Suppose you need a copy of a public record document. If you go to the right government agency, and simply ask for the record you want, you can generally get a copy. On occasion the agency may ask for a small fee to cover costs such as technical expenses and stamps.
How come some online sites charge more than a nominal fee, then, if these records are supposed to be free? Well, the answer is actually more than one answer. Different companies have different reasons.
One reason a site may ask you to pay is that they themselves purchased the documents from government agencies.
On some other sites, the document is free but the search service isn't. It costs a good bit of money to maintain a huge, complex database for you to search.
Suppose you need the information contained in a public record, but you don't have a way to pay for the record. Don't panic! You can always access public records for free online. Go to a major search engine, and search "public record access free sites."
You can also find websites to government agencies that allow free online access to records. Some other sites maintain databases of free records. These are generally smaller though than the sites that will charge you.
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