California Public Records Quick Download

Pursuant to California’s Public Records Act, any Californian has the right to access public information maintained by local and state government agencies, including the Department of Justice. In California, vital records are housed in the Office of the Vital Statistics which operates under the Department of Health. California Public Records include documents of births, adoptions, marriages, divorces, deaths, and even criminal and arrest records.

However, California restricts access to certain records such as criminal and arrest records maintained by the Department of Justice to legitimate law enforcement agencies, authorized applicant agencies, and those persons named on the records only. Individuals have the right to access their own criminal history information for the purpose of reviewing such for accuracy and completeness. Requests from people whose purpose is neither any of these will not be catered. In case of background checks or genealogy research, an informational copy of the desire record may be provided by such offices.

When appealing for a particular record, you have to secure an application form and fill it out in its entirety with all the significant details required. Informational pamphlets and all of the application forms for public records can be downloaded online.

For birth record requests, you must provide the full name of the person, date of birth, place of birth, and the name of the parents. For death certificate requests, you have to input in the request form the complete legal name of the decedent, sex, date of birth, date and county where the death transpired, name of spouse and that of the parents. For marriage certificate requests, you have to provide all the personal details about the couple, date and county where they tied the knot, and the county where the marriage license was issued. For divorce decree requests, you must input the significant details of the husband and the wife, the date of the separation, and the county where the divorce was filed and approved. For criminal history information requests, you have to secure a live scan form from the Department of Justice, fill it out with your personal details, and submit it together with an image of your live scan fingerprints.

Payment for the processing of your requests should be submitted along with the application form you have filled out. For certified copies of birth certificates, you have to pay a processing fee of $20. For death certificates, a fee of $16 is required. For public marriage certificates, $14 is requisite. For dissolution or marriage certificate, $13 is required. For criminal record requests, the processing fee is $25. Usually in California, the turnaround time for record requests takes weeks to several months. For births and deaths recorded from 1905 to 1992, the processing take is 7 weeks. Those that were recorded from 1969 to present will take 4 weeks to be processed. On the other hand, marriage and divorce records will take more than 6 months of processing time. Such estimated turnaround times may occasionally increase depending on the volume of requests received in their office. Unfortunately, the Vital Records Division does not accommodate expedited requests.

Nevertheless, procuring government records can actually be done in an expedited plus expedient manner and even in the comfort of your own home. Simply hire the services of online record providers. The number of service providers online is relatively high. This conveys that online users and customers have a much wider array of options to choose from. In lieu of the usual turnaround time that takes weeks to months, online record providers can give you the records you need in just a matter of minutes to several hours. What’s more, you will only have to pay a minimal fee and with such, you get to have unlimited access to their database. Certainly, obtaining records has never been this easy. So the next time somebody asks you on how to get records fast, tell them about these online service providers and how much you have enjoyed their services.