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.
Government agencies at all levels, from local through state and even federal, keep public records. All of these records are supposed to be free because they were disclosed for the purposes of public access.
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.
Why do some online search sides charge you for access to these documents, then, if they are supposed to be free? There are several reasons.
First, some of these sites have paid the government to get the documents. They then charge you to cover their own costs.
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.
People who need quick access to records but can’t pay should not be worried. You can also get online access to these records for free. Try to find the right sites to use by going to a search engine and searching for “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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