Who uses vital info searches?

Anyone that wants to know someone better. This way you know exactly what you are getting into before you start. Whether you are hiring a person, beginning to date someone, or just curious about some neighbors, the information allows you to know someone much better.

Can’t I just ask them about their past?

You could ask people, but people lie. They may not tell you everything you want or need to know about their history. A guy you are dating may not want to tell you he is married. A babysitter may not want to tell you that they have three DWIs. However, this is all things you need to know before you get involved with the person.

Isn’t looking at someone’s public records nosey?

You can call it nosey but these documents are part of the “public record.” That means it is no longer their private business. It is out there for everyone to see, if they want to look for it. Just because others may not look, does not mean I am being nosey.

Besides, when their past affects my future, I have a right to know. I have the right to know if my neighbor is a sex offender. I have a right to know the person I am dating has a history of domestic violence. Not only do I have the right, it is part of my children’s and my safety.

Won’t they find out I did a people search on them?

A good database will offer you the security of searching without fear of being caught. They will protect your private information so no one will know who or what you searched for. When you do go look up court records, divorce records and such, always check the site to make sure they respect your privacy. There is no reason the person has to find out you looked.

Can’t someone look me up as well?

Absolutely, many times people like to look up themselves in the database. They get a kick out of seeing what the database pulls up. They also like knowing the accuracy of the database. Remember, all of the information is public. That means if you pulled it up so could someone else.  See what vital info is out there on you. You just might be surprised at how detailed the reports are.

The commercials on TV make it look so easy. It really is. Take a deep breath and you will see for yourself that finding some birth records online is simple.

Vital Records Search (Court Records)

Vital records are all your public records. This is where you will find marriage/divorce, birth/death/adoption, criminal, and property records. You will start your search for any type of genealogy search here.

Don’t let all these overwhelm you, as you do not need them all and many overlap. For example, for every divorce record there is a corresponding marriage record. Therefore, you don’t need to look up marriage records if you have a divorce record because obviously the couple got married. The same goes for a death record. If a person died, then there has to be a birth record somewhere.

Conducting a Birth Records Search Online

When it is time to conduct a search online, it is best to pick a database that has all these records in one spot. It will make searching easier. Since documents are not easy to locate, a site that has multiple databases will give you a better shot of finding at least one record.

Once you input the name, be prepared for multiple results. This is common, as more than one person will have the same name. You will then have to narrow down the list by city, state, or possible age.

Finding Birth Records Using Other Public Records

Unless you need a birth record, birth records are not an efficient means to tracking down relatives. However, this is how many people try to create a family tree. By the time you have enough information for a birth record, you know enough to move on. The birth record only tells you the name of the parents.

However, if you use birth records to search for marriage and subsequent divorce records, you can hit the jackpot. Divorce records lists all the names and ages of children from the marriage. This builds your family tree fast. Therefore, I highly recommend searching divorce records whenever possible.

All you need to search birth records, marriage records, divorce records, or any other public records is a computer. Take a deep breath and start a birth records search today. It is fast, fun and easy.

Examining Death Records in Case of Will Clauses

There may be clauses in a will or insurance or real estate issues that arise from when someone died.  Who gets what or owes what can depend on a death date.

There may also be issues of parentage.  If the man you believed was your father died more than ten months before you were born, your mother may need to have some IVF records handy or another good explanation.

Verify the Date of Death

While the reasons may vary, the search process is generally the same.  Knowing the deceased’s full name will facilitate your search, as will having the locale.

Legally all deaths are supposed to be reported, regardless of cause.  If you have some or all of the above data, you will be able to search through court records and other public records of death to verify the date.  You will also need to make sure that this is the “John Smith” you’re looking for, so the search can take a while.

Find Your Death Records in One Spot

Individual circumstances can require even more information, so it can really be worth your while to use an online retrieval system.  The speed and level of accuracy can save you a lot of frustration and heartache while you try to make sure you’ve covered all the bases.  Learn how to find death records of someone in a nationwide search.  Save yourself from examining individual county and state offices.

Buy From the Legal Owner

This means that if you have any questions regarding whether the person selling you the house, car, motorcycle, boat, or slightly used submarine is the legal owner, you have the means to check.  The legal owner should have all the appropriate ownership and transfer property paperwork.  If they don’t or can’t offer you the same documents, which you will need to file to be legal about all of this, it’s time to at least check with check with the court.

Stay Out Of Legal Trouble when You Transfer Property

It varies by jurisdiction and the value of the property, but there are levels of trouble possible for those who buy stolen property.  If it’s something big, like a house or a boat, you really need to verify tales of bankruptcy, divorce, etc., through court records.  And possibly by checking the criminal history of the seller.

It’s not impossible that you’re dealing with a legal, but ignorant, owner and a transfer property search will show you that as well.  Better to miss a sale than wind up in jail.  Investigate with a transfer property search before you sign anything.

Foreclosed Property Needs a Property Search Before You Buy

It’s not always easy to determine whether someone was or had a bad tenant without physically inspecting the property.  If you can’t immediately view the property, there are things you can look into.

Do a property record search for that area and find out if you’re buying a foreclosed property.  Finding out a landlord wasn’t paying his bills and you’re being kicked out can cause otherwise reasonable people to do serious damage to a place before they leave.  The same thing can happen if the property is being sold due to divorce, so looking into divorce records might provide some clues.

What is the Property Value?

Knowing if the tenant had a criminal history can also be helpful as the home might have been the sight of illegal activity that lingers.  Your real estate agent should have run some sort of background check, but if you need to go further, there are sites that can do deeper checking for you.

The last thing you want to do is buy a property and find out a bad tenant has ruined the value.  Find out if a bad tenant has ruined your property value here.

Buying a foreclosed home?

A foreclosed home can be an excellent deal, as the bank is trying to cut its losses and wants to unload the property as quickly as possible.  But these homes can be risky to purchase.  It all depends on the reason the home was foreclosed on.

Was there criminal activity at the property you bought?

For example, there have been numerous cases lately of people buying homes that had been used for meth labs.  The buyers didn’t know this and wound up spending sometimes more than they paid for the house to make it livable.

Transfer of property records are public, but in some states and jurisdictions you can look the information up online, and in others you have to go to a physical location.  No one is going to reveal their home was used to make drugs, but if the home was foreclosed on due to the owner’s incarceration, this is the time to dig deeper and look at court records for the criminal history as well as real estate listings.

If you don’t know where to look on your own, your real estate should be able to help.  Or you can find a good online listing source.  A bargain home isn’t one if it makes you or your family sick.  Investigate your home with an ownership search before you buy.

Finding Death Records with the SSDI

It may not seem like much, but remember that until the Social Security Administration was started by Roosevelt, no one kept these records at all, much less centralized them.

Of course, it isn’t easy or cheap to dig through the SSDI.  It takes time, and isn’t always accurate.  Until 1988 it wasn’t mandatory to have a social security number so many people who didn’t work, had other retirement plans or worked for themselves didn’t get one.

Unreported Social Security Number

Sometimes a death isn’t reported to the Social Security Administration, so they never enter the data into their database.  When the SSDI doesn’t work out it doesn’t mean you have no more options.

Online search services have gone to the trouble of accessing records from all over the country.  If you have some data about your loved one, such as a name, place and date of death, you are likely to be successful.

Increase Your Chances of Finding a Death Record with Online Services

Unlike the SSDI, these searches are based on correlating available data from all sorts of sources.  This means you have a better chance of getting a hit during your search.

Of course, a search service will be able to cross-reference your search once a match has been made.  The service can automatically pull up a birth certificate, marriage license, divorce decrees, addresses and known relatives with no more effort on your part.

All this information is available night at day from the comfort of your own home.  Each service has its own payment structure but typically you can either pay for one search or for limitless access over a year.

Either way, the prices aren’t high, and well worth your investment if you are serious about a genealogical search.  Go online and take a look, you are sure to like what you see.

]]> http://beyourownprivateeye.com/2009/07/29/finding-death-record-social-security-number/feed/ 0 http://beyourownprivateeye.com/2009/07/06/court-records-open-legally-sealed/ http://beyourownprivateeye.com/2009/07/06/court-records-open-legally-sealed/#comments Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:00:39 +0000 admin http://beyourownprivateeye.com/?p=397 Unless court records have been sealed they are generally available to the public.  There are occasional exceptions, and the records may not always be easy to find, but with proper instruction, you can find the information you need.

Why Lookup Court Records?

What are the reasons for wanting to look at court records?  There are many, although the most common is to make sure that a person’s version of events jibes with the legal record.

People make mistakes and sometimes they pay for it, while sometimes others do.  One of the most common statements in the legal world is “I didn’t do it.”  This may or may not be the case, but looking into a person’s legal and criminal history can help ease your mind.

Guilty or Not Guilty?

Court records are not, of course, an absolute guarantee of anything.  Even criminal courts can be wrong.  And sometimes they can be biased about things they aren’t really aware of.

For example, in Medieval Spain, when all other aspects of a case seemed equal, the case would be decided by physiognomy.  This means that the uglier of the two parties would be deemed to be guilty, through the theory that their character was, literally, written on their face.

Necessary Measures to Protect Yourself with Court Records

This type of judgment still takes place today, in dating, in the job market, and in court, even if unconsciously. Still, there are measures to try to make sure appearance is not the deciding factor.

If court records state the person was convicted of spousal abuse, he probably was guilty and you should head in the other direction. If you have any doubt about his credibility, use online search databases to find his court records.

Are Court Records Public?

Court records of a public nature are frequently found online.  Many states provide these records without charge for legitimate purposes.  Those records that aren’t online may be closed or presently unavailable; it takes time to get old records scanned in.

More recent documents are more likely to appear online as the scanning process takes off.  The problem is that the sheer amount of information available online can make the process tedious.

Restrictions on Court Records

When looking for your own court records, you are still going to encounter some restrictions.  It might seem to you that any records pertaining to your life should be accessible to you, but prior to the 1980s it was very common for adoption records to be closed.

Court Records Worst Case Scenario

In a worst case scenario, you may find yourself delving into records that aren’t legal to view, and that can get you into trouble.  The more information you have going in to your search, the more likely that you will find the correct record.  Persistence is important in such a search, and it may take more time and emotional energy than you want to invest.

This is where the professional search company comes in.  They can teach you what you need to know to search court records properly, or you can simply hire them to do that job.  If you are looking for an unusual court record there is no doubt that a professional company will have a better shot at finding the documents.  Consider using this valuable source for court records online.

Know where to look
Not every court record you need to obtain about an individual can be found in only one source.  Many times, you’ll find that you will have to go through different database sources in order to obtain a comprehensive report.  Certain court records, for example, may be available only through county or state databases while others will only require you to go local.

Learn how to use court records legally
If you’re a private investigation newbie, you’ve probably heard of the secret or exclusive national database that you can access in order to obtain not just court records but every other personal record known to exist on anyone in the country.  Well, this is a myth.

There is one such records database but it can only be accessed and used by authorized law enforcement personnel of the FBI.  In case you or someone you know obtain court records from this database through illegal means, you should understand that there are legal consequences you’ll have to face.

If you want to use court records efficiently, find out any restrictions that are in place in your state.  Some states, for example, restrict the use of court records that have been sealed or expunged.  There are also states that limit how you can use first-offense records or non-conviction records.  These restrictions can significantly affect how efficiently you can use these court records on behalf of your client.

Learn how to interpret information
There are ways people can access court records without the help of a private investigator but many still turn to professionals for help.  The reason is that there are terminologies used in court records that most people do not readily understand.

In the course of your training as a private investigator, you should be able to learn what these terminologies are.  You will be able to use court records more efficiently if you can read and interpret court records without having to turn to another professional for help, saving time and money in the process.

Be careful when dealing with personal information
In your capacity as a private investigator, you are expected to be discreet about whatever information you might uncover.  This is especially true if you are a newbie.  Be careful about making copies of the documents, even if they are permissible copies.  Do not be careless about handling them.  A good part of your value as a private investigator newbie lies not just on your ability to use court records efficiently but also in helping protect an individual’s right to privacy.

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