Has anyone else heard that they are closing court records?
Holly N asked:
Apparently as part of some privacy act from the Feds, records kept in County Clerks offices will soon become unattainable. Especially those less than 100 years old and possibly as early as 50 years old. As a response to the new law many court houses across the nation are completely closing their records access to everyone, including genealogists. Preston County in WV has already closed their doors and Upshur County they confirmed the information and suggest that all courthouses will soon be closing to research.
Apparently as part of some privacy act from the Feds, records kept in County Clerks offices will soon become unattainable. Especially those less than 100 years old and possibly as early as 50 years old. As a response to the new law many court houses across the nation are completely closing their records access to everyone, including genealogists. Preston County in WV has already closed their doors and Upshur County they confirmed the information and suggest that all courthouses will soon be closing to research.
Is there anything we can do to stop this?
Nope, there is nothing we can do until the “war on terrorism” settles down. The reality is that foreigners were able to walk into American records offices to get birth certificates. Then they got new IDs of Americans, stole our identities and crashed planes into our buildings. That’s the reality.
The next part is that the current 72 year privacy law was already an extension of the previous 50 year law. Going to 100 years is no different than what most countries in the world already have. Canada, Great Britain, France and Ireland have the same limit. We’re still able to research in those countries using alternative methods, particularly religious records and death records. Death certificates are also exempted from these changes as deaths are public record, particularly when a probate case is opened. Every creditor in the world has a right not only to know that a person has died, but to verify when and how.
The reality is that the rules are just going to be better enforced. There are already rules that you’re supposed to be the individual named in the record or the parent or spouse of that person in order to get records on a living person. But that’s been lax in recent years. And there are already law that you’re supposed to be a blood relative and direct descendent (with proof of the lineage) in order to get records on a deceased person. But many have been lax in enforcing those, too.
Given how many records have left the civic offices and are in the public realm, we’re not going to be adversely affected on a difference of 28 years. It may be a nuisance, but we’ll do just fine. Remember…most of us survived all those years before things were computerized and did just fine. We’re a mighty strong breed!
Just to add to what already has been said…
vital statistics (birth/death records) are the ones that present problems in identity theft. That is just a small portion of what is kept at any courthouse.
Keep in mind, that these vital records ONLY are common in the last 100 yrs (give or take, depending on state). In general, any research before 1900 is not going to involve those documents anyway. Getting to 1900 is actually easier than most persons think, and is a small part of research.