Access the Tennessee Public Records

A number of records are available to the residents of Tennessee in accordance with the ‘Freedom of Information Act’. These records are usually known as Tennessee public records or open records and can be accessed by the members of the general public for any reason whatsoever.

Vital Records

The Vital Records division http://health.state.tn.us/vr/ of the department of health in Tennessee is entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining all records pertaining to the birth, death, marriage and divorce records of the state. Certified copies of these records are provided on request as well. Copies of the  TN public records can generally be obtained by the individual himself or his family members. Legal representative are also permitted access to copies of the birth certificate on furnishing concrete proof of identification and specific reason for the request. All birth records from the beginning of 1914 until the present are available from the vital records division of the state.

The death records are considered to be public records and can be obtained from the vital records office in exchange for the requisite fee. The cause of death is normally not given within the death certificate and is provided to only qualified individuals on request.

Marriage as well as the divorce records are available to the general public of Tennessee for the last 50 years and can be directly obtained in exchange for a monetary fee of $15.00. Additional copies of the records are also available at $5 per copy from the same division.

Criminal Records

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation provides adequate support for conducting background checks. The criminal records of the state consisting of felony as well as misdemeanor cases are made available to the general public. The open records information service of the sate or TORIS privides the facility of search by name through he entire database of criminal history. Details about the procedure a well a the fee can be obtained by logging in to http://www.tbi.state.tn.us/background_checks/toris.shtml.

The sex offender registry for the state of Tennessee was created way back in 1995 in accordance with the federal laws which made it necessary for each state of the United States to maintain its own registry of sex offenders. Although the local aw enforcement agencies accept registration of the sex offenders, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation maintains the registry a well as the original files containing the details of the sex offenders. It is possible to conduct a search through the list of registered sex offenders and predators of the state by going to http://www.tbi.state.tn.us/sorint/SOMainpg.aspx

It is also possible to be privy with the various county court records in the state of Tennessee by logging in to the official resource Tennessee State Library and Archives http://www.tennessee.gov/tsla/preservation/microfilmindex.htm

The records of  offenders who are held in various state incarceration facilities can be obtained by contacting the Tennessee Department of Corrections which provides the facility of an online offender search. The details of inmates convicted of felony are made available to the members of the general public https://www.tennesseeanytime.org/foil/foil_index.jsp

Business Records

The availability of a commercial name can be accessed by going through the list of registered business names at the official website of the Tennessee Department of State.  http://tnbear.tn.gov/ECommerce/NameAvailability.aspx

The rules for obtaining and the specific procedure for accessing the public records for the state of Tennessee can be learned by accessing http://tennessee.gov/sos/rules/1210/1210.htm