Idaho Public Records: How to Perform an Idaho Public Records Search

Finding public records in Idaho should ordinarily take you to a host of government agencies that are the primary public record custodians in the state. 

This is even as the Idaho freedom of information bill provides that access to Idaho public records is granted to all persons, albeit subject to the requesters meeting the conditions of eligibility and personal identification.

Still, people in Idaho can find these public records in online repositories managed by third-party platforms. 

This article aims to show you the various ways you can take to find some of the most popular public records in Idaho.

Idaho Public Records: Criminal Records Explained 

Idaho Criminal records provide information relating to the criminal history that people have in the state. 

They feature a long reel of data from the convicted person's arrest, personal, court, and sentencing information, with their biodata, mugshots, charges, and sentence taken into account. 

These Idaho public records are mostly available at online or print repositories managed by law enforcement agencies and third parties.

The Idaho Bureau of Criminal Identification is one such example of the former, with its provision of name-based and fingerprint-based search services for criminal records. 

The cost of any of both services is $20, although few waivers are available at the bureau, albeit at the small cost of a few concessions in the size of information available. 

Idaho Public Records: Court Records Explained 

In most cases, a visit to the courthouse that has previously sat over your case is usually best advised as the first move to make in your bid to find your court records. 

The clerk of the court should be in a position to find the case files of interest to you if you can provide either or mostly all of the following: your name, the case number, the attorney's name, the date of filing, etc. 

Other than that, the iCourt portal is an online resource that is designed to help people access court records from all 44 counties in the state.

There, you can find a "Smart Search" Tab with which case records can be found using the record name or number as the search parameters. 

For a narrower search result field, you can use the advanced search feature with dropdown search criteria options such as Search by party or Record name, general options, and protection order filters. 

Idaho Public Records: Marriage & Death Records

The most reliable route to take in finding Idaho marriage and/or divorce records is to go through The Idaho Bureau of Vital Records and Statistics. 

There, you can find birth and death records relating to births and deaths that took place as far back as May 1947 at the most in either of two ways.  

First, requesters may submit a written request containing the applicable fees and all the relevant documents required to identify them. 

The other option is to send in a Vital Statistics certificate request form to the address stated below.

Vital Records Unit
Bureau of Vital Records & Health Statistics
P.O. Box 83720
Boise, ID 83720-0036

Note that the bureau charges $16 to print out a copy of the sought-after record document, $21 for a certified copy, and $16 per extra copy requested simultaneously. 

Birth and death records that cover the birth and death of a person pre-1947 can be found at the County Recorder where any of the two "Vital events" took place. 

Idaho Birth & Death Records

The Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics is known to keep records of births that took place between July 1911 and till present date. 

The birth records can be ordered via mail-in and online applications, but never in person as the agency is not known to operate physical request centers.

For $16, you can get a printed Idaho birth record, the same amount charged for each extra copy of the original certified copy goes for $21. 

Requesters are expected to submit a birth certificate request form together with a valid photo ID and the service fee by mail to:

Vital Records Unit,
Bureau of Vital Records & Health Statistics,
P.O. Box 83720,
Boise, ID 83720-0036

The address stated above also responds to requests for Death Records that account for deaths recorded upwards from July 1911. 

For birth records predating this period up till 1907, you can check at the County Recorder in the county where the death was recorded. 

There are similarities to birth records in the cost schedule for obtaining certified and additional copies of death records and in the application process, with in-person requests also unavailable.

Requesters can facilitate a record search by submitting a written request replete with sufficient search information. 

They can also ply the normal route to obtaining death records—through the submission of a Vital Statistics Certificate Request form.

Idaho Public Records Search: About Third-party Websites 

Third-party websites allow people to search for and access public records using search parameters such as the person named in the record and the state/county/city where the public record is kept. 

You'd also have to pay for the search service, mostly through membership and subscription fees.

All of the public record types discussed in this article are available for viewing on these third-party websites, except for sealed records that are too sensitive for public consumption.