Illinois Public Records: How to Perform a Illinois Public Records Search

There are several reasons why you may want to find Public records in Illinois. You may be out to keep tabs on someone who you have something in common with. 

And if you can get hold of their court records, arrest, or criminal records(if available), you should know enough to form an opinion about them. 

Subsequently, you can make well-informed decisions that affect you or the person.

In other cases, you may need to find someone in the state who you've lost contact with. 

It helps to know that you could be closer to finding them if you can get their contact or personal information from their public record.

Whichever is the case for you (and there are many more) you can find the public record of interest to you with a few steps, as you'll find out in this article. 

Illinois Public Records: Criminal Records

Illinois criminal records are public records in Illinois that provide information on the criminal past and present of persons in the state. 

Chief among the information contained in these documents include those pertaining to the arrest, interrogation, prosecution, conviction, and sentencing of the person in question.

In Illinois, these documents can be procured from the stables of the Illinois Bureau of Identification by requesters who make mailed or in-person requests. 

This is in addition to the Criminal History Information Response Process (CHIRP) page, a platform designed to provide criminal record search services.

There, you can find the profile of a convicted offender by running a search against their name, birth date, offender number, or any information as specified. 

You'd have to pay a small fee to be granted access, but you should be able to find the sought-after criminal record at the end. 

Illinois Public Records: Court Records

Locating the record custodian (usually the court clerk) of the courthouse where a case was filed should put you closer to finding the relevant court record. 

If you opt to mail the clerk, you'd have to provide as much information about the subject as possible in your application. 

Also, be sure to include the applicable fees along with your valid ID in a self-addressed and stamped envelope.

Alternatively, some courts in Illinois are known to have adopted an e-filing system known as e-FileIL. 

Then there's the re: SearchIL platform, a case record repository of sorts that users log into (using their eFileIL credentials) to find their cases filed at select courts. 

These courts—Supreme, Appellate, and Circuit courts, all use e-filing as a means of archiving court records.

Illinois Public Records: Marriage & Divorce Records

Illinois marriage records are public records in Illinois that feature among other things, the names of the parties to the marriage, the date and the place where the marriage was recorded, a marriage license number, and a certificate.

These Illinois public records are mostly available for collection by eligible persons at the office of the circuit court in the county where the marriage was conducted. 

The eligible persons include the immediate family members of the married persons, their legal representative, or a person who can produce a court order granting them an exception.

The Illinois Department of Public Health, through its Vital Records division, is the chief resource center for all inquiries about marriage records/replacement certificates. 

They provide an application form to be submitted alongside the requester's state ID and the specified fee to the following address:

Illinois Department of Public Health,
Division of Vital Records,
925 East Ridgely Avenue,
Springfield, IL 62702-2737,
Fax: (217) 523-2648

As is the case with marriage records, Divorce Records can be found at the office of the circuit clerk in the county where the divorce took place. 

Requesters get to send in a mail containing a completed application and the applicable fee—for certified copies or otherwise. 

The major information required to be provided includes the full name of the parties to the divorce, the date of the divorce, and the court case file number.

Illinois Public Records: Birth & Death Records

Eligible persons may order birth certificate replacements or copies through the Division of Vital Records of the state Department of Public Health. 

Likewise, these records are also available at the circuit clerk's office in the county where the birth took place. 

Requesters must first fill and submit a record application form to the address shown below:

Illinois Department of Public Health, 
Division of Vital Records,
925 East Ridgely Avenue,
Springfield, IL 62702-2737,
Fax: (217) 523-2648

Note that this service comes with a small fee and that the filling out of the form must ensue alongside the attachment of a government-issued Photo ID. 

The question of eligibility as criteria for viewing these records also pops up during requests for access to Death Records. 

Requesters must also insert their identification details and the applicable fees along with other information about the record holder (the deceased person) in their application.

They may also indicate if the record of interest to them is certified or genealogical/informational, in which case the price may vary. 

The downloaded DPH death record application may then be delivered together with all the aforementioned by mail to the address stated above.