Tennessee County Public Records

Yes. The Tennessee Public Records Act, Tenn. Code Ann. 10-7-503, opens public records to citizens of Tennessee for inspection without charge, and court, register of deeds and assessor records are open. The Office of Vital Records keeps birth records for 100 years and death, marriage and divorce records for 50 years before sending them to the State Library and Archives for public access; until then death certificates are not public and go to family and others showing entitlement. Juvenile and sealed court files are closed.

A certified Tennessee birth, death, marriage or divorce certificate costs $15 per copy, for the first and each additional copy, from the Office of Vital Records or a county health department; a certified voluntary acknowledgment of paternity is $5 more with a long form birth certificate. The Davidson County Clerk charges $5 per certified marriage license copy plus a $2 mail fee, and under the Public Records Act copies are generally 15 cents a page for black and white and 50 cents for color.

Tennessee has no single statewide trial court portal; county clerks such as Hamilton County's Circuit Court Clerk run their own case searches, and the appellate courts publish public case history online. Registers of deeds, Davidson and Lawrence counties among them, provide online land records, and assessors post parcel data. The TBI's TORIS system sells a Tennessee adult criminal history on any person, and vital records are ordered from the state or a county health department, not searched online.

Open records need no ID. Tennessee vital records applicants must present government-issued identification with a signature; parents may obtain a child's birth certificate with their own ID, guardians need custody papers, and a signed letter of permission with a copy of the signer's ID lets someone else pick up a certificate. Death certificates require ID plus documents showing entitlement, such as an insurance policy or vehicle title.

County health departments issue Tennessee birth and death certificates in person on weekdays, usually while you wait, and the Office of Vital Records posts current processing times for mailed and online orders on its site. County court case searches and register of deeds lookups are immediate.