Vital Statistics

Original marriage licenses and certificates maintained by a circuit court clerk are considered vital records open to public inspection; access to microfilmed copies are open to the public, too.

A death certificate, as a vital record, is not subject to disclosure under FOIA; however there is nothing to prevent someone with independent knowledge of a cause of death from commenting on it.

Birth records are not official records. Other code provisions generally prohibit their release.

Welfare, adoption and illegitimate birth records are not open under FOIA. Other code sections prohibit their release.