Researching the family tree? It’s going to be tougher to get birth and death records beginning in January of 2007. Powesheik County Recorder Beverly Malloy says new federal regulations will restrict access to birth and death certificates.
President Bush signed a law that says as of January 1st, 2007, birth and death records on file in government offices around the country will be closed to the public. Only the person whose name is on the birth certificate or an immediate family member will be able to see or get a copy of a birth certificate, and only immediate family members will be able to get death certificates.
“This is going to make it very hard for researchers,” Malloy says. “A lot of historians have been in my office to get data for their records before January 1st, 2007 when (the records) will be closed (to public view).”
The new restrictions will not apply to marriage records.