Marion has been a county in Alabama since 1818, and its located in the north-west corner of the state.

If you need to get Marion County public records, you can do so in Hamilton at the health department office. They issue certified copies of birth, death and marriage certificates to people who are eligible to request them. The procedure for making a documents request is simple. Fill out the forms identifying the record you want (with names, dates and locations) and also supply your own name and address. Pay the search fee and show a piece of photo ID. Then within about half an hour, you will have your certified Marion County public records handed back to you.

Marion County Birth Records

It takes 125 years before a Marion County birth record becomes public, so you can only make requests for records if it is for an immediate family member until that time. You can also get copies of your own records without limitation. The fee for these is $15 per copy. Most birth records will date from at least 1908, but many are older than that. If you are looking for an old record, be forewarned that the registrations seldom had the child's name on them. You must know both parents names in order to find the certificate.

Marion County Death Records

Death records are not as restricted and can be accessed by any member of the public after 25 years. Until then, it is still immediate family members only. Each copy will be $15, though you can get additional copies of the same record for $6 each (same applies for birth records). Early records are minimal, usually having no more information than the decedent's name, date of death and where they died. Records after 1908 will include date of birth, cause of death, doctor's name and sometimes their location of birth and even parent's names.

Marion County Marriage Records

Marion County marriage records are not kept private, and you can make a request to get a certified copy of any record you wish. They are issued by the health department just like the birth and death records. Each one will cost $15 and you should be able to provide the names of both bride and groom as well as the date in order to locate the right record. For the same cost, you can also get copies of divorce records, though these have only been kept since 1950.

Marion County Criminal Records

Nowhere in Alabama are criminal records considered public information and if you are going to make a request for Marion County criminal records, they can only be your own. Employers who have permission to perform background checks on employees and law enforcement officials are also free to request criminal records of other people. This material is not held by the county but by the state and you can make your records request to the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center in Montgomery. The cost per file is $25, and the blank forms are available on their website.