Ohio Personal Records: Name Changes, Sealing, and Vital Records

Personal records in Ohio fall into several separate systems, each run by a different office and governed by a different part of the law. Birth and death certificates come from health departments, name changes run through probate court, criminal-record sealing runs through the court that heard the case, and identification documents come from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. This reference explains what each type of record is, which office or court handles it, and where the rules come from, so a reader can move quickly to the specific procedure that fits their situation.

What this reference covers

The “records” topic gathers the everyday tasks that involve creating, correcting, obtaining, or restricting a personal or government record in Ohio. That includes ordering birth and death certificates, changing a legal name, sealing or expunging a criminal record, requesting your own criminal history, obtaining or upgrading a driver’s license or state ID, transferring a vehicle title, having a document notarized, and requesting public records from a government office.

This is a procedural reference, not legal advice. It describes how each process works in general and cites the Ohio statute or agency behind it. It does not weigh the facts of any one situation. Fees and processing times change, so the figures here carry the year they were current and link to the source that sets them.

Key terms for Ohio records

A few terms recur across these procedures, and the spokes in this family assume a reader knows them.

A vital record is an official record of a life event, birth, death, marriage, divorce, or fetal death, maintained under Ohio’s health and records laws. A certified copy is a reproduction certified as a true copy by the officer who holds the record; under Ohio Rev. Code § 3705.23, a certified copy carries the seal and signature of the issuing office and counts the same as the original in court. A certification of birth is a shorter abstract that lists only basic facts and attests that a birth was registered.

Sealing and expungement are two different results in criminal-record law. Sealing removes a record from public view but keeps it retrievable by courts and certain agencies; expungement destroys the record so that it is permanently irretrievable. Both are governed by Ohio Rev. Code § 2953.32, which was amended effective September 30, 2025.

Probate court is the division of the county common pleas court that handles name changes, along with estates and guardianships. A registrar is the local or state official who registers and issues the certificates described above.

Vital records: birth, death, marriage, and divorce

Life-event certificates in Ohio are held by the state Office of Vital Statistics and by local registrars in city and general health districts. Birth and death certificates are the ones most people request, usually to obtain a passport, settle an estate, enroll in school, or claim a benefit.

Any applicant can request a certified copy of most of these records by submitting a signed application and the required fee, under Ohio Rev. Code § 3705.23. Some information is restricted: the “medical and health use only” section of a birth record is released only to the person, a parent, a guardian, a lineal descendant, or a government official, and a decedent’s Social Security number is withheld from a death certificate for the first five years except for specific requesters listed in the statute.

As of 2026, state law sets the fee for a certified copy at no less than $12, with additional statutory fees added on top; the current charge collected by the state office is higher, so the exact amount should be confirmed with the issuing office before mailing a request. The fee structure is set by Ohio Rev. Code § 3705.24. Marriage and divorce records work differently: the probate court that issued a marriage license and the common pleas clerk that handled a divorce forward abstracts to the state, while the certified marriage or divorce record itself is obtained from that county court.

Changing your legal name

An adult who wants to change their legal name files an application in the probate court of the county where they live. Ohio Rev. Code § 2717.02 states the rule directly: a person desiring to change the person’s name may file an application in the probate court of the county in which the person resides. The court sets a hearing, and in most adult cases the applicant must give notice by publication before the hearing date. Each county probate court publishes its own application and local instructions.

Ohio law separates a name change from a name conform. Under Ohio Rev. Code § 2717.01, “conform” means correcting a misspelling, inconsistency, or error so that a person’s legal name reads the same across official identity documents, a different track from asking the court for a new name. Filing fees are set by each county probate court and are not uniform statewide, so the amount is confirmed with the specific court. A name change for a minor, and a name change tied to marriage, divorce, or gender identity, each follow their own additional rules.

Sealing and expungement of a criminal record

An eligible person can ask a court to seal or expunge the record of a case. The application goes to the court that sentenced the person, or, for an out-of-state or federal conviction, to a court of common pleas, under Ohio Rev. Code § 2953.32. Certain convictions are excluded entirely, including first- and second-degree felonies and many offenses of violence and sexually oriented offenses.

Timing depends on the offense. Under the same section, an application to seal can be filed one year after final discharge for a misdemeanor or a fourth- or fifth-degree felony, three years after final discharge for one or two third-degree felonies, and six months after final discharge for a minor misdemeanor. Expungement generally becomes available later than sealing for the same offense.

At the hearing the court weighs whether the applicant is eligible, whether other criminal proceedings are pending, whether the applicant has been rehabilitated, and whether the applicant’s interest in sealing outweighs the government’s need to keep the record.

Getting a copy of your own criminal record

Sealing and expungement address a record that is public; a separate task is simply reading what the state holds about you. A computerized criminal history kept by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is not a public record, but an individual can request their own history to check it for accuracy. According to the Ohio Attorney General’s instructions for requesting your own criminal records, the request requires the person’s identifying information, a full set of fingerprints, signed consent, and, as of 2026, a $22.00 payment to the Treasurer of State.

Fingerprints can be submitted at a Bureau of Criminal Investigation office or through a WebCheck provider. A person who finds an error in the record can challenge it by contacting the agency that made the entry, which is often a county sheriff, a local police department, or the court that handled the case.

Government IDs and vehicle records

Identification and vehicle documents in Ohio are issued by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, and one federal change shapes them all. Since May 7, 2025, a traveler needs a REAL ID-compliant license or state ID, or another accepted document such as a U.S. passport, to board a domestic flight or enter certain federal facilities, under the federal REAL ID program run by the Department of Homeland Security. A standard Ohio license still works for driving; the REAL ID marking matters for federal purposes.

Getting a first REAL ID requires documents proving identity, Social Security number, and Ohio residency, which is why the personal records above often come first. Vehicle records follow their own track: transferring a title, replacing a lost title, and recording a lien all run through the county clerk of courts title office and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles rather than through any court.

Ohio public records and the privacy of your files

Many personal records intersect with Ohio’s open-records law. Ohio’s Public Records Act, Ohio Rev. Code § 149.43, makes most records kept by a government office available to any person on request, with specific exceptions the statute lists. Court filings, including most criminal case records, are public by default, which is why sealing and expungement exist as a separate remedy to take a record back out of public view.

For self-help walkthroughs of these procedures, the nonprofit Ohio Legal Help guide to IDs, name change, and records organizes the same tasks by goal and links to the current state forms.

Specific procedures and topics