Another complication: Vital Records in the Dark Ages

[mcscajun]

A friend in Baton Rouge informs me that most of the birth certificates, marriage certificates, etc., are still on paper in Louisiana...most kept in basements...even in New Orleans.

An article from the Baltimore Sun explains further:

In Bay St. Louis, Miss., part of the courthouse collapsed. In Chalmette, La., local judges were reportedly stranded at the St. Bernard Parish court, trying to reconstruct records damaged in the flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina. And at the Louisiana Supreme Court in New Orleans, boxes of evidence files were reported to be soaked.

With authorities still trying to restore order in New Orleans and provide essential services and count the dead along the Gulf Coast, most rescue personnel had little time to worry about documents that might have been lost in the storm.

But archivists and others across the country were turning their attention to what could become an increasingly vexing problem as people try to rebuild their lives: the potential destruction of the vital records of births, deaths, wills, marriages, divorces and property ownership.

"After the necessities are restored and people are housed and are provided with clean water and basic supplies, then people are going to try to re-establish their lives, and it's going to be very difficult to do without public records," said Susan Cooper, a spokeswoman for the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.archives03sep03,1,1938833.story?coll=bal-news-nation&ctrack=1&cset=true

[iamjoy]

1. Here Comes A Rash Of Identity Thefts

people are going to claim they were living in NOLA & the records were destroyed.

[rzemanfl]

4. A lot of people who didn't die will be "dead" too. I would be

amazed if at least a few people with major life problems didn't go and drop their wallets near the World Trade Center in 2001.

[Spinzonner]

2. Absurd in this day and age

Recording and computerization of public records is a haphazard, balkanized process, in part to protect business that make money over the diificulty in accessing them.

It's time to have a national movement to correct this, espeically for counties and states that don't have the resources to address this themselves.

[rzemanfl]

3. I was wondering about that, so in order to collect life insurance

people may have trouble proving that they are the spouse of a person, that the body found in the floodwaters was their spouse's body and that their spouse was ever born.

What a mess, where's your house? It used to be there. Where's your deed? It used to be in the house. Where's the record your deed was recorded. At the courthouse soaking wet under ten pounds of shit.

On the other hand folks with back child support obligations may be happy campers.

To add to the problem, only Louisiana lawyers know how to practice law in Louisiana. The whole system there is different.

[iamjoy]

5. Insurance Waived Some Of Those Requirements

After 9-11 (for death certificates)

As for birth records, the person would have to be covered on the insurance policy. I would think the insurance companies would keep back up records in some sort of national network. As for the small, local fly by night companies, not an issue. They are going under (literally) and the claim wouldn't get paid anyway.

As for homeowner's insurance, again, the home would have to be covered and I would think companies like State Farm, Allstate, etc would have records in places other than New Orleans. But, homeowners's insurance may be a moot point anyway. The reason is, most policies don't cover flooding - that's a separate rider that is very expensive, so most people don't have it. So, most of the private property loss is, for all practical purposes, uninsured.

Amarica, what a country!