You can get most court records online for free if you know which system holds them. Federal filings sit in PACER, which waives all charges when your quarterly bill stays at $30 or less and never charges for written opinions. State cases live on each state’s judicial branch website, where docket information is almost always free and many filings can be viewed as PDFs at no cost. Free mirrors like the RECAP Archive fill in a lot of the federal gaps.
Gather These Details First
A few pieces of information will cut your search time dramatically.
Start with the exact legal spelling of every name involved. Nicknames and abbreviations rarely match what sits in a court database, so use the full name as it would appear on a filing.
Next, work out which court heard the case. Federal district courts handle cases involving federal law, constitutional questions, and disputes between residents of different states. State and local courts handle almost everything else, including criminal prosecutions, divorces, probate, and most civil lawsuits. A drug trafficking case could be either; a landlord-tenant dispute is almost always local.
If you have a case number, use it. Every court system accepts case number searches and will pull the exact file instantly instead of making you sort through name matches. The approximate year of filing and the case type (civil, criminal, family, probate) help narrow results on busy systems.
Federal Court Records Through PACER
The Public Access to Court Electronic Records system is the federal judiciary’s portal for district courts, bankruptcy courts, and appellate courts. Anyone can register at pacer.uscourts.gov, lawyer or not, party or not.1PACER: Federal Court Records. Register for an Account Pick the “Case Search Only” account if you just want to look things up.
You can search a specific court or use the nationwide case locator. PACER charges $0.10 per page for documents, docket sheets, and case-specific reports, with a $3.00 cap on any single document no matter how long.2United States Courts. Electronic Public Access Fee Schedule A 200-page filing still costs $3.00 to download. The cap does not apply to name searches, transcripts, or reports that aren’t tied to a specific case.3PACER: Federal Court Records. Pricing Frequently Asked Questions
Here is the detail that matters most. If your total PACER charges stay at $30.00 or less in a calendar quarter, the fees are waived entirely.2United States Courts. Electronic Public Access Fee Schedule You won’t get an invoice and your payment method won’t be charged. Combined with the per-document cap, $30 goes further than it sounds. Ten long documents at $3 each hits the limit; ten short filings of a few pages each might run only a few dollars. Watch your running balance before each download and you can do a lot of research for nothing.
Opinions Are Always Free
Written opinions, orders, and decisions from federal judges are exempt from PACER fees entirely.4PACER: Federal Court Records. Options to Access Records if you Cannot Afford PACER Fees If what you want is how a judge ruled on an issue rather than the full case file, you can read every opinion without touching your quarterly balance.
Researcher Fee Exemptions
Academic researchers on a defined scholarly project can request a complete fee exemption covering multiple federal courts at once. The exemption must be limited in scope and the data cannot be intended for commercial redistribution.5PACER: Federal Court Records. Fee Exemption Request for Researchers For non-research purposes, or when you only need an exemption from one court, contact that court’s clerk directly.
Free Alternatives to PACER
PACER isn’t the only route to federal documents.
The RECAP Archive
The RECAP Archive, hosted on CourtListener, is a searchable collection of millions of federal court documents uploaded by other PACER users. When someone with the RECAP browser extension downloads a document from PACER, a copy drops into this public archive, where anyone can search and pull it without a PACER account.6CourtListener. Advanced RECAP Archive Search for PACER The archive holds every free opinion in PACER plus tens of millions of other filings.7Free Law Project. RECAP Suite – Turning PACER Around Since 2009
If you use PACER regularly, install the extension. It runs on Chrome, Edge, Safari, and Firefox. As you browse PACER, it checks whether each document you’re about to pay for already exists in the archive. If it does, you get it free. If it doesn’t, your purchased copy gets shared with the next person. Coverage is uneven because it depends on what other people have downloaded, so high-profile cases are well-represented and obscure local matters often aren’t.
Courthouse Public Terminals
Every federal courthouse keeps public access terminals in or near the clerk’s office. Searching from these terminals usually removes the per-page viewing fees that apply from home. They’re open during business hours and staff can help if the interface is unfamiliar. Paper copies run roughly $0.25 to $1.00 per page depending on the courthouse, so viewing on-screen and taking notes is the truly free option.
State and Local Court Records
State court systems are a patchwork. Some states run a single statewide portal that covers every court. Others publish docket information online (the list of filings and hearing dates) but make you visit the courthouse or request copies for the actual documents. A handful still have minimal online access for certain court levels.
Find the official judicial branch website for the state where the case was filed. Look for a link called “Case Search,” “Public Access,” or “Court Records.” You’ll usually pick the court level (superior, district, circuit, or municipal, depending on the state) and the county, then enter the party name or case number.
Once you open a case, the docket view lists every filing in chronological order: complaints, motions, orders, and the final judgment. Many jurisdictions let you click an entry and view the full PDF free. Others show only the docket entries and route you to the clerk’s office for the underlying documents. A small icon next to a filing date usually means a PDF is available.
Because the systems vary so much, there is no universal rule for what’s free. The docket listing almost always is. Full document access depends on the jurisdiction.
Bankruptcy and Tax Court
Two specialized federal courts have their own search systems.
Bankruptcy Court
Bankruptcy filings sit in PACER under the same account and fee structure as other federal records. If you only need basic case information, the Multi-Court Voice Case Information System reads case details to you over the phone. The service is free, runs 24 hours, and covers courts nationwide at (866) 222-8029.8United States Bankruptcy Court. Multi-Court Voice Case Information System (McVCIS) Enter a case number or debtor name on your phone’s keypad to get the filing date, case chapter, trustee name, discharge status, and creditor deadlines.
U.S. Tax Court
The U.S. Tax Court runs its own system, DAWSON (Docket Access Within a Secure Online Network), for electronic filing and public searches. You can look up cases, orders, and opinions at dawson.ustaxcourt.gov with no PACER account required.9United States Tax Court. DAWSON It works on Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge.
Older Federal Cases
Federal records less than about 15 years old generally stay with the individual court and show up in PACER. Older records get transferred to Federal Records Centers run by the National Archives and Records Administration.10National Archives. National Archives Court Records A case from the 1990s or earlier may not be in PACER at all.
Search the National Archives Catalog at catalog.archives.gov to find out which facility holds the records. The catalog is free. From there you can order copies or arrange to view them in person at a research room. Not every old case survived: retention policies have led to the destruction of some records, though cases that went to trial, cases filed before 1970, and cases deemed historically significant are generally preserved.
What You Won’t Find Online
Some material is kept out of public view, and knowing what’s off-limits saves you from hunting for records that don’t exist in any public database.
Judges can seal entire cases or individual documents when public access would cause harm that outweighs the public’s right to know. Common sealed categories include classified national security information, trade secrets, details that could endanger cooperating witnesses, and certain financial information in bankruptcy proceedings.11United States Courts. Accessing Court Documents – Journalists Guide Juvenile records, pretrial bail reports, presentence investigation reports, and juror information are also routinely withheld. A sealed record either won’t appear in your search results or will show as a docket entry you cannot open.
Public filings themselves are redacted. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2 requires parties to strip out all but the last four digits of Social Security numbers, taxpayer identification numbers, and financial account numbers, and to reduce birth dates to the year and identify minors by initials.12Cornell Law School. Rule 5.2 Privacy Protection For Filings Made with the Court If a filer slips and leaves sensitive details in, using or sharing that information can carry legal consequences.
Limits on Using What You Find
Finding a record and using a record are two different things.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act restricts how court records can be used in background checks for employment, housing, and credit decisions. Consumer reporting agencies cannot include civil suits, civil judgments, or arrest records more than seven years old. Bankruptcy filings drop off after ten years. Criminal convictions can be reported indefinitely.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 15 – Section 1681c Those limits bind professional screening services, but they’re a reminder that court records carry weight. Downloading a case file and posting it to social media raises different legal questions than reading it for your own research.
If you’re checking on a potential employee or tenant through a consumer reporting agency, federal law triggers specific notice and consent obligations. An employer who compiles a background report in-house still faces those requirements. Use records for understanding what happened in a case, and talk to a lawyer before using them to make decisions about someone else.