To look up someone’s record, start with the type of record you need and go directly to the government office that holds it: federal court filings live in PACER, state court cases sit on each state’s judiciary portal, criminal histories come from state police repositories or the FBI, property ownership lives with the county recorder, and vital records are held by state vital statistics offices. Some of these are open to anyone; others are limited by law to the person named or to requesters with a specific legal purpose. Knowing which category a record falls into is the difference between a quick free search and a request that gets denied — or, worse, a search that creates legal exposure of its own.
Public Versus Restricted: Know Before You Search
Public records generally include court filings, property deeds, business registrations, and many government agency files. The federal Freedom of Information Act covers records held by federal executive branch agencies but does not reach courts, Congress, or state and local governments.1FOIA.gov. Freedom of Information Act Frequently Asked Questions Each state has its own open records or sunshine law with its own scope and procedure.
Restricted records are a separate world. Medical files are protected under HIPAA. Juvenile court records are sealed or restricted under state law almost everywhere. Social Security numbers, financial account details, birth dates of minors, and other personal identifiers must be redacted from public court filings under federal court rules and most state equivalents.2Cornell Law School. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 5.2 – Privacy Protection for Filings Made with the Court The Privacy Act of 1974 controls how federal agencies handle personal information and lets you access and correct your own federal records, but not someone else’s.3U.S. Department of Justice. Privacy Act of 1974
Court Records
Federal Cases Through PACER
Federal bankruptcy cases, civil lawsuits, and criminal prosecutions in U.S. district, appellate, and bankruptcy courts are available through the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system. Anyone can register for a free account and start searching immediately.4PACER: Federal Court Records. Register for an Account
PACER charges $0.10 per page with a $3.00 cap per document. If your total charges in a calendar quarter stay at or below $30, the fees are waived entirely.5PACER: Federal Court Records. How Much Does It Cost to Access Documents Using PACER For casual searches — pulling a docket, checking whether someone has been sued in federal court — you probably won’t pay anything. Search by case number, party name, or date range, across all federal courts or within a single district.
State and Local Cases
State courts handle the bulk of what most people are searching for: traffic violations, small claims, divorces, felonies, misdemeanors. Most states now run free online case search portals that accept a name, case number, or filing date. Depth varies. Some let you view full documents; others show only docket entries and hearing dates. A search for your state’s court system website usually leads to the right portal.
For older cases that predate digitization, or in counties that haven’t put records online, contact the clerk of court in the county where the case was filed. Civil filings are generally open under the principle of public court proceedings, though a judge can seal a case or redact sensitive material when privacy concerns outweigh access.
Criminal Records
State Repositories
Every state maintains a central criminal record repository, usually run by the state police or department of public safety. Many offer name-based criminal history searches online for a fee, generally between $10 and $65 depending on the state. Results typically show arrests, charges, dispositions, and sentences that local law enforcement and courts have reported to the state. A state repository covers only that state, so someone with a record in multiple states won’t have a complete history in any single one.
Your Own FBI Record
For a nationwide check on yourself, the FBI offers an Identity History Summary, sometimes called a rap sheet. You submit fingerprints — electronically at a participating U.S. Post Office or by mailing a completed fingerprint card. The fee is $18.6Federal Bureau of Investigation. Identity History Summary Checks Frequently Asked Questions This channel is only for your own records. You cannot request someone else’s FBI background check directly.
Checking Someone Else for Employment or Housing
If you’re checking another person for a hiring, housing, or credit decision, the Fair Credit Reporting Act governs the process. A consumer reporting agency can furnish a report only when the requester has a permissible purpose — employment, credit, insurance underwriting, a court order, or certain government benefit determinations.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 US Code 1681b – Permissible Purposes of Consumer Reports For employment, the employer must give the applicant a written disclosure in a standalone document and obtain written permission before pulling the report. Before taking any adverse action based on the results, the employer must give the applicant a copy of the report and a summary of FCRA rights.8Federal Trade Commission. Employer Background Checks and Your Rights Most adverse information older than seven years cannot be reported, though criminal convictions have no time limit.
Sex Offender Registry
Sex offender information is deliberately made public. The Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website, run by the U.S. Department of Justice, links registries from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, and participating tribes into one free search.9Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website. About NSOPW You can search by name, zip code, address, county, or city, including an address-radius option for one, two, or three miles around any location.10Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website. Search Public Sex Offender Registries
Property Records
Property ownership is maintained at the county level by the recorder’s office, the assessor, or the register of deeds, depending on the jurisdiction. Deeds show current and past owners, sale prices, the legal description, and any recorded mortgages. Many counties offer free online searches by owner name, parcel number, or street address.
The same records reveal financial encumbrances: IRS and state tax liens, mechanic’s liens filed by unpaid contractors, and judgment liens from court cases all appear in the recorded documents. If a county hasn’t put its records online, call the recorder’s office to ask whether you need to visit in person or can submit a written request by mail.
Birth, Death, and Marriage Records
Vital records are held by state vital statistics offices, not the federal government. The CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics maintains a directory pointing to the correct office in each state and territory, but it does not issue certificates itself.11Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Where to Write for Vital Records
These aren’t fully public. Most states limit certified copies to the person named on the record, immediate family, legal representatives, or someone who can show a direct legal interest. Expect to provide government-issued photo ID and, often, proof of your relationship to the person named. Fees for a certified copy generally run between $10 and $35, with more for expedited processing or extra copies.
Driver and Vehicle Records
You usually can’t look up someone else’s driving record. The federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act prohibits state DMVs from disclosing personal information from motor vehicle records except for a specific list of authorized purposes.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 US Code 2721 – Prohibition on Release and Use of Certain Personal Information from State Motor Vehicle Records
Those purposes include use by government agencies and courts, insurance claims investigations, vehicle safety and recall matters, verification of information a person submitted to a business, and use by licensed private investigators. Curiosity does not qualify. Insurers can pull records for underwriting, and employers can access records for commercial driver’s license holders, but highly restricted personal details like photographs and Social Security numbers generally require the individual’s consent. Violating the DPPA carries criminal fines and exposes the violator to civil suits, including punitive damages and attorney’s fees.
Going in Person
For records that aren’t online — older court files, documents in smaller jurisdictions, or certified vital records — an in-person visit is often the fastest route. Courthouses, county recorder’s offices, and vital statistics offices all accept walk-in requests during business hours.
Bring government-issued photo ID. For vital records and some restricted documents you may need a second form of identification or proof of your relationship to the person named. Many offices post request forms on their websites so you can fill them out ahead of time. Staff handle these requests every day and can often locate the right document faster than a public online search, especially when you’re not sure which filing year to look in.
Private Background Check Services
Commercial services pull records from courts, corrections departments, sex offender registries, and other public sources across many jurisdictions and consolidate them into one report. That saves time compared to searching each county or state individually, which is why background check companies dominate employment and tenant screening.
The tradeoff is accuracy. These databases rely on name-matching algorithms and periodic data pulls, so entries can be incomplete, outdated, or attached to the wrong person. Verify anything you find against the original government source before acting on it. Anyone using a consumer reporting agency for employment, housing, or credit decisions has to comply with the FCRA’s permissible-purpose and disclosure rules.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 US Code 1681b – Permissible Purposes of Consumer Reports If you find inaccurate information about yourself, the FCRA lets you dispute it; the reporting agency must investigate and correct or delete anything it cannot verify.
What You Can and Can’t Do With What You Find
Looking up records is legal. Misusing what you find is where the trouble starts. Obtaining a consumer report without a permissible purpose exposes you to actual damages, punitive damages, and attorney’s fees under the FCRA. The Driver’s Privacy Protection Act carries similar penalties for improperly obtained motor vehicle records. Accessing computer systems without authorization can trigger federal criminal charges under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
Even when records are properly obtained, use is regulated. Using someone’s criminal history to discriminate in housing can violate fair housing laws. Denying employment based on a background check without following the FCRA’s pre-adverse-action notice requirements is a common source of lawsuits.8Federal Trade Commission. Employer Background Checks and Your Rights The consistent theme: access is broad; use is restricted.
Sealed, Redacted, and Expunged Records
A clean search doesn’t always mean a clean record. Courts routinely redact personal identifiers — Social Security numbers, taxpayer IDs, birth dates of minors, and financial account numbers — from public filings under federal court rules, and most state courts follow similar standards.2Cornell Law School. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 5.2 – Privacy Protection for Filings Made with the Court The filer is responsible for the redactions, not the clerk.
Sealing goes further and removes an entire document or case file from public view. A court can seal records to protect trade secrets, witness safety, the privacy of a minor, or other interests that outweigh public access, but sealing requests face a high bar and require specific justification.
Expungement is the criminal-law equivalent. Many states let people petition to expunge certain offenses after a waiting period, which erases the record from public view. If you search for someone’s criminal history and find nothing, it may mean they truly have no record, or it may mean an offense was expunged. The legal system treats an expunged record as though it doesn’t exist, and the person generally isn’t required to disclose it.