Published
October 10, 2026
Whether the public can read a state court filing online depends entirely on the state: as of October 2026, nine states and the District of Columbia offer free online access to many filed documents, while 19 states keep filings for the general public at courthouse terminals. The rest charge per page or subscription, or leave access to each county clerk.
Why Court Records Aren't in One Place
Federal and state courts are separate court systems. The federal judiciary's online system, PACER, covers only U.S. district, bankruptcy and appeals courts. Divorces, evictions, debt-collection suits, car-accident cases, probate, traffic tickets and most criminal prosecutions are handled in state courts, and each of the 50 states runs its own judiciary with its own budget, its own technology and its own rules on who may see a court file.The result is a patchwork. Some states built one statewide case management system and opened it to the public. Others adopted electronic filing for lawyers but still show the filed documents only on a courthouse computer. In some states there is no statewide system at all, and each county clerk decides what goes online and what it costs.
Three Different Questions
Three separate things get lumped together as "court records online," and states answer them differently:- Statewide e-filing: whether lawyers and parties file documents electronically through one system across the state's trial courts. Most states now have it, at least for attorneys in civil cases.
- Online case search: whether the public can look up a case's docket, meaning the list of parties, filings, hearings and outcomes. Many states offer this free even when they do not show documents.
- Filed documents online: whether a member of the public who is not a party can open the actual complaint, motion or order from home. This is where states differ most.
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The Big Picture
Counting the District of Columbia, the 51 jurisdictions break down roughly into four groups based on what the general public can see online as of October 2026:- Free online documents (9 states and D.C.): Arkansas, Connecticut, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York and North Carolina, plus the District of Columbia. Coverage still has limits, such as civil cases only, documents filed after a certain date, or specific courts.
- Paid online documents (10 states): Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Texas, Utah and West Virginia charge per page, per document or by subscription.
- Courthouse only (19 states): Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Most of these offer a free online docket search, but the documents themselves are viewed at a courthouse terminal or requested from the clerk.
- County by county (12 states): California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Washington leave online access largely to each county or court, so the answer depends on where the case was filed.
Court Records Access by State
"Filed documents online" describes access for a member of the public who is not a party to the case. Lawyers of record and parties often have broader access through the e-filing system. The pick-a-state box jumps to one row; the filters show only the states with one kind of access.Rows last checked against each state judiciary's own website: October 10, 2026.
| State | Filed Documents Online | Online Case Search | Case Search / Official Page | Statewide E-Filing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Paid onlineAlacourt charges per search, plus $5 for the first 20 pages of a document image | Paid (Alacourt) | Alacourt | Yes — AlaFile |
| Alaska | Courthouse onlyCourthouse only, except some criminal and minor-offense documents for registered users | Free statewide | Alaska CourtView case search | Yes — TrueFiling |
| Arizona | Paid online$10 per document through eAccess (Superior Court civil and criminal cases filed since 2010) | Free (most courts) | Arizona Public Access case search | Yes — Superior Court and most justice courts |
| Arkansas | Free onlineFree online through Search ARCourts | Free statewide | Search ARCourts | Yes — eFlex |
| California | County by countyVaries by county; Los Angeles charges per page. State rules bar remote access to many case types | County by county | California Courts | Varies — each of 58 superior courts runs its own |
| Colorado | Courthouse onlyCourthouse or records request; not on the Judicial Branch website | Paid third-party vendors only | Colorado Judicial Branch records guide | Yes — Colorado Courts E-Filing |
| Connecticut | Free onlineFree online for many e-filed civil cases; family documents generally not online | Free statewide | Connecticut Case Look-up | Yes — Judicial Branch E-Services |
| Delaware | Paid onlineFree at courthouse terminals; remote documents require a paid File & ServeXpress subscription | Civil cases only (free) | Delaware Courts docket search | Partial — Superior Court and Chancery civil |
| District of Columbia | Free onlineFree online for civil, probate and tax cases; criminal documents only in some cases | Free | D.C. Courts cases online | Yes — eFileDC (Superior Court) |
| Florida | County by countyVaries by county; most clerks show non-confidential documents free, with family and probate behind a registered account | County by county (67 clerks) | Florida Courts E-Filing Portal | Yes — Florida Courts E-Filing Portal |
| Georgia | County by countyVaries by county and vendor; accounts required | County by county | Georgia Judicial Gateway E-Access | County by county — several vendors |
| Hawaii | Paid online$3 per document through eCourt Kōkua, or $125 a quarter | Free statewide | Hawaii State Judiciary records | Yes — JEFS |
| Idaho | Courthouse onlyCourthouse kiosks or the clerk | Free statewide | Idaho iCourt Portal | Yes — iCourt |
| Illinois | County by countyVaries by county circuit clerk; Supreme and Appellate Court filings since April 2025 are free online | County by county | Illinois Courts e-services | Yes — eFileIL (civil) |
| Indiana | Free onlineFree online for most civil case types; criminal cases show sentencing orders only | Free statewide (MyCase) | Indiana MyCase | Yes — Indiana E-Filing System |
| Iowa | Courthouse onlyCourthouse terminals; parties see their own case documents online | Free statewide (dockets) | Iowa Courts Online search | Yes — EDMS |
| Kansas | Free onlineFree online through CaseSearch for documents filed after each county joined eCourt | Free statewide | Kansas CaseSearch | Yes — Kansas eCourt (all 105 counties) |
| Kentucky | Courthouse onlyCourthouse only, through the county circuit clerk | Not for the general public (CourtNet is for attorneys and agencies) | Kentucky Court of Justice records | Yes, for attorneys in several civil case types |
| Louisiana | Paid onlineSubscriptions sold by each of the 64 parish clerks, at prices each clerk sets | Paid, parish by parish | Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure art. 253 | Parish by parish |
| Maine | Courthouse onlyCourthouse terminals; online documents only where the court makes them available | Partial (free account) | Maine eCourts public access | Partial — rolling out by region |
| Maryland | Courthouse onlyCourthouse terminals; remote documents are for parties and attorneys only | Free statewide (case summaries) | Maryland Judiciary Case Search | Yes — MDEC |
| Massachusetts | Courthouse onlyCourthouse kiosks or the clerk; online documents are for registered attorneys | Free statewide (MassCourts dockets) | MassCourts case search | Yes — eFileMA |
| Michigan | County by countyVaries by court; copies come from each clerk | Participating courts only | MiCOURT Case Search | Partial — MiFILE, court by court |
| Minnesota | Free onlineFree online through MCRO for most documents filed since July 2015 | Free statewide | Minnesota Court Records Online | Yes — eFile and eServe |
| Mississippi | Paid online$0.20 per page plus a $10 annual registration | Paid (PAMEC) | Mississippi Electronic Courts | Yes — MEC |
| Missouri | Free onlineFree online for public documents filed since July 1, 2023 | Free statewide (Case.net) | Missouri Case.net | Yes — Missouri eFiling System |
| Montana | Courthouse onlyCourthouse or the clerk of court | Partial (index only) | Montana Courts public portals | Partial — rolling out by district |
| Nebraska | Paid online$17 one-time search including document images, or a subscription | Paid (JUSTICE) | Nebraska JUSTICE e-services | Yes — mandatory for attorneys |
| Nevada | County by countyVaries by county; Clark County runs its own records portal | County by county | Nevada court records guide | County by county |
| New Hampshire | Courthouse onlyCourthouse kiosks; LUCIE shows case summaries, not documents | Partial (LUCIE, free account) | New Hampshire LUCIE | Yes — NH e-Court |
| New Jersey | Free onlineFree online for e-filed civil, special civil and foreclosure documents | Free statewide | New Jersey Courts find a case | Yes — eCourts |
| New Mexico | Courthouse onlyCourthouse only for the general public; fuller online access for attorneys, press and approved users | Free statewide (Case Lookup) | New Mexico Courts Case Lookup | Yes — Odyssey File & Serve |
| New York | Free onlineFree online for Supreme Court cases e-filed in NYSCEF (guest search) | Free statewide | NYSCEF (search as guest) | Partial — NYSCEF, mandatory in some counties |
| North Carolina | Free onlineFree online through the eCourts Portal; confidential and sealed filings withheld | Free statewide | North Carolina eCourts | Yes — eCourts (all 100 counties) |
| North Dakota | Courthouse onlyCourthouse or the county clerk | Free statewide | North Dakota Courts public access | Yes — Odyssey eFiling |
| Ohio | County by countyVaries by county clerk; remote access is optional for each court | County by county | Supreme Court of Ohio e-filing | County by county |
| Oklahoma | County by countyVaries by county | Free (OSCN counties) | Oklahoma State Courts Network | Pilot in some counties |
| Oregon | Courthouse onlyCourthouse terminals; online documents through a paid OJCIN subscription for eligible users | Free statewide (case info) | Oregon Judicial Department find a case | Yes — OJD eFile |
| Pennsylvania | County by countyVaries by county prothonotary | Partial (UJS Portal, not civil trial cases) | Pennsylvania UJS Portal | Partial — PACFile and county systems |
| Rhode Island | Courthouse onlyCourthouse terminals; online documents for attorneys | Free statewide (docket only) | Rhode Island case information | Yes — Odyssey File & Serve |
| South Carolina | County by countyVaries; document images are not available in every county or case | Free, county by county | South Carolina case records search | Yes — Common Pleas, all 46 counties |
| South Dakota | Courthouse onlyCourthouse terminals | Free (case summaries, free registration) | South Dakota eCourts | Yes — eFile SD |
| Tennessee | County by countyVaries by county clerk; some charge subscriptions | County by county | Tennessee AOC statewide case system RFP | County by county |
| Texas | Paid online$0.10 per page, $1 minimum per document, through re:SearchTX | Free statewide (re:SearchTX, free account) | re:SearchTX | Yes — eFileTexas (civil) |
| Utah | Paid online$1 per document through Xchange, plus search or subscription fees | Paid (Xchange) | Utah Courts Xchange | Yes — through approved filing providers |
| Vermont | Courthouse onlyCourthouse terminals; state law bars remote public access to criminal, family and probate records | Partial (civil summaries) | Vermont Judiciary electronic access | Yes — eFile & Serve |
| Virginia | Courthouse onlyCourthouse; online documents for approved subscribers through each circuit clerk | Partial (free case information) | Virginia Courts case information | Partial — circuit courts that opt in |
| Washington | County by countyVaries by county clerk | Free statewide index | Washington statewide case search | County by county |
| West Virginia | Paid online$0.25 per page through WVPASS | Free statewide (WVPASS, free registration) | West Virginia WVPASS announcement | Yes — all 55 counties |
| Wisconsin | Courthouse onlyCourthouse or the clerk; online documents for parties and attorneys only | Free statewide (WCCA) | Wisconsin Circuit Court Access | Yes — all 72 counties |
| Wyoming | Courthouse onlyCourthouse terminals and the State Law Library | None for the public | Wyoming Judicial Branch | Partial — district courts, circuit courts phasing in |
When the Documents Are Only at the Courthouse
In the 19 courthouse-only states, and in many county-by-county ones, the online docket shows that a case exists and lists what has been filed, but the filings themselves are read on a public terminal at the clerk's office or obtained from the clerk. Clerks' offices fill copy requests in person, by mail and increasingly by email, usually at a per-page copy fee set by statute or court rule, with a separate certification fee for a certified copy. A written request that identifies the case number is generally enough; turnaround runs from same-day at the counter to a few weeks by mail. Several of these states also sell remote document access to approved subscribers such as attorneys, title companies and news organizations, and the table notes that where the court says so.Online coverage also has a start date. Most portals hold documents only from the day the court's e-filing system went live, which the table notes where the court states it, and older files remain on paper or microfilm with the clerk or a state archive. Case searches on most portals run on a party's name, and a common name returns many unrelated cases, so a docket search usually needs the county where the case was filed plus a year or the other party's name. In county-by-county states the state gateway does not search across counties; the search runs at the clerk of the county that holds the case.
States With No Single Statewide System
In about a dozen states, the honest answer to "can I look this up online" is "it depends on the county." California's 58 superior courts each run their own e-filing and records portals, and statewide court rules bar remote access to many case types, including family, juvenile and criminal cases. Florida's 67 county clerks each operate their own records sites under statewide access standards. Georgia sends users from a state gateway out to county clerks and private vendors, each with its own account. Ohio's court rules let each court decide whether to offer remote access at all.Tennessee is an outlier even among these. Its courts adopt e-filing one by one under local rules, and the state's Administrative Office of the Courts has issued a request for proposals for a statewide case management and e-filing system. Louisiana's 64 parish clerks each sell their own online subscriptions.
Where Access Has Recently Changed
The map is not static, and several states opened up in the last few years:- Missouri began showing public documents on Case.net for filings made on or after July 1, 2023.
- West Virginia launched WVPASS on March 10, 2025, with documents from all 55 counties back to 1999 at $0.25 a page.
- Illinois made Supreme Court and Appellate Court documents filed on or after April 1, 2025 free online and has named the 102 county circuit courts as its next step.
- North Carolina finished moving all 100 counties onto its eCourts system in October 2025.
- Kansas replaced its district court portal with a free CaseSearch site in November 2025.
- New Hampshire launched the LUCIE case information portal in 2026, which shows case summaries but not documents.
- Rhode Island and Wyoming have both begun looking at remote public access to documents, which neither offers today.
Federal Cases Are a Separate System
Nothing in the table covers federal lawsuits, including most of the class actions and securities cases covered on this site. Those are filed in federal court and live on PACER, which charges $0.10 per page today and is scheduled to rise to $0.12 per page on January 1, 2027, with the first $30 a quarter waived ($40 from 2027). The free CourtListener archive and its RECAP browser extension hold copies of many federal filings that someone has already paid for. The full history of those fees is in PACER Explained: The Paywall on Court Records.What the Table Does Not Capture
Court access rules change often, and a state-level summary flattens real differences between courts and case types. Every state withholds sealed cases and confidential case types, and many keep family, guardianship and protective-order documents offline even when they show the docket. Most portals also say their online information is not the official court record; certified copies come from the clerk of the court that holds the case. Where a state's own website did not clearly answer a question, the row says "varies" or describes the access the court confirms.Frequently Asked Questions
Why isn't there one national website for court records?
Federal and state courts are separate systems. PACER covers only the federal courts, and each of the 50 states runs its own judiciary with its own budget, technology and rules on who may see a court file. Some states run a single statewide portal; others leave records to each county clerk.
Which states let the public read court filings online for free?
As of October 2026, Arkansas, Connecticut, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York and North Carolina, plus the District of Columbia, offer free online access to many filed documents through a statewide or court-wide system. Each excludes confidential case types, and several cover only certain courts, case types or filing dates.
Is a statewide e-filing system the same as public online access?
No. E-filing lets lawyers and parties submit documents electronically, but many states with complete statewide e-filing, including Iowa, Wisconsin, Maryland and Rhode Island, still let the general public view the filed documents only at a courthouse terminal. Online document access is a separate policy decision.
Are online court records the official record?
Usually not. Most state portals say their online case information is provided for convenience and is not the official court record. Certified copies come from the clerk of the court that holds the case, generally for a fee.
Why does an online case search find nothing for a case that exists?
The usual reasons are coverage and scope. Most portals hold only cases filed after the court's e-filing system went live, many search one county or one court level at a time rather than the whole state, and confidential case types never appear. Name searches also miss cases when the portal holds a different spelling, a middle initial or a business's legal name rather than its trade name.
Can sealed or confidential cases be found online?
No. Every state withholds sealed cases and confidential case types from public online access. Juvenile, adoption and mental health cases are commonly excluded, and many states also keep family, guardianship and protective-order documents offline even when the docket is listed.
Sources
Each state's row links to its public case search where one exists, or otherwise to the official judiciary page the row is based on. Additional sources:- Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts — statewide case management RFP
- Illinois Supreme Court — free remote access to reviewing court documents
- Kansas Judicial Branch — CaseSearch launch
- California Rules of Court, rule 2.503 — remote access limits
- Supreme Court of Ohio — public access primer
- Vermont Judiciary — electronic access
About This Page
OpenClassActions.com is a consumer news and information site, not a law firm. This article is general information about how public access to court records works. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
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