Court Records Blog

CourtReference.com is designed to help users navigate the complex world of the trial court systems in the United States. Each state has its own court structure and rules as to where cases are filed, handled and tried. This site seeks to assist casual and regular participants in the legal system by providing overviews of the state court structures as well as court contact information. We also provide links to online court resources including case searching, court dockets, court opinions and self help tools.

The Home Page provides links to all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Once on a state page, there is a summary chart showing common case types and the courts these case records are likely to be found. Links to each type of court provide detailed descriptions of these courts and their jurisdiction. One can return to the state’s summary chart page by following the tab marked Court Summary.

As described on our About page, each state page also has links at the top of the page marked Court Types, Courts Online and Court Directory.

Court Types provides a detailed summary of all types of trial courts that exist in the state and the types of cases each type of court handles.

Some states will also have a tab marked Specialty Courts, for courts that have statewide or regional jurisdiction and from one or a few locations in the state. Specialty Courts typically have limited jurisdiction over certain types of cases, such as Workers’ Compensation, Tax, Water or other specialized areas of the law. The Specialty Courts pages for each state provide location and jurisdiction information for these courts.

The Courts Online tab brings the user to a page detailing statewide online resources, including online case record search services, dockets and calendars, court opinions, self help resources, information about finding legal assistance and online fine payment systems. Additional online resources for individual courts are listed at the specific court’s location information.

Court location information is accessible at the Court Directory page. The court directory can be searched by county, city or zip code. The Court Directory pages also offer ways for users to report broken links and corrected contact information.

CourtReference.com is a newly launched site, but has been in the works for well over a year. We encourage users to be come involved with this site and to share their questions, answers and wisdom via our forum.

Welcome!