Court Records Blog

The Superior Court in Maricopa County, Arizona has a feature available in it’s public access to court records called case notification. This feature allows a registered user to flag cases of interest such that when changes occur on the flagged case, the user will be notified via email that there has been an update to the case. The email will provide a link for the user to log in to view the recent changes.  An individual must be registered to use this system and can flag up to 20 cases for tracking. Currently this system is only in place for cases filed in the Superior Court of Maricopa County.

This type of access seems a logical step in improving public access to court records and we here at the Free Court Reference Directory applaud Maricopa County Superior Court for providing this service.

As our society and our everyday activities, including paying bills, move more and more online, it becomes natural to expect the ease of online access to apply to that most frustrating of chores – paying a traffic ticket. As consumers, we desire the ease and speed of paying tickets online and our courts reap the benefits of not having court personnel tied up with processing these payments. 

The ability to pay these tickets, and other court fees, online varies greatly from state to state and even county to county. Some states and counties have a wide range of court functions online, from searching court cases to accessing court opinions and forms, while others have little to no information online. 

Check out CourtReference to see what online court information exists for your jurisdiction.  View court information by state and category – including online fine payment, court record searches, court calendar searches, and self-help resources.  Where little online information exists, encourage your local officials to push for increased online access.  These are our courts after all,  and they exist to meet our needs.

Online access to court records, including case information, dockets, calendars, and opinions continues to expand across the nation. New Hampshire, however, remains behind the times in providing case information online. While the state has a new case management system called Odyssey, there are only two access sites for this information – the Grafton County Probate Court and the Hillsborough County Probate Court.  Furthermore, the information available is limited – one may search for individual or business names and discover that a case exists, but little other information will be found.

A New Hampshire Supreme Court Task Force on Public Access to Court Records issued a report in 2006 recommending that the state courts move towards providing some limited access to court records.  While the task force agreed in principle that computerized case access would assist the courts themselves as well as the public,  the majority believed it prudent to move slowly towards providing electronic access.  The minority opinion held that court documents are public and the public should not have its access limited by the courts.

Given the progress made to date, it appears that New Hampshire, unfortunately, is a long way from joining the electronic age of court access.  To view available New Hampshire information, as well as other states’ court records and contact information, visit the Court Reference Directory.