North Carolina Court Records

Accessing North Carolina Court Records

North Carolina has a unified Trial court system that is comprised of Superior courts, District courts, Business courts and Family courts. The Superior court has general jurisdiction over all criminal and civil cases, while the District courts have limited jurisdiction over certain criminal and civil cases. The Business court handles commercial cases.

You must approach the Clerk's office to access your court record in the state of NC. You can find the record on the Internet too. But the fact is that, you can just see the information on the record online; you will not be able to get an official copy. If all you need to do is just get the information, then this is fine of course. Otherwise, approach the Clerk's office.

But even before you do so, decide what you are going to mention in the application. This is because you are required to mention the reason why you want to access the record, and you must also mention your relationship with the lawsuit or the people involved in it. If the office is not convinced, you will not get the record, even though it is in the public domain.

Accessing North Carolina Court Records

You may access court records in the following manner:

• You may visit the courthouse and approach the clerk. You should be prepared to wait in a line for a while because there is almost always a heavy rush in the courthouse. You will be charged a nominal fee and the Clerk of the courthouse will conduct a search once your application is received. Be sure to provide correct information because otherwise, the search will not yield any result.
• You can also call the courthouse or send a mail to ask for your records. This process might also take some time.
• You can search for the record online. The state's legal system has a website where the records are uploaded. It is this database that you will have to search. Though you will not get a copy, but you can at least find the information you want by looking at the record.
• You may also visit the public library to search for the court records of North Carolina.

Which Records Can You Access?

The types of records that you can access are as follows:

• Age and gender
• Telephone Numbers & Addresses
• Marriage Records
• Divorce Records
• Default Records
• Police, Arrest, Courts and Criminal records
• Army, Navy and Military records
• Business and Property records

Birth records are usually found at the Vital Records office. Death records are of two types: namely cemetery records and obituary records. These records may be required to claim the death benefits of an insurance policy. Marriage records reveal the couple's wedding date and the personal details of the couple. Divorce records, on the other hand, reveal whether a person is legally divorced or not.

Police and criminal records help you find out whether you can depend on the person or not. By accessing the business records, you can learn whether the company has ever been sued or not, and if yes, then you can learn about the outcome of the case.