E-court (State's Civil Court) and Property Records Search

Delivered March 14th, 2018

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E-court (State's Civil Court) and Property Records Search: Alabama through Iowa

As requested, I've provided links to the online civil court and property records databases for selected states in rows 3 to 17 in the attached spreadsheet. Many of the states only have property record databases at the local level; for these states, I've included the NCSC link in the spreadsheet, as requested. There were two special cases in which the state did not have a straightforward records search for civil courts: Illinois and California. I've explained these cases in detail below. 
special cases
Illinois does not provide statewide public court records; however, the Illinois Association of Court Clerks provides links to all of the county court public record databases, so I've provided that link in the spreadsheet. 

California does not have a statewide database for civil court records. These cases, and the corresponding records, are handled by the superior court of each county. In the spreadsheet, I provided the link to the court records search for the county of Sacramento, which is the state capital. Other court records for California are collected by the PACER system, but this only covers district and appellate courts, not superior courts. 

conclusionTo wrap up, I've provided links to the record searches for civil court cases and property for selected states in the U.S. You can find these links in the attached spreadsheet. 

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E-court (State's Civil Court) and Property Records Search: Kansas through North Carolina

In looking for searchable civil court case databases by state, specifically the states in alphabetical order from Kansas to North Carolina, we found that most of the states included in this research provide one central database in which to access this information. The URL for each of these databases has been entered into Column C in the corresponding spreadsheet. When a secondary search site was found, the URL was entered into Column F of the spreadsheet, and a brief explanation can be found below.

We found that property records, on the other hand, were most often available only at the local (usually county) level. When a central site, such as a Register of Deeds or other statewide property records database was available, the corresponding URL was entered into Column D of the spreadsheet; otherwise, the National Center for State Courts public records page was listed. We'll take a deeper dive into any oddities in our findings below.
KansasAccess to the Kansas District Court records search requires a subscription to the state government website and charges a fee of $1.50 per search and $1.50 per case retrieved. We've also included a link to the Kansas Appellate Courts case inquiry system, which is free, but the District Court records site would likely be most useful in searching a broad spectrum of civil cases, including landlord v. tenant cases.
MaineBoth the Maine Superior Court and the Maine Supreme Court offer online search tools for judgments in cases. The Superior Court database would likely be more helpful than the Supreme Court, as it includes a wider variety of civil cases, including landlord-tenant disputes.
NebraskaAccess to the Nebraska court information database, which includes data from all of Nebraska's courts, costs $15 per use and yields up to 30 cases per search.
New Hampshire Court case search requests in New Hampshire must be submitted to the state judicial administrative offices and often requires a fee per search. Fees are usually waived for military recruiters, law enforcement officials, prosecutors, public defenders, contract attorneys, or anyone who can provide a case number for their search.
New JerseyElectronic access to New Jersey court records requires a subscription and is subject to a fee of $1.00 per minute.
North CarolinaNorth Carolina Supreme Court and Court of Appeals case data is searchable by keyword or can be browsed by year on the North Carolina Appellate Courts site. The state also offers a Remote Public Access (RPA) Program which might provide a broader spectrum of civil cases such as landlord v. tenant cases, but this service comes with a one-time fee of $495, and the user incurs a $.21 fee per transaction.
ConclusionWhile most of the requested court data was found readily available and is provided to the public for free, some states do charge a fee for access to these records. As can be seen above, these fees vary broadly. Online property records are generally less accessible and require contact with a local county agency.

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E-court (State's Civil Court) and Property Records Search: North Dakota through Wyoming

I've added information on E-court and property records search tools provided by the states in rows 34-51 of the attached spreadsheet, including states from North Dakota to Wyoming. The majority of these states offered comprehensive court records search tools, but only a few offered property records search tools. Read on for a brief rundown of my findings and the special cases among these states' online records tools.
SPECIAL CASESComprehensive court case search tools were available from the vast majority of the state governments in this section of the spreadsheet. However, most of the states lacked a comprehensive property records search tool; these records appear to be held at the county level in almost every state. A few states, like South Carolina and Tennessee, offer state-sponsored property records search tools that aggregate data from county offices.

Ohio court records are held at the county level; this page has links to county court records search tools where available. I also linked to the Ohio Court of Claims as a secondary tool, but it's unlikely that many landlord-tenant cases make it to that level as they mostly handle claims against the state of Ohio itself.

 Oregon offers limited searching for free and a more comprehensive paid search tool.

South Carolina also holds court records at the county level; their search tool aggregates data from county court offices.

 South Dakota's search tool, like Oregon's, offers some information for free but asks for payment for more comprehensive results.

The tool I linked for Tennessee was the only one I found for court records in that state; however, it's not clear that it includes civil cases below a certain level.

West Virginia doesn't have a state-sponsored comprehensive tool, but they do offer Circuit Express, a subscription-based service that allows access to case data from 35 circuit courts around the state.
CONCLUSIONI've completed rows 34 through 51 of the attached spreadsheet, including information on civil court case and property records search tools in states from North Dakota to Wyoming.