Generally, court
records are free to view. The only time when viewing or reproducing
court records comes with a fee is when the records are anywhere but
the court site.
There are still some
court records on paper, which is why the government is expediting the
migration of these documents to the National Archives and Records
Administration (NARA). Courts collect case records five years old or
younger and schedule them for electronic transfer 20 years from the
oldest record in the batch. For example, court records from 2006 to
2010 will be transferred to NARA in 2026.
In other words,
electronic files may not be available if a case was relatively
recent. You may need to file a request with the Federal Records
Center (FRC) to retrieve the file you want, which comes with a $53
fee. If the files have been transferred, it's likely with the Public
Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) service. The service's
rate is 10 cents a page, but there's a limit of $3.00 per document.
This
is why court retrieval services normally charge a fee for
reproduction of certain court documents. It's not necessarily denying
the public access to vital public records, but maintaining the health
of the electronic system doesn't come free. Fortunately, some
services will notify you if the cost of reproducing the documents
will be costlier than expected.
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