Cleveland-Marshall College of Law

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Finding Addresses and Phone Numbers

While free address and phone number directories abound on the Internet, the free ones are typically not all-inclusive and may be out of date.  For-fee databases may be an improvement, and there are some that do not cost an arm and a leg.   Public libraries usually carry commercially published directories, both electronic and in print. 

            If all else fails, there are some round-about ways of finding addresses and phone numbers.  These include voter registration databases, drivers license databases, return of service from court cases, accident reports and professional license databases (for business addresses). 

            Cell phone numbers and unlisted phone numbers can be particularly hard to find, but there are some hints, below.

Free Directories Voter Registration Accident Reports
Public Library Directories Drivers Licenses Professional LIcenses
Fee Databases Return of Service Cell/Unlisted Nos.
Married/Divorced Women  

 

Free People Finders on the Web:

  • pipl.com - is the most thorough free people finder on the web, because it searches the deep web.  It can return phone, address, date of birth, court records and more. 
  • Whitepages.com - is the leading provider of Internet directory information. Whitepages.com powers many of the other Internet directories, including MSN and Yellowpages.com.  You can find addresses and phone numbers for people and businesses.  It features a reverse lookup, where you can find the name corresponding to a phone number or address.  The same company brings you the Canadian White Pages.
  • Google Phonebook – Searches numerous online directories at once.
  • Switchboard.com - is another popular Internet people finder.  In addition to a directory and reverse look-up for business and people, this site also features a public records search to find out more information about people.  Switchboard.com links to Intellius for the public records search.  Basic information such as age, cities the person lived and names of relatives are free, but more information can be obtained for a fee.
  • Infospace.com - offers a unique feature in addition to the usual directories and reverse lookups.  You can look for the names of everyone who lives on a particular street. 
  • Ultimate White Pages -has search boxes which will search many different Internet people finders.
  • For other people finders, see the Cleveland Law Library’s People Finder FAQ
 

Public Library Directories:

            Public libraries usually purchase commercially prepared directory databases that are often superior to the free databases on the web.  For example, Cleveland Public Library offers the electronic resource, Reference USA, and carries the Haines Criss+Cross Directory in print.

 

Problem: Married and Divorced Women:

            It will be difficult to find the phone number or address of a woman if you no longer have her current name.  Look at marriage licenses, divorce dockets and possibly probate court name change records to determine the woman’s current name.  See the section of this guide re. marriage and divorce records.

 

  For Fee Databases

Lexis and Westlaw

Lexis and Westlaw have people finder databases, but of course, these can cost a lot of money. Lexis provides a people finder database in the law school account -Public Records>Find a Person>Locate a Person (Nationwide), while Westlaw does not.

Low Cost Databases: 

            I recommend two low-cost databases for finding addresses and phone numbers.  You must establish an account with each of these services, but you only have to pay for the searches you actually perform.

The first is OpenOnline which charges $8.00 for a people finder search.  The information is taken from credit headers.  There is also a driver’s license/traffic violations search on OpenOnline for $4.50, but the address retrieved may be up to three years old. 

The other database is Accurint.  Accurint provides a comprehensive report, including address, phone, bankruptcy, liens and judgments, property, professional licenses, criminal records, associates and neighbors for $5.50.  However, if you want to see the underlying documents that go into the report, a separate fee will be charged. See  Accurint’s price list.  Accurint was purchased by LexisNexis several years ago, so you will likely get the same information when performing an  Accurint search as a search on Lexis. 

While I have no personal experience using it, others have had good luck with KnowX.com. 

 

 

ROUNDABOUT WAYS OF FINDING ADDRESSES/PHONE NUMBERS:

Voter Registration Databases

can be used to find addresses.  Accurint has voter registration databases for 20 states.  Lexis and Westlaw also have voter registration databases.   You may be able to find voting records on the Internet, via the Secretary of State’s web page.  Or, you can try this two-step process:

Lexis: Public Records>Find a Person>Voter Registrations Search, for 21 states including Ohio.

Westlaw - not on the law school subscription

 

Driver’s License Databases ,

such as those found on Westlaw, Lexis and OpenOnline –  will have address information.  The information may be several years out of date, depending on when the person renewed their license.  You will need a permissible purpose to search these databases, pursuant to the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act, 18 USC 2721.

Lexis & Westlaw -not on the law school subscription

 

Court Dockets

If the online docket contains the full text of filings, one can find the “return of service” which will have addresses.

Some online dockets with the full text of filings: PACER (federal courts), Montgomery County Docket (appears to be having problems with Firefox browser at this time, works with IE), Summit County Docket .

 

Accident reports

usually contain addresses.  Mail a request to the Department of Public Safety in Columbus.  Some accident reports are online, see Policereports.us.   Some states and cities have them online, (e.g. Arkansas) but usually charge a fee.

 

Professional license databases:

See This Research Guide re. Licenses

 

PROBLEM: Cell phones and Unlisted Phone Numbers:

The above people finder databases will not provide cell phones or unlisted numbers, with the exception of Open Online, Accurint, Lexis Smartlinx, or others that get their information from credit headers.  (Lexis has a new database called Alternate Phones for cell phones and unlisted phone numbers. Not in the law school plan).  Merlin, a for-fee database, is particularly good for cell phone numbers  Per Zimmerman’s Research Guide :

“Cell phone numbers are generally private information, but some fee-based services sell them, such as Locatecell.com and People Search America. You provide a name and social security number or a name and address, plus your credit card number, and they give you the phone number. The legality of these services has been questioned so read their disclaimers carefully. You can also try the fee-based public records resources discussed above and hope a cell number pops up.”

There are some Web options for cell phone and unlisted numbers, including:

Some online directories, such as Infospace, are a couple years out of date.  If someone has just delisted their number, you may be able to find it in an outdated directory. 

 

SA 12/2008

Links Checked, SA, 5/7/2009

Cleveland-Marshall College of Law 2121 Euclid Avenue, LB 138, Cleveland, Ohio 44115