Public Records Portals and Comprehensive Reports
| Comprehesive Reports | Portals |
Comprehensive Reports
Free Deep Web Searches for Info on People
- pipl.com - searches the deep web. It can return phone, address, date of birth, court records and more.
For-fee Databases
Westlaw, LexisNexis, Accurint, Choicepoint and others offer comprehensive reports. Accurint costs less than Lexis or Westlaw. Example of a LexisNexis Smartlinks report.
Law School Westlaw and LexisNexis student accounts are available for academic use only. Comprehensive reports are NOT available via Lexis and Westlaw law school accounts. Here are some details on what is available:
Lexis for law school - Comprehensive report not available, but many individual databases can be searched. Click on the Public Records tab to access. Available databases include criminal records, real estate, civil and criminal filings, locate a person nationwide, bankruptcy filings, judgment and liens, marriage and divorce records and professional licenses. Click on the "i" next to each database to see coverage and currency. For example, be aware that the STATE criminal filings cover eleven states and the STATE civil filings cover only 20 states. Marriage and divorce records do not cover every state. The criminal records may not cover every county, and coverage may or may not include Department of Corrections records (persons incarcerated in a state facility), arrest records and/or court records. To see what is available on Lexis overall, see Chart of Public Records Available.
Westlaw for law school - Comprehensive report not available, but many individual databases can be searched. To access, try (1) Litigation tab>Select Directories and Public Records OR (2) Directory link at the top>Public Records. Available databases include real estate (state-by-state); aircraft and boat ownership; criminal records (but arrest records not in law school plan); lawsuit filings and bankruptcies; divorce records (limited number of states); political donor info (1996-2001). As with Lexis, click on the "i" next to the database name for coverage and currency. Professional licenses, marriage database and people locators not available in law school plan.
Public Records Portals
Can help you to locate websites containing a certain type of public record, for a certain geographic area.
- BRB Publications: Links to free sites, arranged by jurisdiction. Contains links and hints for finding motor vehicle records.
- Netronline: Contains public records links for the fifty states, broken down by county. Offers people searches and background checks for a fee.
- Searchsystems.net: Contains a search engine to locate the desired type of public record. Links by type of public record and by state and Canadian province.
- PublicRecords.com: Has a free people finder search that will give cities and state of residence, age and possible relatives. There is a fee for any other information. Free search for bankruptcies and civil judgments, but detailed information requires payment. Search for real property, divorce and marriage, but these are limited to certain states and detailed information requires a fee. Real property search is for 42 states.
Lots more Portal Links via the Cleveland Law Library’s Public Records FAQ - Portals
SA 12/2008
Links Checked SA 5/7/2009