How to Search Online Public RecordsMarcy [email protected]
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How to Search Online Public Records
Marcy Phelps, CFE
Marcy Phelps & Associates, Inc.
www.MarcyPhelps.com
Searching online public records
Sense of humor required!
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How to Search Online Public RecordsMarcy [email protected]
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Agenda
Definitions / Types
Myths & Challenges
Types of sources / Sources to avoid
Search tips / Strategies
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Public records
Paper / digital
In person (online or manual search)
Mail / fax / phone requests
Online search
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Public Records:Definitions & Types“Official” definition & a reality check
Public vs. publicly available
What’s public and what’s non‐public
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merriam‐webster.com:
Legal definition of public record
• a record required by law to be made and kept
• a record made by a public officer or a government agency in the course of the performance of a duty
• a record filed in a public office
NOTE: Public records are subject to inspection, examination, and copying by any member of the public.
That depends…6
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“Public records” shall mean all … documentary materials or
data, regardless of physical form or characteristic, made or
received by any officer or employee of any agency, executive
office, department, board, commission, bureau, division or
authority of the commonwealth, or of any political subdivision
thereof, … unless such materials or date fall within the
exemptions of [4:7(26); Public Records Access Regulations 950
CMR 32.03]
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Public records ≠ publicly available
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Types of public records
• Business entities
• Real property
• Liens / Judgments
• UCC filings
• Copyright/trademarks/patents
• Courts (civil, incl. bankruptcy; criminal)
• Personal property
• Aviation/watercraft
• Elections
• Environmental information
• Vital records
• Licensing boards/regulatory
• Recall/product safety
• Unclaimed funds
• Sanctions/watchlists/blacklists
• Incarceration/prison records
• Missing persons
• Sex offender registries
• Domain registry
• And more!
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Public records? – that depends
SSNs
Tax info
Vital records
DMV
Military info (https://www.pinow.com/articles/2049/guide-for-requesting-military-records article by Dean & Karen Beers)
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Non-public records
Financial / Banking
Police records
Student records
Medical records
Trade secrets
Personnel records
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Myths / ChallengesMyths
Legal limitations
Missing information
Identifiers12
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Myths
It’s all online
It’s all out there for free
One, best online source
Easy to obtain
Logical
I can just order a comprehensive report
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Legal limitations
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/pdf-0096-fair-credit-reporting-act.pdf Employment / tenant checks, etc.
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/privacy-and-security/gramm-leach-bliley-act Information sharing / security by financial institutions
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Legal limitations
Drivers Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driver%27s_Privacy_Protection_Act
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/faq.html
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What’s missing?
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Jurisdictional differences Every jurisdiction has different
public records laws, online systems, and availability
Know what’s missing from a particular jurisdiction
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No online name searching; owner name not in record; available in person
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No online name searching; taxpayer name/address online
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Search online by owner name, etc.; info online20
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More reasons for missing information
Lag time
ADA compliant - Blocking access due to compliance costs
Privacy – Redaction
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“Historical” information?https://www.colorado.gov/archives
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Personal Identifiers (PID)
Lack of identifiers / crossed identifiers
Is it a match?
Partial name / full name / 2 or more matching identifiers
May need to dig into documents
Name variations
Misspellings, other data entry/human errors
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Name searching
Full legal name
Common/business name(s)
Middle name/initial
Nickname
First name first/last name first
Maiden/married names
Screen names
Verify, verify, verify!
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Types of Sources / Sources to AvoidOptions
Pricing
What to avoid
Considerations26
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Search options
Government agencies – Direct
Database vendors – Aggregators
Pros & Cons
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Direct access
Free and fee-based
Google it: california business search
Link directory
http://www.brbpub.com/ Links to public records, organized by state & county, explanation of availability
https://publicrecords.netronline.com/
Pick up the phone!
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Database vendors (aggregators)
Database vendors may specialize by:
Location (geography)
Types of records
Both
Nexis.com, Westlaw, Dun & Bradstreet, Alacra, DataTree, etc.
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Investigative databases
Public and proprietary information
TLO
Tracers
idiCORE
IRBsearch
Accurint
Clear
and more
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Tracers.com
Comprehensive report
All-in-one report from all of a vendor’s databases
Yet another step removed from source
Can be useful, but use with caution
Use as a starting point, then verify
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Pricing
Transactional
Subscription
Deposit account
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Sources to avoid
Online sources for banking and financial info
The “one-and-only” source
Web scraping
Consumer-oriented sites
Instant background checks
Universal background checks
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Sources - considerations
Direct vs. Aggregators (pros and cons)
Free vs. fee
Single records vs. comprehensive report
Record index vs. full documents
Official (certified) vs. unofficial document
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Search Strategy / TipsPreparation
Searching
Business entities
Recorded documents
Intellectual property
Courts 38
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More than just “finding”
1. Evaluate / select sources
2. Run searches
3. Verify and select records to request or download
4. Analyze findings
5. If needed, repeat steps 2 through 4
6. Report results
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Sources
Know what’s online and what’s not
Know where to start (jurisdiction, agency / office)
Know what’s included and what’s not
Know your purpose
Know how to use
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Database evaluation Content
Interface / search
Permissions – Check terms and conditions
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Content
Accuracy
What’s included?
Identifiers
Dates
Geography
Full record?
Content sources
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Interface
Easy-to-use?
Advanced search?
Download formats
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Database terms and agreements
Commercial purposes?
Share with clients/team?
Disclaimers?
Can you live with the terms?
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Search strategy (generally)
Use multiples sources!
Start with public records aggregators
Verify through direct sources
Compare all results for identifiers, addresses, affiliations, other info
Save everything – certified copy? screenshots?
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Know how to analyze results
Look at the parts
• Verify
• How can it be used?
• Hidden info?
• Leads to new info?
Look at the whole
• Connections?
• What does it mean?
• Have I answered the questions?
• What’s missing?
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Search Business entities
Real property
Judgments / Liens
UCC filings
Intellectual property
Courts
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Corporation filings
Active / inactive companies
Applications, annual reports, changes
Filed with state SOS (domestic/foreign)
Assets, ownership, business affiliations, partnerships, name changes
Availability varies
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Recorded documents
Property records, liens, judgments, UCC filings, etc.
State, county*, local?
Grantor-Grantee index (County recorder’s office)
https://sonomacounty.ca.gov/CRA/Clerk-Recorder/Definitions-of-Commonly-Recorded-Documents/
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Real property
Deeds, assessment records
Search local jurisdiction in which property located
Assessor’s office / clerk / recorder
Find assets, ownership history, property details, business connections, trust info, etc.
Online coverage spotty / no names?
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Judgments
Financial, Family/Criminal Courts
For financial (debts) – local or county level (with real estate records)
Check for underlying court cases
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Liens
Voluntary (with consent) – mortgages, loans, UCC filings
Involuntary (without consent) – tax liens, mechanic’s liens, liens issued by courts
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Tax Liens
Personal or real property
Federal
Filed on county level
Usually under taxpayer name, address
State
Businesses – Secretary of State (with UCC filings)
Individuals – County level (Recorder, Clerk)
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Uniform Commercial Code (UCC)
Filed when business property used as loan collateral
Recorded at state level where business is organized (since 2001; certain exceptions)
Extra diligence for certain types of real estate and before 2001 –may need to search locally
Filing, Continuation, Release / Termination
Assets, security interests, financing info, partnerships
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Intellectual property
Copyright Catalog https://cocatalog.loc.gov/
U.S. Patent and Trademark Offices (USPTO) https://www.uspto.gov/
Google Patents https://patents.google.com/
Patentscope https://patentscope.wipo.int/ (Int’l.)
Espacenet https://worldwide.espacenet.com/
Whois lookup https://whois.domaintools.com/
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Court Records Federal, state, county / parish, local
Criminal, civil, bankruptcy
Family law
Traffic
Specialty – tax, contracts, environmental / regulatory issues
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Online court searching
No centralized database
Not all jurisdictions, courts
Court systems vary by jurisdiction
Not all dates
Inconsistent case numbering
Missing records, errors
Not searching full documents – Docket searching
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Docket
Register of Actions / Running summary of case history:
Court / judge
Case number / name
Plaintiffs, Defendants , Debtors
Attorneys, addresses
Nature and cause of action (complaint), outcome (disposition)
Summary of all materials / motions filed
May be able to link to full document61
Online court searching
Is it a city or a county? County, parish, or borough?
Not much info
Too much info
Data entry issues
Things aren’t always what they appear
Watch disclaimers
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Washington State AOC disclaimer
“The AOC provides no warranties, express or implied, that the
information or data provided is accurate, current, correct, or complete.
It is expressly understood by the parties that it is the responsibility of
the Subscriber and/or its customers, clients, or other third parties to
whom the information and data was supplied, to verify information or
data obtained under this Agreement against official court information
reposing at the court of record.”
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Courts - sources
Statewide systems
Administration Office of the Courts (AOC), Office of Court Administration (OCA)
Free/fee
PACER.gov (U.S. District, Bankruptcy, Appellate courts) (Fee)
LexisNexis, Westlaw, CourtLink (Fee)
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Courts - directories
LegalDockets.com
National Center for State Courts https://www.ncsc.org/information-and-resources/state-court-websites
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What’s important
*Complaint
*Final disposition
Motions/orders
Names mentioned (other than plaintiff/defendant)
Appeals opinions may contain additional case info
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Court records: Best practices
Use official repositories – then verify
Search by case #, parties
Refine by court, geography, etc.
Look for “hidden” info – assets, business/family relationships, etc.
Lack of identifiers, especially civil – manage expectations
Use disclaimers, provide context
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Federal courts - Structure
U.S. District Courts (federal trial courts)
Bankruptcy courts (units of District Courts)
U.S. Court of Appeals
U.S. Supreme Court
Other Federal courts (Federal Claims, Tax, International Trade)
https://www.uscourts.gov/ (Federal Court Finder)
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PACER.gov
Federal criminal, civil, bankruptcy cases
$ - need account
Dockets, case files (but not all)
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Pacer – Learn how
PACER Training Site: https://dcecf.psc.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/ShowIndex.pl
PACER manual: https://www.pacer.gov/documents/pacermanual.pdf
Court info (coverage dates): https://pcl.uscourts.gov/pcl/pages/courtInformation.jsf (need to be logged in)
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Note coverage differences
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National Archives Court Records
https://www.archives.gov/research/court-records
Federal court records (*generally* 15 years or older)
Earliest court records in collection date to approx. 1790
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State courts
Family law
Personal injury
Estate planning and probate matters
Criminal law matters (including all felonies and misdemeanors arising from state criminal statutes)
Traffic violations
State Court websites: https://www.ncsc.org/information-and-resources/browse-by-state/state-court-websites.aspx
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http://www.courtstatistics.org/other‐pages/state_court_structure_charts.aspx
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County / local courts
For some situations, you can’t skip
Online coverage spotty – know variations
Pick up the phone
Find courts through Google, BRBpub.com
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Criminal records
Locate federal inmates incarcerated from 1982 to the present: http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/LocateInmate.jsp
Sex Offender Registry Websites: https://www.fbi.gov/scams-and-safety/sex-offender-registry(copy/paste)
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Online public records: Summary
Know the difference between public records and what’s publicly available
Use multiple sources - Know limitations, how they work
Go to the primary source for confirmation / documentation
Verify
Practice / keep learning
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Public records: Resources
The Manual to Online Public Records: The Researcher's Tool to Online Resources of Public Records and Public Information 4th Edition, by Michael Sankey and Cynthia Hetherington
Public Record Retriever Network (PRRN): http://prrn.us/
NCISS.org
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