Contra Costa Case Search: Portals, Fees, and Sealed Records

To run a Contra Costa case search, use the Superior Court’s free Court Public Portal for civil, family law, probate, and small claims matters, and the separate Court Traffic Portal for traffic violations and infractions.¹ Both are free, both require you to accept a terms-of-use disclaimer, and picking the wrong one means your case won’t show up. Court calendars and hearing schedules live on the Public Portal as well.

Which Portal Covers Your Case

The Public Portal is the right starting point for Unlimited Civil, Limited Civil, Small Claims, and Family Law cases. For Unlimited and Limited Civil matters you can also download electronic copies of filed documents, including pleadings and motions, at no charge.¹

Criminal cases are more restricted. Basic docket information is viewable, but minute orders, transcripts, and the underlying documents are not available through the portal. For those you’ll need to contact the Clerk’s office.

The Traffic Portal is a separate system for traffic matters only. If you’re looking up a citation, a failure-to-appear, or anything handled at the Walnut Creek Traffic Center, that’s where to search.

Cases You Won’t Find Online

Several categories are kept off the public portal or limited to the register of actions:

Juvenile dependency proceedings and certain mental health cases are confidential by statute, and accessing them requires a court order signed by a judge.²
Limited Unlawful Detainer (eviction) cases are frequently excluded from online search results. Call the Civil Records Unit for those.
Domestic violence restraining orders, civil harassment orders, divorce, child custody, and criminal cases show only the register of actions, calendars, and case indexes online. To see the actual filed documents you have to view them in person at the courthouse.³
Older civil case files, from before November 13, 2007, predate the court’s electronic system and must be requested from off-site storage.⁴

How to Run the Search

The fastest route is a case number lookup. Contra Costa case numbers begin with a two-letter prefix that identifies the filing courthouse:

MS — Martinez
PS — Pittsburg
RS — Richmond
WS — Walnut Creek
CS — Concord (legacy cases)

Enter the prefix and number exactly as formatted. A single typo returns nothing. If you don’t have the number, you can search by party name, attorney name, or hearing date. Name searches work best with a date range filter, especially for common names where the system will otherwise return a long list of unrelated matches.¹

Reading the Results

Each result shows the case status, filing date, parties, and upcoming hearings. A few status terms trip people up:

Active or Pending — the case is still being litigated; new filings and hearings are expected.
Disposed — the case has concluded by judgment, settlement, or dismissal. The status alone doesn’t tell you who won; look at the docket entries.
Dismissed with prejudice — a permanent dismissal. The same claim cannot be refiled.
Dismissed without prejudice — the case ended without a decision on the merits, and the plaintiff can refile.
Stayed — proceedings are temporarily paused, usually by court order, pending an appeal or related case.

What Costs Money

Searching the portal and downloading documents in Unlimited and Limited Civil cases is free. Costs begin when you want physical copies, certification, or clerk assistance:

Photocopies from the Civil Records Unit: $0.50 per page, in person or by mail.⁵
Certification of a document under the court’s official seal: $40 per document, on top of the per-page charge.⁶
Certified copy of a divorce or domestic partnership dissolution record: $15 for a private individual, $10 for a public agency.⁷
Clerk-conducted name or file search taking more than 10 minutes: $15 per search.⁸

If you pay by credit card through an online court portal, expect a processing surcharge of roughly 3% to 5% on top of the listed fee. That surcharge goes to the payment processor, not the court.

Older Cases and Sealed Records

Civil files from before November 13, 2007 sit in off-site storage and take about 10 business days to be delivered to the main courthouse for viewing.⁴ You can request them in person at the Civil Records Unit in the Wakefield Taylor Courthouse or by mail. Mail requests need a check or money order payable to the Superior Court and a self-addressed stamped envelope. The $15 search fee applies per case if a clerk needs to locate the file, with copy and certification fees on top.

Some cases won’t exist anymore. California law sets retention periods, and once the window closes after final disposition, the file can be destroyed:

General civil cases: 10 years
Family law: 30 years
Criminal felonies: 75 years
Criminal misdemeanors: 5 years (3 years for Vehicle Code violations)
Unlawful detainer: 1 year if the judgment was for possession only, 10 years if a money judgment was entered
Dismissed civil or small claims cases: 1 year

Adoptions, name changes, paternity cases, capital felonies, probated wills, and civil judgments in unlimited jurisdiction cases are kept permanently.⁹ If you need something close to its destruction date, don’t wait.

A sealed record is a different problem. If a record has been made confidential by protective order, statute, or prior ruling, you cannot access it through normal channels. You would need to file a motion and obtain a court order from a judge authorizing release.²

Where to Go in Person

Contra Costa operates several courthouses, each handling different case types:¹⁰

Wakefield Taylor Courthouse, 725 Court Street, Martinez — houses the Civil Records Unit for non-criminal court records
A.F. Bray Courthouse, 1020 Ward Street, Martinez
George D. Carroll Courthouse, 100 37th Street, Richmond
Richard E. Arnason Justice Center, 1000 Center Drive, Pittsburg
Spinetta Family Law Center, 751 Pine Street, Martinez
Walnut Creek Juvenile and Traffic Center, 640 Ygnacio Valley Road, Walnut Creek

For restricted documents you need to view in person, Wakefield Taylor is the primary location. If you’re attending a hearing by Zoom instead, Contra Costa posts the links on its court calendars page organized by department number. Check the calendar for your assigned department before the hearing date.

1
Superior Court of California | County of Contra Costa. Online Services
2
Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court 2026 Rule 8.45 – General Provisions
3
Judicial Branch of California. Who? Where? How? Viewing a Court’s Electronic Case Records
4
Superior Court of California | County of Contra Costa. Obtaining Court Records and Certified Copies of Documents
5
Superior Court of California | County of Contra Costa. Fees
6
California Legislative Information. California Government Code 70626
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Judicial Branch of California. Statewide Civil Fee Schedule Effective January 1, 2026
8
California Legislative Information. California Government Code 70627
9
Justia Law. California Government Code Chapter 1.4 – Management of Trial Court Records
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Superior Court of California | County of Contra Costa. Locations