You can look up a Connecticut family court case for free through the Judicial Branch’s online Case Look-up portal at jud.ct.gov. The system covers active and closed Superior Court family matters, including divorce, custody, child support, paternity, and family restraining orders. You can see docket entries, filed motions, court orders, and upcoming hearing dates. Getting actual copies of documents is a separate step through the clerk’s office, and some records never appear online at all.
How to Run the Search
Start at the Case Look-up page on jud.ct.gov and choose the link for Civil / Family / Housing cases.1Connecticut Judicial Branch. Case Look-up That opens the inquiry portal where you enter your search criteria.
You have two options. Search by party name using the last name and first name of someone involved in the case, or search by docket number. The docket number is the alphanumeric code printed on every piece of official court correspondence, including summonses, hearing notices, and filed motions. If you have it, use it. It’s faster and avoids spelling problems.
A name search matches characters literally. Hyphens, accents, and unusual spellings all have to be exact or the system returns nothing. The portal also asks you to pick a court location, meaning the judicial district where the case was originally filed. Choosing the wrong district on a name search means the case won’t appear in your results.
Picking the Right Judicial District
Connecticut’s Superior Court is divided into 13 judicial districts, and family cases are usually filed in the district where one or both parties live:2Connecticut Judicial Branch. Judicial Districts
- Ansonia-Milford
- Danbury
- Fairfield
- Hartford
- Litchfield
- Middlesex
- New Britain
- New Haven
- New London
- Stamford-Norwalk
- Tolland
- Waterbury
- Windham
Docket numbers contain a prefix that identifies the district, so even a partial docket number can tell you which court location to pick.
What the Case Detail Page Shows
When you click a docket number in the results list, the Case Detail page opens. It’s essentially the case timeline: every motion filed, every order the judge entered, and any scheduled court dates such as pretrial conferences or hearings. For divorce, custody, modifications, contempt motions, child support, paternity, and family restraining orders, you can watch the matter move from the initial complaint through any post-judgment filings.3Connecticut Judicial Branch. Official Court Forms – Family
One limit worth knowing up front: the docket entries are visible, but the underlying documents attached to those entries usually are not. You’ll see a description of what was filed without being able to open and read the filing itself.
Records That Won’t Show Up Online
Some family-related records are restricted or completely invisible in the portal.
Juvenile Cases
Records involving minors in juvenile matters are confidential by statute. Under Connecticut law, juvenile case records are restricted to court use and cannot be inspected by the public without a court order. That covers court filings, juvenile probation reports, psychological evaluations, and records held by agencies contracted to serve juveniles.4Justia. Connecticut Code Title 46b Chapter 815t Section 46b-124 These cases won’t appear in your search results.
Sealed Cases
A judge can order an entire case file sealed from public view when a specific interest outweighs the public’s right of access. The Connecticut Practice Book sets a high bar, and an agreement between the parties alone isn’t enough. Sealed cases won’t appear in search results at all.
Redacted Personal Information
Even in cases that are publicly accessible, Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, and the full names of minor children are typically suppressed from publicly viewable documents. You’ll see that a motion was filed and what it concerns, but sensitive identifiers within the filing are redacted.
Getting Copies of Documents
Because the portal lets you see what’s been filed without downloading the filings themselves, actual copies have to be requested from the clerk’s office in the judicial district where the case was filed.5State of Connecticut Judicial Branch. FAQs about Court Records Bring or provide the case name and docket number when you ask.
Connecticut charges the following fees:6Connecticut Judicial Branch. Court Fees
- Standard court documents: $1.00 per page
- Certification of a copy under seal: $2.00
- Certified copy of a judgment file: $25.00 flat
- Exemplified copies: $20.00
- Audio recordings of proceedings: $25.00 per day, per docket number, for hearings on or after November 1, 2018
For divorce cases, the document people most often need is the judgment file, the court’s final order dissolving the marriage. The $25 flat fee applies no matter how many pages it runs. A certified copy for remarriage or updating government records costs the $25 judgment fee plus $2 for certification.
Older Cases That Aren’t in the System
The portal covers cases in the current electronic filing system. Older matters predating the digital transition may not show up in search results. For historical court records, the Connecticut State Library maintains judicial records in its State Archives, and those holdings are separate from what the Judicial Branch keeps.7Connecticut State Library. Court Records for Historic and Genealogical Research
If a more recent case doesn’t appear online, it may still exist in paper form at the courthouse. Contact the clerk’s office in the relevant judicial district with whatever identifying information you have. Even without a docket number, the clerk can sometimes locate a case using the parties’ names and an approximate filing date.