How to Access Public Court Records in Massachusetts

Most Massachusetts court records are public, and you can access them for free online through the state’s MassCourts.org portal. That is the starting point for anyone looking to access public court records in Massachusetts. Search by docket number or party name, pull up the case docket, and read the chronological log of filings, hearings, and orders. If you need an actual copy of a document, visit or write the clerk’s office where the case was filed. Basic photocopies cost five cents per page, and certified copies stamped with the court’s seal cost $2.50 per page.¹

Searching MassCourts.org

MassCourts.org is free and covers the Trial Court departments: District, Superior, Probate and Family, Land, Housing, Boston Municipal, and Juvenile.² Pick a court department and case type, then enter a docket number or a party name.

A docket number gets you there fastest. The format includes the court, location, year, and a sequence number, and the system is fussy about exact capitalization, spacing, and leading zeros. A Suffolk Superior Court case looks like 2484CV00123. A Probate and Family Court case might look like ES24E0001.³

If you only have a name, spell it exactly. A single wrong letter returns nothing. Adding a middle initial or date of birth helps for common names, and you can filter by department, case type, and filing date range.

Knowing where the case was filed narrows things down. Criminal cases go to the District or Superior Court for the area where the alleged offense happened. A divorce is filed in the Probate and Family Court for the county where a spouse lives. When you’re not sure, the portal lets you search across departments.

The docket you see online is the core public record, but it isn’t everything the courthouse has. Some case types — Probate and Family Court abuse prevention cases involving adults, and certain older name-change filings — appear on courthouse terminals but not on the public website.⁴ Individual documents inside an otherwise public case may also be restricted from remote viewing. If the online docket looks thin, the clerk’s office where the case was filed will have the fullest picture.³

Appellate Records Are on a Different Site

MassCourts.org does not include the Supreme Judicial Court or the Appeals Court. Those records live at ma-appellatecourts.org, which lists dockets, briefs for pending and published cases, oral arguments, and opinions.²

To get copies of appellate documents, send a request to APCRecordsRequest@jud.state.ma.us, mail the Appeals Court Clerk’s Office at the John Adams Courthouse in Boston, or go in person. Include the docket number, case name, and the specific documents you want.⁵ Documents are usually delivered as PDFs by email. Files too large for email may be sent on CD-ROM with a $4 mailing surcharge.

Appellate copy fees are $0.05 per page for a plain photocopy, $2.50 per page for a certified copy, and $5.00 per electronic document.⁶ In-person payments take check, money order, or credit card; cash is only accepted with exact change. Records from before roughly 2000 are on microfiche and take longer to pull.

Getting Copies at the Courthouse or by Mail

When you need a document that isn’t available online, or when you need an official copy with a court seal, go to the clerk’s office or register’s office where the case was filed. Bring the docket number or enough information for staff to locate the file. Looking at a case folder is free.

Copy fees are set by the Administrative Office of the Trial Court under M.G.L. c. 262, § 4B and apply across departments.⁶ An unattested copy — a plain reproduction — is $0.05 per page. An attested copy carries the court’s certification and costs $2.50 per page. You’ll need attested copies for any legal filing or official use.¹

If you can’t visit, mail a written request to the clerk’s office with the docket number, the specific documents you want, payment by check or money order, and a self-addressed stamped envelope.

If You Can’t Afford the Fees

Massachusetts lets people who can’t afford court costs apply for an indigency waiver under M.G.L. c. 261, § 27A. File an Affidavit of Indigency in person, by mail, or online through the Trial Court’s website, which walks you through plain-language questions to generate the form.⁷ An approved waiver covers copy fees along with other court costs.

Ordering a Transcript of a Hearing

Transcripts are not part of the docket and involve their own process. To get the written record of what was said in a hearing or trial, submit an online transcript order form through the Trial Court’s website. You’ll need the case name, full docket number, presiding judge’s name, courtroom number, and the date and time of the proceeding.⁸

A transcriber then gives you a cost estimate and a deposit amount. The rates:

Regular delivery: $3.00 per page, typically 14 to 90 days
Rush delivery: $4.50 per page, typically 1 to 7 days
Copy of an existing transcript, regular: $1.00 per page
Copy of an existing transcript, rush: $1.50 per page

One hour of proceedings runs roughly 50 pages, so a full-day hearing can cost several hundred dollars.⁸ Deposits for regular orders are due within five days or the order is cancelled. Rush orders give you one day. The finished transcript is released only after full payment.

Records You Won’t Find in a Public Search

Some records are closed by statute, and others can be impounded (effectively sealed) by a judge under Trial Court Rule VIII when disclosure would harm a party’s safety or privacy.⁹ The main statutory categories:

Juvenile proceedings. Under M.G.L. c. 119, § 65, juvenile sessions are closed to the general public. Only people with a direct interest in the case may attend, and publishing a juvenile’s name without court permission is prohibited.¹⁰

Adoption records. M.G.L. c. 210, § 5D prevents placement agencies from releasing adoption records to the public.¹¹

Mental health commitments. Under M.G.L. c. 123, § 36, records of admission and treatment at Department of Mental Health facilities are not open to public inspection. They can be released only through a judicial order, an attorney request with patient consent, or a determination by the commissioner that disclosure is in the patient’s best interest.¹²

Cases involving trade secrets, security concerns, or particularly sensitive personal information may also be impounded case-by-case. At the appellate level, impounded records are accessible only to parties or attorneys who have entered an appearance and can verify their identity with the clerk.⁵

Sealed criminal records also drop out of public view, though the docket existed publicly before sealing. Expunged records are destroyed entirely.

Court Dockets Are Not Background Checks

People often mix up court dockets with CORI (Criminal Offender Record Information) reports. A docket is the public case file. A CORI report is a background-check product from the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services, and what it shows depends on who’s requesting it.

Massachusetts sets tiered CORI access. Your own personal CORI check shows all adult convictions, non-convictions, and pending cases. A standard employer check for a basic commercial job sees far less: misdemeanor convictions drop off after five years, felonies after ten, and non-convictions don’t appear.¹³ Hospitals, schools, and nursing homes get broader access. If your question is what a landlord or employer can actually see, CORI access levels are the right lens, not the raw court file.

Older and Archived Records

If an older case doesn’t show up on MassCourts.org, it may have been moved to storage or archived. The Trial Court operates record storage centers in East Brookfield, Newburyport, and Worcester for non-current files.¹⁴ Records of historical significance eventually move to the Judicial Archives, run by the Supreme Judicial Court.

The archives include historic criminal, civil, divorce, naturalization, probate, and name-change records from courts across the state. Collections are browsable online at archives.macourts.gov, which also has a decision tree for tracing where a specific old record ended up.¹⁵ For records that aren’t digitized, submit an information request form through the archives, and expect longer processing for pre-2000 appellate material stored on microfiche.⁵

1
Mass.gov. Probate and Family Court Filing Fees
2
Massachusetts Court System. Search Court Dockets, Calendars and Case Information
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Mass.gov. How to Search Court Dockets
4
Mass.gov. Probate and Family Court Access to Public Court Records
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Mass.gov. Request a Copy of an Appeals Court Case Document or Oral Argument Recording
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Mass.gov. Appeals Court Fees
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Mass.gov. Indigency Waiver of Court Fees
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Mass.gov. Order a Court Proceeding Transcript
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Mass.gov. Trial Court Rule VIII Uniform Rules on Impoundment Procedure
10
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 119
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General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 210 Section 5D
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Mass.gov. Massachusetts General Laws c123 Section 36
13
Mass.gov. Levels of Name-Based Criminal Record Check Access
14
Mass.gov. Trial Court Record Retention Schedule
15
Mass.gov. Accessing Court Archives