San Diego County, California Court Records: Online, Courthouse, Mail

San Diego County court records are held by the San Diego Superior Court, and most are open to the public. You can look up a case through the court’s Online Case Search, download many documents directly from the court’s website, visit the courthouse where the case was filed, or request copies by mail. Fees are set by California statute, and waivers are available if you can’t afford them.

Start with the Online Case Search

The fastest way in is the Superior Court’s Online Case Search, which acts as a digital index for Civil, Criminal, Family Court, Mental Health, and Probate matters.¹ Search by a party’s name, the case number, or (for criminal matters) the District Attorney’s case number. Results give you the case title, official case number, case type, filing date, and the courthouse where the physical file lives.

Three categories are not in the online index: juvenile cases, Traffic and Minor Offense cases, and anything filed before 1974. For those, you’ll need to contact the specific court facility.¹

Viewing and Downloading Documents

The index tells you a case exists. The Register of Actions, also on the court’s site, is where you can actually see the documents for many case types. For most Civil, Small Claims, and Probate cases filed on or after January 1, 2008, you can preview the first page online and download the full document for a fee.² Family Law documents can be ordered through the Register of Actions and are mailed to you.

Criminal case documents don’t download. You can order and pay for them online, but the court mails the copies once the request is processed.² If you need a criminal file quickly, go in person.

Getting Records at the Courthouse

p>For anything not available online, or when you want to examine the full file, go to the courthouse where the case was filed. The online index will tell you which one. Bring photo ID.

Viewing files at the business office counter is free, but the clerk will pull no more than 10 cases per request, per customer, per transaction. If you need more, you have to make a separate request after the first batch is returned.³ Come with the case number and a list of the specific documents you want copied. If the file is stored off-site, the court charges a retrieval fee and you’ll need to return on a later date to look at it.

Requesting Records by Mail

If a trip to the courthouse isn’t practical, you can request records by mail. For Probate cases, use Form PR-189. For every other case type, send a letter to the court facility that handled the case. Include the case number, the party names, the specific documents you want, and your phone number, mailing address, and email address.³

Enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope with enough postage for the return, and prepay copy and search fees. If you don’t know the page count, the court suggests making the check payable to “Superior Court” and writing “Not to exceed $___” on the memo line with a cap you’re comfortable with. To pay by credit card, use Form ADM-253.³

What You’ll Pay

Copy fees are set by California statute and apply across every Superior Court in the state.⁴ The San Diego Superior Court publishes its full schedule on Form ADM-001.⁵

Non-certified photocopy: $0.50 per page.
Certified copy: $40.00 per document for the certification, plus the $0.50 per-page copy fee. Certified copies carry an official attestation of authenticity and are usually what’s needed for legal proceedings, background checks, or filings with another court or agency.
Search fee: $15.00 if the clerk spends more than 10 minutes looking for your records. You pay this even if nothing is found.
Comparison fee: $1.00 per page if the clerk compares your copy against the original.
Off-site retrieval: a variable fee, payable when you make the request.

One exception: certified copies of marriage or domestic partnership dissolution records cost $10 for a public agency and $15 for everyone else.

Fee Waivers

If you can’t afford the fees, California’s fee waiver (Form FW-001) covers copying and certification along with other court costs. You automatically qualify if you receive Medi-Cal, CalFresh, SSI, CalWORKs, county general assistance, or In-Home Supportive Services. You can also qualify by showing your income is too low to cover both basic household needs and court fees.⁶

Records That Are Confidential or Harder to Find

Not everything is public. Juvenile court records are the most tightly restricted. Under California Welfare and Institutions Code section 827, only a narrow list of people can inspect a juvenile case file: the minor, the minor’s parents or legal guardians, attorneys of record, law enforcement officers involved in the case, and certain child welfare and school officials.⁷ The San Diego Superior Court will not mail juvenile records; an authorized person must appear in person with photo ID.² Adoption and dependency files carry similar protections, and some Family Law documents (particularly financial disclosures) have restricted access. If you believe a record you need is sealed, you can file a motion asking the court to grant you access; the judge decides case by case.

Cases filed before 1974 sit outside the online system entirely. For Central Division cases, hardbound indexes covering 1880 through mid-1974 are kept at the Central Courthouse Older Records office on the 14th floor at 1100 Union Street, open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.⁸ Most older files have been moved to microfilm, viewable and printable at each court location. Court staff don’t run the machines for you, so plan on extra time.¹

Federal Cases Are Separate

The San Diego Superior Court handles state cases only. Federal matters, including bankruptcy, federal criminal cases, immigration-related proceedings, and civil suits in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, live in a different system called PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records).

Register for a “Case Search Only” account at pacer.uscourts.gov. You’ll need a tax identification number (used only for debt collection if you don’t pay fees) and your date of birth, which becomes permanent on the account.⁹ PACER charges $0.10 per page to view documents, capped at $3.00 per document regardless of length. If you spend $30 or less in a quarter, the fees are automatically waived, so light users often pay nothing.¹⁰ The federal courthouse is at 333 West Broadway, Suite 420, San Diego, CA 92101; the clerk’s office is open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.¹¹

1
Superior Court of California – County of San Diego. Online Case Search
2
Superior Court of California – County of San Diego. Accessing Court Records
3
Superior Court of California – County of San Diego. Obtain a Copy of a Court File
4
California Legislative Information. California Government Code 70626
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Superior Court of California – County of San Diego. ADM-001 Fee Schedule
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Judicial Branch of California. FW-001-INFO Information Sheet on Waiver of Superior Court Fees and Costs
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California Legislative Information. California Welfare and Institutions Code 827
8
Superior Court of California – County of San Diego. Central Division Older Records
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PACER: Federal Court Records. Register for an Account
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PACER: Federal Court Records. PACER Pricing: How Fees Work
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PACER: Federal Court Records. California Southern District Court