Find Person Record

Start with the record you need, not a person's name alone

There is no single public record that represents every fact about a person. A useful search begins by identifying the fact you need and the government record system that creates that fact. Court cases, vital records, property records and historical records have different custodians, access rules and copy processes.

A name match is not enough to establish identity. Keep the record date, jurisdiction, filing information and other available identifiers connected to the record. Do not combine conflicting records into one person without supporting evidence.

Court records use the court that created the case

For state and local court records, identify the court jurisdiction and the responsible clerk or official court records office. USA.gov provides court navigation by jurisdiction. Federal cases use PACER or the federal courthouse route rather than a local clerk.

PACER requires an account. Published pricing is $0.10 per page. Searches are charged even when they return no results, and searches are not capped. Accrued quarterly charges of $30 or less are waived; billing applies above $30. The $3 document cap has exceptions, including transcripts and non-case-specific reports that are not included in that cap.

Sealed documents are not available through PACER, and available information may include redacted identifiers. PACER discrepancies are handled through the filing court.

Vital, property and historical records answer different questions

Birth and death certificates are requested from the state or local vital-records office responsible for the event. Eligibility, identification requirements and costs vary by jurisdiction, so a certificate request is not treated as a universal public lookup.

Property deeds generally come from local or state recorder or land-record offices. Federal land records at the National Archives describe initial federal land transfers and do not replace later local deed records.

Historical searches use archival systems rather than current-person locator tools. NARA is not a current living-person locator. The general NARA website search is different from genealogy and Catalog research. NARA Catalog searches do not require an account. When a record is not available online as a digital copy, the next step may be a reference-unit request for assistance locating or accessing the record. Historical searches may require name variants and can be limited by incomplete indexing or digitization; these limitations do not mean a record does not exist.

Verify the custodian before requesting copies or corrections

Current contact information belongs to the office that maintains the selected record. A historical address or event in a record should not be treated as proof of a person's current location. Maintain a dated research trail and separate unresolved identity records.

Copy, certification and correction procedures depend on the selected custodian. Choose the record system first, then follow that office's request process.