How to Search Online Public Records · How to Search Online Public Records Marcy Phelps [email protected] 7 Myths It’s all online It’s all out there for free One, best online

How to Search Online Public RecordsMarcy [email protected]

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How to Search Online Public Records

Marcy Phelps, CFE

Marcy Phelps & Associates, Inc.

www.MarcyPhelps.com

Searching online public records

Sense of humor required!

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Agenda

Definitions / Types

Myths & Challenges

Types of sources / Sources to avoid

Search tips / Strategies

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Public records

Paper / digital

In person (online or manual search)

Mail / fax / phone requests

Online search

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Public Records:Definitions & Types“Official” definition & a reality check

Public vs. publicly available

What’s public and what’s non‐public

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merriam‐webster.com:

Legal definition of public record

• a record required by law to be made and kept

• a record made by a public officer or a government agency in the course of the performance of a duty

• a record filed in a public office

NOTE: Public records are subject to inspection, examination, and copying by any member of the public.

That depends…6


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“Public records” shall mean all … documentary materials or

data, regardless of physical form or characteristic, made or

received by any officer or employee of any agency, executive

office, department, board, commission, bureau, division or

authority of the commonwealth, or of any political subdivision

thereof, … unless such materials or date fall within the

exemptions of [4:7(26); Public Records Access Regulations 950

CMR 32.03]

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Public records ≠ publicly available

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Types of public records

• Business entities

• Real property

• Liens / Judgments

• UCC filings

• Copyright/trademarks/patents

• Courts (civil, incl. bankruptcy; criminal)

• Personal property

• Aviation/watercraft

• Elections

• Environmental information

• Vital records

• Licensing boards/regulatory

• Recall/product safety

• Unclaimed funds

• Sanctions/watchlists/blacklists

• Incarceration/prison records

• Missing persons

• Sex offender registries

• Domain registry

• And more!

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Public records? – that depends

SSNs

Tax info

Vital records

DMV

Military info (https://www.pinow.com/articles/2049/guide-for-requesting-military-records article by Dean & Karen Beers)

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Non-public records

Financial / Banking

Police records

Student records

Medical records

Trade secrets

Personnel records

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Myths / ChallengesMyths

Legal limitations

Missing information

Identifiers12


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Myths

It’s all online

It’s all out there for free

One, best online source

Easy to obtain

Logical

I can just order a comprehensive report

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Legal limitations

Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/pdf-0096-fair-credit-reporting-act.pdf Employment / tenant checks, etc.

Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/privacy-and-security/gramm-leach-bliley-act Information sharing / security by financial institutions

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Legal limitations

Drivers Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driver%27s_Privacy_Protection_Act

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/faq.html

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What’s missing?

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Jurisdictional differences Every jurisdiction has different

public records laws, online systems, and availability

Know what’s missing from a particular jurisdiction

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No online name searching; owner name not in record; available in person

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No online name searching; taxpayer name/address online

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Search online by owner name, etc.; info online20


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More reasons for missing information

Lag time

ADA compliant - Blocking access due to compliance costs

Privacy – Redaction

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“Historical” information?https://www.colorado.gov/archives

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Personal Identifiers (PID)

Lack of identifiers / crossed identifiers

Is it a match?

Partial name / full name / 2 or more matching identifiers

May need to dig into documents

Name variations

Misspellings, other data entry/human errors

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Name searching

Full legal name

Common/business name(s)

Middle name/initial

Nickname

First name first/last name first

Maiden/married names

Screen names

Verify, verify, verify!

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Types of Sources / Sources to AvoidOptions

Pricing

What to avoid

Considerations26


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Search options

Government agencies – Direct

Database vendors – Aggregators

Pros & Cons

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Direct access

Free and fee-based

Google it: california business search

Link directory

http://www.brbpub.com/ Links to public records, organized by state & county, explanation of availability

https://publicrecords.netronline.com/

Pick up the phone!

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Database vendors (aggregators)

Database vendors may specialize by:

Location (geography)

Types of records

Both

Nexis.com, Westlaw, Dun & Bradstreet, Alacra, DataTree, etc.

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Investigative databases

Public and proprietary information

TLO

Tracers

idiCORE

IRBsearch

Accurint

Clear

and more

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Tracers.com

Comprehensive report

All-in-one report from all of a vendor’s databases

Yet another step removed from source

Can be useful, but use with caution

Use as a starting point, then verify

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Pricing

Transactional

Subscription

Deposit account

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Sources to avoid

Online sources for banking and financial info

The “one-and-only” source

Web scraping

Consumer-oriented sites

Instant background checks

Universal background checks

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Sources - considerations

Direct vs. Aggregators (pros and cons)

Free vs. fee

Single records vs. comprehensive report

Record index vs. full documents

Official (certified) vs. unofficial document

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Search Strategy / TipsPreparation

Searching

Business entities

Recorded documents

Intellectual property

Courts 38


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More than just “finding”

1. Evaluate / select sources

2. Run searches

3. Verify and select records to request or download

4. Analyze findings

5. If needed, repeat steps 2 through 4

6. Report results

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Sources

Know what’s online and what’s not

Know where to start (jurisdiction, agency / office)

Know what’s included and what’s not

Know your purpose

Know how to use

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Database evaluation Content

Interface / search

Permissions – Check terms and conditions

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Content

Accuracy

What’s included?

Identifiers

Dates

Geography

Full record?

Content sources

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Interface

Easy-to-use?

Advanced search?

Download formats

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Database terms and agreements

Commercial purposes?

Share with clients/team?

Disclaimers?

Can you live with the terms?

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Search strategy (generally)

Use multiples sources!

Start with public records aggregators

Verify through direct sources

Compare all results for identifiers, addresses, affiliations, other info

Save everything – certified copy? screenshots?

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Know how to analyze results

Look at the parts

• Verify

• How can it be used?

• Hidden info?

• Leads to new info?

Look at the whole

• Connections?

• What does it mean?

• Have I answered the questions?

• What’s missing?

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Search Business entities

Real property

Judgments / Liens

UCC filings


Courts

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Corporation filings

Active / inactive companies

Applications, annual reports, changes

Filed with state SOS (domestic/foreign)

Assets, ownership, business affiliations, partnerships, name changes

Availability varies

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Recorded documents

Property records, liens, judgments, UCC filings, etc.

State, county*, local?

Grantor-Grantee index (County recorder’s office)

https://sonomacounty.ca.gov/CRA/Clerk-Recorder/Definitions-of-Commonly-Recorded-Documents/

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Real property

Deeds, assessment records

Search local jurisdiction in which property located

Assessor’s office / clerk / recorder

Find assets, ownership history, property details, business connections, trust info, etc.

Online coverage spotty / no names?

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Judgments

Financial, Family/Criminal Courts

For financial (debts) – local or county level (with real estate records)

Check for underlying court cases

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Liens

Voluntary (with consent) – mortgages, loans, UCC filings

Involuntary (without consent) – tax liens, mechanic’s liens, liens issued by courts

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Tax Liens

Personal or real property

Federal

Filed on county level

Usually under taxpayer name, address

State

Businesses – Secretary of State (with UCC filings)

Individuals – County level (Recorder, Clerk)

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Uniform Commercial Code (UCC)

Filed when business property used as loan collateral

Recorded at state level where business is organized (since 2001; certain exceptions)

Extra diligence for certain types of real estate and before 2001 –may need to search locally

Filing, Continuation, Release / Termination

Assets, security interests, financing info, partnerships

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Copyright Catalog https://cocatalog.loc.gov/

U.S. Patent and Trademark Offices (USPTO) https://www.uspto.gov/

Google Patents https://patents.google.com/

Patentscope https://patentscope.wipo.int/ (Int’l.)

Espacenet https://worldwide.espacenet.com/

Whois lookup https://whois.domaintools.com/

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Court Records Federal, state, county / parish, local

Criminal, civil, bankruptcy

Family law

Traffic

Specialty – tax, contracts, environmental / regulatory issues

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Online court searching

No centralized database

Not all jurisdictions, courts

Court systems vary by jurisdiction

Not all dates

Inconsistent case numbering

Missing records, errors

Not searching full documents – Docket searching

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Docket

Register of Actions / Running summary of case history:

Court / judge

Case number / name

Plaintiffs, Defendants , Debtors

Attorneys, addresses

Nature and cause of action (complaint), outcome (disposition)

Summary of all materials / motions filed

May be able to link to full document61

Online court searching

Is it a city or a county? County, parish, or borough?

Not much info

Too much info

Data entry issues

Things aren’t always what they appear

Watch disclaimers

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Washington State AOC disclaimer

“The AOC provides no warranties, express or implied, that the

information or data provided is accurate, current, correct, or complete.

It is expressly understood by the parties that it is the responsibility of

the Subscriber and/or its customers, clients, or other third parties to

whom the information and data was supplied, to verify information or

data obtained under this Agreement against official court information

reposing at the court of record.”

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Courts - sources

Statewide systems

Administration Office of the Courts (AOC), Office of Court Administration (OCA)

Free/fee

PACER.gov (U.S. District, Bankruptcy, Appellate courts) (Fee)

LexisNexis, Westlaw, CourtLink (Fee)

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Courts - directories

LegalDockets.com

National Center for State Courts https://www.ncsc.org/information-and-resources/state-court-websites

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What’s important

*Complaint

*Final disposition

Motions/orders

Names mentioned (other than plaintiff/defendant)

Appeals opinions may contain additional case info

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Court records: Best practices

Use official repositories – then verify

Search by case #, parties

Refine by court, geography, etc.

Look for “hidden” info – assets, business/family relationships, etc.

Lack of identifiers, especially civil – manage expectations

Use disclaimers, provide context

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Federal courts - Structure

U.S. District Courts (federal trial courts)

Bankruptcy courts (units of District Courts)

U.S. Court of Appeals

U.S. Supreme Court

Other Federal courts (Federal Claims, Tax, International Trade)

https://www.uscourts.gov/ (Federal Court Finder)

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PACER.gov

Federal criminal, civil, bankruptcy cases

$ - need account

Dockets, case files (but not all)

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Pacer – Learn how

PACER Training Site: https://dcecf.psc.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/ShowIndex.pl

PACER manual: https://www.pacer.gov/documents/pacermanual.pdf

Court info (coverage dates): https://pcl.uscourts.gov/pcl/pages/courtInformation.jsf (need to be logged in)

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Note coverage differences


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National Archives Court Records

https://www.archives.gov/research/court-records

Federal court records (*generally* 15 years or older)

Earliest court records in collection date to approx. 1790

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State courts

Family law

Personal injury

Estate planning and probate matters

Criminal law matters (including all felonies and misdemeanors arising from state criminal statutes)

Traffic violations

State Court websites: https://www.ncsc.org/information-and-resources/browse-by-state/state-court-websites.aspx

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http://www.courtstatistics.org/other‐pages/state_court_structure_charts.aspx

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County / local courts

For some situations, you can’t skip

Online coverage spotty – know variations

Pick up the phone

Find courts through Google, BRBpub.com

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Criminal records

Locate federal inmates incarcerated from 1982 to the present: http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/LocateInmate.jsp

Sex Offender Registry Websites: https://www.fbi.gov/scams-and-safety/sex-offender-registry(copy/paste)

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Online public records: Summary

Know the difference between public records and what’s publicly available

Use multiple sources - Know limitations, how they work

Go to the primary source for confirmation / documentation

Verify

Practice / keep learning

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Public records: Resources

The Manual to Online Public Records: The Researcher's Tool to Online Resources of Public Records and Public Information 4th Edition, by Michael Sankey and Cynthia Hetherington

Public Record Retriever Network (PRRN): http://prrn.us/

NCISS.org

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