Which statewide portals provide free public access to family court dockets and scanned documents?
Executive summary
A patchwork of statewide systems gives free public access to family court dockets and, in many cases, scanned documents: Massachusetts’ Trial Court remote-access portal provides scanned Probate & Family Court documents online [1] [2], Pennsylvania’s Unified Judicial System (UJS) offers statewide docket searches including family matters and local family portals such as Philadelphia’s domestic relations search [3] [4] [5], and several states — notably Arizona’s Maricopa Superior Court and Oklahoma’s OSCN/ODCR network — publish family dockets and downloadable filings on statewide portals [6] [7].
1. Comprehensive statewide portals that do provide scanned family documents
Massachusetts publishes case dockets and scanned, printable family-court documents through the Trial Court remote-access/eAccess system and the Probate & Family Court has gone back online with document images at least to 2009, making many scanned filings available remotely to the public [1] [2] [8]. Oklahoma’s statewide OSCN network also advertises search-and-download access to family dockets and documents across all counties, explicitly allowing users to download documents when counties have uploaded PDFs [7]. Arizona’s Superior Court Docket for Maricopa County runs a public access portal for family court case information and dockets, with the site providing disclaimers about data accuracy and scheduled downtime while making entries and documents viewable online [6].
2. State-level docket portals that include family case indexes but limit scanned documents
Pennsylvania’s Unified Judicial System provides free statewide docket searches and viewing of case information through the UJS web portal, and county-level pages note that family case information is searchable though some document types are restricted or require in-person requests — Philadelphia maintains its own family-division docket search alongside the statewide UJS tool [3] [5] [4]. New York’s eCourts is called out by legal guides as the statewide docket service that contains local civil and family dockets, though coverage of scanned documents varies by county and case type [9]. These portals emphasize free viewing of docket sheets even where full document images are not uniformly available.
3. States without a single statewide family-document portal; courthouse terminals and county systems instead
California does not operate a statewide family court records portal; access is largely county-by-county, with some counties offering public kiosks or limited online indexes while scanned files often require local requests or in-person review [10] [11]. Delaware’s Family Court instructs members of the public to review files in the Records Room under staff supervision rather than offering a comprehensive statewide remote image portal, signaling a more restricted, in-person model for family filings [12].
4. Common limitations, redactions and costs that shape what “free access” means
Even where statewide portals exist, availability of scanned documents is uneven: counties decide what to scan and upload, many systems exclude sealed juvenile or sensitive family materials, and some public portals show docket entries without attached PDFs, requiring courthouse visits or paid certified copies for official records [7] [1] [5]. At the federal level PACER remains the primary document repository but charges per-page fees and is distinct from state family dockets; free alternatives such as RECAP exist for federal filings but do not substitute for state family records [13] [14].
5. What the user should infer about coverage and trustworthiness
The pattern is clear: several states operate genuine statewide portals that let the public search family dockets and often download scanned documents (Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania tools and specific county portals like Maricopa), while other states rely on county systems, courthouse terminals or in-person record rooms; readers should therefore verify whether a state portal advertises scanned document images and check local rules on sealed materials before assuming comprehensive online access [1] [7] [6] [10].