How to Find Georgia Court Records (2026)

In person. Go to the clerk of the court that heard the case: the Clerk of Superior Court for felony, divorce, and civil superior-court files; the Clerk of State Court (where one exists) for misdemeanors and traffic; the Probate Court for wills and estates; and the Magistrate Court for small claims and evictions. Bring the case number if you have it, or the party names and an approximate filing year. Most clerks' offices have a public terminal for searching the index at no charge, with copies paid at the counter.

By mail. Write to the clerk with:

• the case number, or the full names of the parties and the year filed;
• exactly which documents you need;
• whether you need plain or certified copies; and
• a check or money order for the fee, or a request for a fee quote.

Call the clerk's office first to confirm the current fee and mailing address, since several offices use a P.O. box that differs from the courthouse street address. Turnaround by mail is typically one to three weeks.

Online. Where a county's courts participate in PeachCourt or re:SearchGA, you can view docket information and, often, plain document images after creating a free account. Certified copies almost always require a request to the clerk directly, even when the underlying document is online.

Real estate, UCC, and lien records. These are indexed statewide through GSCCCA (gsccca.org), which is separate from case docket searches and covers property and financing records recorded with the clerk of superior court in any of Georgia's 159 counties.

Georgia court records are presumed open under Uniform Superior Court Rule 21, which states that "all court records are public and are to be available for public inspection unless public access is limited by law." A judge may seal or restrict access to part of a file only after a hearing, and only when the harm to a person's privacy clearly outweighs the public interest in the record; an order sealing a record can be appealed to the Supreme Court of Georgia under Rule 21.4.

Record restriction (formerly called "expungement"). Under O.C.G.A. § 35-3-37, certain arrests that did not lead to a conviction — dismissals, acquittals, or cases where the statute of limitations ran without prosecution — can be restricted from the Georgia Crime Information Center's criminal history database, which also removes them from the Georgia Felon Search. For arrests on or after July 1, 2013, a prosecuting attorney can approve restriction directly; earlier arrests generally require an application to the arresting agency. There is no fee for restriction under this statute, though the arresting agency may charge up to $50 for an application tied to an older arrest.

Second Chance Act. Georgia's 2020 Second Chance Act expanded restriction (and, for a smaller set of offenses, true record sealing) to some misdemeanor convictions once four years have passed since sentence completion with no new convictions.

Redaction in civil filings. Under O.C.G.A. § 9-11-7.1, parties filing certain sensitive information (such as Social Security numbers and financial account numbers) must redact it or file it under a separate, restricted-access cover sheet.

Juvenile, adoption, and mental-health records. Juvenile court proceedings are confidential under the Georgia Juvenile Code, adoption files are sealed, and involuntary-hospitalization records handled by probate courts are restricted by statute. None of these appear in PeachCourt, re:SearchGA, or GSCCCA.