How to search Massachusetts court records

Massachusetts runs a single statewide case-lookup system, so one search — with the name spelled correctly — reaches courts across the entire state. There's no charge and no account required — results are visible to anyone who searches.

statewide free criminal data

Open the official Massachusetts portal →

What's actually there

Public access to criminal case detail is restricted; name searches for criminal matters generally must be done at a courthouse kiosk.

Other official lookups for Massachusetts

CORI request (iCORI)

How Massachusetts courts are organized

Massachusetts trial courts are grouped into a single Trial Court with seven departments: the District Court, the Boston Municipal Court, the Superior Court, the Housing Court, the Juvenile Court, the Probate and Family Court, and the Land Court. Each department has its own courthouses and clerk or register offices, under a central Trial Court administration.

Appeals go to the Appeals Court and then to the Supreme Judicial Court, the state's highest court.

MassCourts (masscourts.org) is the Trial Court's public case search. You choose the department, division and court location, then search. It covers the trial court departments, but criminal cases are much harder to look up online than civil ones.

Searching MassCourts

MassCourts is free and open to the public with no account; you complete a human-verification check and click through to public records. You pick a court department, division and location, then search the available fields. What you get is docket information, not the case file, so plan on contacting the court for documents.

The Trial Court says plainly that most criminal cases are only available by docket number. In practice, that means you cannot look up a person's criminal cases by name online; you need the exact docket number, typed with the correct capitalization, spacing and leading zeros. Public access computers at District, Boston Municipal, Probate and Family, Superior, Housing and Land Court locations offer another way in.

A separate Attorney Portal gives Massachusetts lawyers wider access, including more criminal case types.

Impounded cases and records are not shown.
Sealed records are hidden from public view under G.L. c. 276.
For a statewide criminal record check, the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services runs iCORI, which now requires a MyMassGov account.

Getting copies and certified copies

Copies come from the clerk's office (or, in the Probate and Family Court, the register's office) of the court where the case was heard. You will need the docket number. In the Probate and Family Court, the Trial Court's guide says to complete a Request for Copies form and mail it or bring it, with payment, to that courthouse; you can ask for attested or plain copies of judgments, orders, decrees and letters of appointment. For other departments, contact the specific clerk's office for its copy process and fees, since the pages read for this guide did not post a statewide per-page fee.

Sealed and expunged records

Massachusetts mostly seals rather than erases records. Under G.L. c. 276, section 100A, you can ask the Commissioner of Probation to seal your record on a form signed under penalty of perjury. Misdemeanors become eligible three years after the court disposition or any incarceration, and felonies after seven years, provided there were no new convictions in that period. Some offenses are excluded. Once sealed, an applicant for most jobs, housing or licenses may answer no record. Under section 100C, cases that ended in a not-guilty finding, a no bill, or a no-probable-cause finding are sealed by the commissioner unless the person asks in writing not to seal them.

True expungement is narrower. Section 100K, for example, lets a court expunge a record created through false identification, error or fraud, or for an offense that is no longer a crime. For questions about a specific record, talk to a lawyer or a legal aid program in Massachusetts.

Tip: reading a Massachusetts docket number

Because criminal cases are found by docket number, it helps to read one. District Court numbers follow the pattern two-digit year, two-digit court code, two-letter case type, then a six-digit sequence. In 1448CV001026, 14 is 2014, 48 is Ayer District Court, CV is civil, and 001026 is the case sequence. Criminal cases use CR. Other departments publish their own formats on mass.gov, so check the format for the court you need.

Sources

Checked against the official sources above in October 2026. Court rules and fees change; the court's own site is the final word. This is general information, not legal advice.

Federal cases filed in Massachusetts

State portals don't cover federal court. If the case you're looking for might be a federal criminal prosecution, civil suit, or bankruptcy, use CourtRecordsFree's live federal search — it queries CourtListener/RECAP directly and isn't limited to any one state.

Search tips

Try both "Last, First" and "First Last" — courts index names inconsistently.
Middle initials and suffixes (Jr., III) often matter for common names.
A date of birth or case number is the only reliable way to confirm you found the right person.
An arrest or charge shown in a docket is not a conviction — read the disposition.

Frequently asked questions

Is it free to search Massachusetts court records online?

Yes. Massachusetts's statewide search is free to use, with no account or subscription required.

Does this include criminal records?

Yes. Massachusetts's portal includes criminal case records alongside civil cases, though sealed and expunged cases are not shown.

Does one search cover the whole state?

Massachusetts runs one statewide system, so a single search covers the whole state.

Links move. If the Massachusetts portal link above is dead, tell us on the corrections page.