How to search Minnesota court records

Minnesota 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.

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What's actually there

Minnesota Court Records Online (MCRO) gives free statewide access to public district court records. Documents are limited for family cases and not online for several case types.

Other official lookups for Minnesota

• DOC offender locator

How Minnesota's courts are organized

Minnesota has a three-level court system. Trial cases are heard in district court, which handles everything from traffic tickets to civil and family disputes to murder trials. Some districts split the work into criminal, civil, probate, family and juvenile divisions, and small civil disputes go to conciliation court, which is part of district court. District courts sit in all 87 counties, and the counties are grouped into ten judicial districts for administration.

Appeals go to the Minnesota Court of Appeals, which must hear almost every appeal filed, and from there to the Minnesota Supreme Court, which has seven justices and is the court of last resort.

The free online system, Minnesota Court Records Online (MCRO), covers district court cases statewide. You can search all counties at once or limit the search to selected counties. Appellate cases are handled in a separate appellate case system.

Searching Minnesota Court Records Online (MCRO)

MCRO is free and needs no account, but you must accept its terms of use before searching. It has four search tabs: Case Search, Document Search, Hearing Search and Judgment Search.

Case Search takes a person or business name, a case number, a citation number, or an attorney name or Minnesota license number. Name searches support a Sounds Like option and a trailing wildcard, and you can filter by date of birth, filing date, case category (civil, criminal, family, probate or mental health), case status and court location. Each case shows a Register of Actions, which is the list of filings and events.

Documents are where MCRO gets uneven. All public documents are online for criminal and civil case types, and for probate, guardianship, conservatorship and trust cases. For family cases, only court-prepared orders, opinions and notices are online. Documents are reached only through a case-number search, not a name search. Judgment Search looks up docketed money judgments by debtor name, including satisfactions.

• Not online at all: documents in civil commitment, domestic abuse and harassment restraining order cases, felony delinquency cases for youth 16 and older, and child protection (CHIPS) cases.
• Party street addresses and comment fields are withheld.
• Pending criminal or traffic cases without a conviction may not come up in a name search, and MCRO does not tell you when something is withheld.
• The courthouse public access terminals and the State Law Library show more records than MCRO does.

Getting copies and certified copies

MCRO is not the official record and its printouts are not certified. Certified copies come from court administration in the county where the case was filed. You can contact that county's court administrator in person or through the contact details on the county's court page.

Minnesota Statutes section 357.021, subdivision 2, sets the certified copy fee at $14 per instrument in civil and criminal cases. The same subdivision says no fee may be charged to view or download a publicly available document, or for an uncertified copy of it.

Sealed and expunged records

Minnesota uses the word expungement, but under Chapter 609A the remedy is sealing: the records are kept but closed to the public, and the chapter does not authorize destroying them. A person can petition the court under sections 609A.02 and 609A.03, and the Judicial Branch posts statewide expungement forms and instructions.

Minnesota's Clean Slate law, section 609A.015, adds automatic expungement with no petition. It covers cases that were dismissed or resolved in the person's favor, some diversion and stay-of-adjudication cases, and certain convictions after a crime-free waiting period. The waiting period is two years for petty misdemeanors and misdemeanors, three for gross misdemeanors, and four or five for qualifying felonies. Many offenses are excluded, including several DWI, domestic assault and harassment offenses. The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension identifies eligible records and notifies the courts, which then seal theirs. Court staff cannot give legal advice. For help with your situation, talk to a lawyer or the Judicial Branch Self-Help Center.

Tip: MCRO is not a background check

The Judicial Branch says plainly that MCRO should not be used for background checks. Names, birth dates and aliases overlap, and a case type does not tell you how the case ended, so read the Register of Actions. For a criminal history check, the state points to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension's public criminal history search, which needs a first and last name plus a date of birth. The BCA also has a free public terminal in its St. Paul lobby.

Sources

• Minnesota Court Records Online (MCRO) and terms of use
• Minnesota Judicial Branch: MCRO
• Minnesota Judicial Branch: About the Courts
• Minnesota Judicial Branch: District Courts fact sheet
• Minn. Stat. 357.021 (court administrator fees)
• Minn. Stat. Chapter 609A (expungement)
• Minn. Stat. 609A.015 (automatic expungement)
• Minnesota Judicial Branch: expungement forms packet
• Minnesota Judicial Branch Self-Help Center
• BCA criminal history search

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 Minnesota

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 Minnesota court records online?

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

Does this include criminal records?

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

Does one search cover the whole state?

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

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