How to search North Carolina court records

North Carolina 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 North Carolina portal →

What's actually there

eCourts Portal covers all 100 counties since the conversion finished on October 13, 2025. Free, no account needed, with case summaries and public documents. The courts say to use the county clerk, not Portal, for background checks.

Other official lookups for North Carolina

• NC DAC offender search

How North Carolina's courts are organized

North Carolina has one statewide trial court system with two levels in every county. District Court hears misdemeanors and infractions, civil claims of $25,000 or less, and family and juvenile matters such as divorce, custody and child support. Magistrates within District Court hear small claims, with a limit the Judicial Branch says varies by county between $5,000 and $10,000. Superior Court hears all felonies, civil claims over $25,000, and appeals of misdemeanor convictions from District Court, which are retried there. The specialized North Carolina Business Court handles complex business cases.

Appeals from decisions of District and Superior Court judges generally go to the North Carolina Court of Appeals and then the Supreme Court of North Carolina. Each county's records are kept by its elected Clerk of Superior Court, who serves both trial court levels.

Using the official online search

The Judicial Branch moved every county onto its eCourts system county by county, and the conversion reached all 100 counties on October 13, 2025. The public face of eCourts is Portal. You can use it without an account; registering only adds a feature for saving cases. Smart Search lets you look up cases by name, attorney, citation and other fields and opens a case summary called the Register of Actions, with filters for civil, special proceedings, estates and criminal cases. Court dates and hearings are listed too, and public documents can be viewed online at no charge.

The Judicial Branch warns that Portal is not the official court record and should not be used for background checks; for that, it sends people to the county clerk.

• Confidential case types and protected personal identifiers are not shown to the public.
• Individual documents can be restricted even inside a public case, and documents not attached to a docket event are hidden.
• Juvenile records are not released in criminal record searches.
• Sealed and expunged records are not disclosed, so an empty result does not prove a person has no record.

Getting copies, certified copies and record checks

Copies come from the Clerk of Superior Court in the county where the case was filed. Fees are set by statute in G.S. 7A-308: $2 for the first page of each document copied and 25 cents for each additional page, $3 for a certificate under seal, and $10 for an exemplification. Copy and certificate fees are not charged to attorneys appointed by the Office of Indigent Defense Services when the request is for the appointed case.

For a certified criminal record check, file Form AOC-CR-314 with the clerk of the county you need and pay $25. It covers that one county only; the Judicial Branch says no court official can provide a certified statewide search. You can also search any county or the whole state free on the public computers in any clerk's office, though those results are not certified and printing may cost extra.

Records that are not public

North Carolina's word for record clearing is expunction, governed by Article 5 of Chapter 15A of the General Statutes. Under G.S. 15A-145.5, a person can petition to expunge nonviolent convictions after a waiting period: three years for one nonviolent misdemeanor, seven years for more than one, ten years for one nonviolent felony (fifteen for certain breaking or entering felonies), and twenty years for two or three nonviolent felonies, counted from the conviction or the end of the sentence and supervision, whichever is later. Class A through G felonies, Class A1 misdemeanors, offenses with assault as an element, offenses requiring sex offender registration and impaired driving offenses do not qualify. The petition goes to the court in the county of conviction with an affidavit of good moral character.

Other sections of Article 5 cover dismissed charges, not guilty findings and offenses committed under age 18. This is a summary of the statutes only; talk to a lawyer or read the Judicial Branch's expunctions help page and forms.

North Carolina tip: one clerk for both courts

Because one Clerk of Superior Court keeps both District and Superior Court files in each county, a single clerk's office can answer for any trial-level case filed there. When a misdemeanor is appealed from District Court to Superior Court, it is tried again in Superior Court, so a name search in Portal may show the case in both courts. If you need proof for a job or license, ask the clerk for the certified one-county search rather than printing a Portal screen.

Sources

• NC Judicial Branch — eCourts
• NC Judicial Branch — eCourts conversion in all 100 counties
• NC Judicial Branch — Portal Training and Resources
• NC Judicial Branch — Obtaining Court Records
• NC Judicial Branch — Criminal Background Check
• NC Judicial Branch — Types of Courts
• G.S. 7A-308, miscellaneous fees
• G.S. 15A-145.5, expunction of nonviolent offenses
• G.S. Chapter 15A, Article 5, Expunction of Records
• NC Judicial Branch — Expunctions

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 North Carolina

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 North Carolina court records online?

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

Does this include criminal records?

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

Does one search cover the whole state?

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

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