Contact Us

Please note that the Judicial Council of California does not provide legal advice or interpret the law. If you need legal assistance, have a question regarding a traffic citation or a particular case, or have a complaint about a judge or an attorney, review the Frequently Asked Questions below, or visit our FAQs page where you will find additional information on many court-related issues.
The following information must be obtained from your local trial court
  • Divorce decrees
  • Criminal records
  • Complaints
  • Judgments
  • Traffic tickets
  • Information on a case

Please contact the clerk's office at the court where your case or record was originally filed.

Find Your Court

The Judicial Council of California does not maintain these records.

Please review our answers to the mostly commonly asked questions below:

A: You must contact the clerk's office at the court where your case was filed. You may find all court phone numbers, street addresses, and website addresses here.

A: To find information about cases for the California Supreme Court, Courts of Appeal, and some Superior Courts, visit the courts section.

You may find information on some Supreme Court and appellate cases at https://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.gov/ Please note that not all cases are available online.

For courts that do not post filings online, contact the clerk's office at the court of jurisdiction. Contact information for all California courts can be found a here.

If you are seeking information on a case older than 120 days you may consider visiting your local law library, which should have access to computer-assisted research systems (e.g., LawDesk, Lexis, Westlaw, Findlaw). A law librarian should be able to assist you. You can find information about your local public law library at: http://www.cccll.org/cccll-cll.htm.

A: The Judicial Council of California does not maintain criminal histories. While individual court records usually are public, criminal histories are generally confidential. Penal Code sections 11105 and 13330 limit access to criminal histories. Criminal statistics and access to criminal histories for research purposes may be allowed.

A: Visit our Online Self-Help Center's section on Filing for Divorce. You will find information and instructions on filing for divorce or legal separation to end your marriage or domestic partnership (or both), with a step-by-step guide to filling out and filing your papers in court. You will also be able to access the forms you will need and resources where you can get help.

You may also be able to get help from your court's family law facilitator, free of charge.  If the family law facilitator cannot help you, he or she may be able to refer you to someone in your county that can help you.

A: If you need information about your specific traffic ticket or citation, please contact the clerk's office at the court that issued your ticket. We do not have information on specific cases, tickets or citations. Click to find the contact information for all traffic courts.

If you want general information about traffic cases, payment of fines, traffic school or how to contest your traffic citation, visit the Traffic section of our online Self-Help Center.

A: All matters concerning the performance of California state judges should be directed to the Commission on Judicial Performance. You may find information about the commission at http://cjp.ca.gov/.

A: You may find instructions on where to order a copy of your birth certificate or a death certificate at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/howto/w2w/californ.htm.

Legal Help Resources

Should you need further assistance, consider seeking professional legal help and using the following resources:

Access to Records

If you would like to request judicial administrative records maintained by the appellate courts or the Councilyou are invited to submit a request by completing the Request for Judicial Administrative Records form and sending it by email, U.S. mail, by fax, or by telephone. Submitting a request in an alternate format may delay processing of your request. Individuals with disabilities may make requests in alternate formats. More information can be found on the Access to Records page.

Still Have Questions or Comments?

Please note that due to the high volume of e-mails, we cannot guarantee a personal response.

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