About New Jersey Public Records

New Jersey's agencies operate separately with different policies for providing public records. With the expansion of online services, government departments offer instant license verification, criminal history and background check requests directly from the state police and over eighty individual agencies throughout New Jersey.

New Jersey the "Garden State" is one of the original 13 colonies and became the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution in 1787 and the first state to sign the Bill of Rights. Trenton is the state capital of New Jersey. The 1776 state constitution gave the vote to "all inhabitants" who had a certain level of wealth including women and blacks. New Jersey was known as the "Pathway of the Revolution" as over 100 battles were fought on New Jersey soil. The state motto is "Liberty and Prosperity".

With a population of over 8.7 million, New Jersey is the most populated state by area in the U.S. with over 1000 people per square mile. New Jersey has 21 counties. New Jersey is the only state where all its counties are classified as metropolitan areas. There are 566 municipalities or administrative entities which include boroughs, cities, towns, townships and villages. County government in New Jersey includes a Board of Chosen Freeholders, sheriff, clerk, and surrogate, all of which are elected officials.

The government of New Jersey was established by the New Jersey Constitution in 1947 and is comprised of three branches. The executive, the legislative and the judiciary. The state executive is the Governor who heads the executive branch. Constitutionally, New Jersey's chief executive is one of the most powerful governors in the United States. The legislative branch contains two houses, a 40-member Senate and an 80-member General Assembly. The judicial branch includes the state's supreme court, superior court, appellate division, tax court and municipal court.

The Open Public Records Act is the New Jersey law providing its residents access to public records. The state adopted the sunshine law in 2002, a great improvement over the prior public record laws. The OPRA works similarly to the federal information act (FOIA) in keeping the government transparent to its citizens. Residents of New Jersey do not need to show a reason to be able to order a record. These requests are made directly to the department where the information is sought. The law also requires the department where the request is being directed to provide records to be readily available to the public for viewing, ordering or copying.

Criminal history records inquiry can be obtained by the New Jersey state police with a simple request online. Many of the requests are by employers prior to hiring, a search of a person's own records to see what is available to others in N.J.

Access to such documents as official court records may be obtained via the New Jersey Courts online ACMS service. Available for inspection by the public are criminal cases, civil cases including divorces, trials in tax courts, decisions and municipal courts. Anyone with internet connection can conduct a free online search of property records by name in each New Jersey county and get instant results including owner information, updated assessed value with detailed description of the land and building. However certain records are not made available for public inspection due to Federal and State statutes and rules governing the courts. Vital records such as birth and death certificates are not considered public records and are protected by New Jersey law.

New Jersey court records are maintained by the New Jersey Courts system. The Superior Court is the trial court of general jurisdiction with divisions for Law, Chancery, and Appellate matters in each county.

Case records can be searched online through the New Jersey Courts public access portal at njcourts.gov.

New Jersey criminal records are maintained by the New Jersey State Police. Court records are accessible through the NJ Courts public access system including PROMIS/Gavel for criminal cases and the JOC Public Access database for criminal judgments. The NJ Electronic Access Program (EAP) provides remote online access to specific court records for a fee. The New Jersey Sex Offender Internet Registry is maintained by NJSP. The NJ Department of Corrections provides an offender search for incarcerated individuals.

Statewide New Jersey vital records. Search births, marriage records and death certificates. Divorces filed with courts. State vital records offices. Link to the agencies in New Jersey and order vital records. Many records are public information available to the public from private and government entities. You can use information to verify your records. Look up vital statistics and free vital searches in New Jersey to conduct research online. Department of health and senior services, state bureau of vital statistics and registration, order a record, fees at a glance, forms, how to apply for a marriage license, civil union license, registering a domestic partnership, getting copies of genealogical and non genealogical records, judiciary order or final judgment of divorce, divorce decrees, department of state, superior court, getting a no record of marriage statement, expedited requests, contact your local registrar.

Search for assets in New Jersey and obtain records of property, business ownership, professional license verification and other personal or corporate assets. Find bankruptcies, liens, UCC judgment filings and find out about information that can effect a person's or company's asset. See the status of a business and verify ownership, DBA, status, activity and whether the corporation or business filed in New Jersey owns property, vehicles, real estate and more. Unclaimed property and asset search from official government databases open to the public.

Access New Jersey government agencies and obtain information on executive branches, legislative branches and jucidial branches within state jurisdiction. Link below to the state government agencies as well as state government information and services. Other state government resources such as codified state law, voters registration and other state government departments

Direct New Jersey official government links to driver license and registration resources. Vehicle registration, tags, driving history, online forms, office locations, and hours.

Expunge your criminal past of felonies, misdemeanors, D.U.I convictions and more in the state of New Jersey. Get information regarding expungements and begin to erase your previous New Jersey criminal records statewide as well as nationwide. Some records can contain inaccurate or erroneous information that can be amended. Both juvenile and adult cases that can be corrected and begin your search for employment without a tainted past showing.

New Jersey genealogy related links and topics. Individual state search of your ancestors, start a family tree, browse census records and more online.