Illinois, court records

Illinois Court Records

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Illinois court records online access to local, county, state and federal judicial information including criminal.

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Official Illinois court record sources

Every card below goes to the government office responsible for that record. Use the category buttons to narrow the list.

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Showing 6 official sources

Official

Court records

PACER, Find a Case

Explore the various options for locating federal court case records electronically, including logging into PACER.

Court recordspacer.uscourts.gov
Open official site PACER, Find a Case

Guide

Federal & National Authoritative Sources

These federal and national sources complement Illinois's state-level records. They are the authoritative sources you should cross-check when Illinois state records are incomplete or out-of-state activity matters.

PACER, Public Access to Court Electronic Records
The U.S. federal judiciary's unified electronic records system. Every federal district, bankruptcy, and appellate case docket is here.
https://pacer.uscourts.gov/ (pacer.uscourts.gov) U.S. Courts, Federal Court Finder
The official directory of every federal district, bankruptcy, and circuit court. Use it to identify the correct Illinois district(s) before searching PACER.
https://www.uscourts.gov/federal-court-finder (uscourts.gov) National Center for State Courts
The NCSC's directory of state court websites, technology standards, and public-access policies.
https://www.ncsc.org/information-and-resources/browse-by-state (ncsc.org)  Frequently Asked Questions Illinois Court Records, FAQ  Last reviewed: April 2026  Updated: April 2026

Record guide

About Illinois court record sources

Useful local context without burying the official record links above.

At a glance

Illinois Court Records

State
Illinois
Official sources
6
Court records
5
Federal
1
Links checked
Sep. 22, 2026

Using these court record sources

Use these statewide and official court resources for case information, court structure, forms, clerk access, or public search tools. Legacy directory content has been retained inside the updated layout so county-level links, clerk references, and older court research notes remain available in one place.

More Illinois records on this site: Illinois public records, Free Background Checks.

Straight answers

Illinois court record questions

Open only the answer you need.

Are court records free?

State court records are usually free to view at the courthouse and often free online, with per-page fees for certified copies. PACER charges $0.10 per page (capped at $3.00 per document), waived under $30 per quarter.

Do sealed cases show up?

No. A sealed case is hidden from the public docket index by court order. Its existence may still be confirmable by number, but documents are not accessible.

What's the difference between civil and criminal court records?

Civil cases involve disputes between parties (contracts, torts, family). Criminal cases are brought by the government. Both are indexed by the same court clerks but tracked in separate sub-dockets.

Can I search every court at once?

Not in one search. PACER covers all federal courts. Most states have a statewide judiciary portal that covers their state courts, but a few require per-county lookups. This page links to Illinois's official portal.

All states

Court Records by state

Every state page lists that state's official court record sources, each opened and verified.

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