Maricopa County Court Records Search

Maricopa is one of the 15 counties in Arizona, with more than 4 million people. Statistically speaking, one in three Americans has had contact with the court, being either the party in the case or the party involved. This is why the need for Maricopa County court records search has risen in popularity.

If you are a party in the case or need to find the records on somebody suspicious (e.g., a potential employee, client, or neighbor), you might inquire about more detailed Maricopa court information. This article will answer all the questions associated with the Maricopa County court records search.

What are the Maricopa County court records?

Every civil or criminal court case starts with a single lawsuit. A Lawsuit represents a written complaint written by a party further referred to as the plaintiff and contains all the claim details and the plaintiff`s and defendant`s information. The minute the lawsuit is filed, the information becomes a court record.

Whether the record is civil or criminal depends on the nature of the case. Civil cases most often represent private disputes between either private or juridical persons, whereas criminal cases cover illegal wrongdoing which is harmful to society´s wellbeing. 

As a rule, Maricopa County civil court records are stored on paper and electronically. The latter version of Maricopa court records can be found on any digital devices such as smartphones, laptops, and tablets that have access to the Internet.

Which information do Maricopa County Court Records contain?

There are two types of Maricopa County court records: public and confidential. Public Maricopa civil court records can be easily accessed by the public, whereas confidential Maricopa County court records are hidden from public attention. As a rule, a vast amount of Maricopa civil court records are considered public.

However, confidential cases will not reveal any of the information about the cases that fall under "juvenile dependency" and "juvenile delinquency." Typical "Juvenile dependency" cases cover the separation of the child from the parents, whereas "juvenile delinquency" cases are concerned with a child`s accusation of committing a crime. 

Since making such sensitive information public might harm the privacy of any of the parties involved, these cases are considered confidential.

However, some Maricopa County civil court records might be considered public but contain confidential records, which will therefore be unavailable to third parties, such as fee waiver applications.

The same goes for the cases that would typically be considered confidential. Still, due to enormous public attention from the media, a judge may decide to make the case open to the public. 

An excellent example of such a case might be the case featuring the dispute between two world celebrities. In this case, the judge might make some Maricopa civil court records that would usually be considered confidential "public".

How to run a Maricopa County court search?

If the Maricopa court information you are looking for is stored in paper, then you can access it by physically arriving at the courthouse and requesting to access Maricopa County civil court records.

However, if the court where the case has been held offers a possibility to access the electronic Maricopa County court records, you have the following two options:

• Accessing the Maricopa County Court information from the device located at the courthouse

• If the court offers such a possibility, run the Maricopa County Court search remotely from home.

Who is eligible to access Maricopa County court records?

Except for the parties, who are involved in the case, the following groups of people are eligible to run the Maricopa County court records search:

• Party: physical or juridical party can have remote access to the electronic records

• Attorney of the Party: the attorney of the party representing the interests of the party in the case

• Person, authorized by a Party: in the case where a party needs the assistance of a third party, they can request the remote access for them

• Individuals appointed by the court: Court-appointed individuals are often used in cases with the need to defend a child`s interests

• Legal Aid and Government Staff 

Where can I run the Maricopa County court search?

The fastest and best way to run the Maricopa County court search would be using a Judicial Branch of Arizona of the Maricopa County website (www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov). 

The website provides public access to Maricopa court information on civil, criminal, family, and probate court cases. To run the Maricopa County court search on this website, you need to know the ZIP code where the case has been held.

Key takeaways: Maricopa Court information is held both on paper and electronically. There are two possibilities for running a Maricopa County court records search: remotely (if the records are kept electronically) and physically at the courthouse (for Maricopa County court records stored on paper). 

In both cases, one needs to determine whether they are eligible to access the Maricopa court information.