Job Description

Court Research is the process of going to the courthouse and looking at public documents. You might be looking at mortgages, marriage records, tax liens, judgments, divorces, and more. The very act of going to the courthouse to look up the records is courthouse research.

A successful court researcher has a cell phone and a laptop. Almost all projects require collection of information, whether it be on a spreadsheet or into a data entry program. You'll be using the public terminals located at the courthouse you visit to collect this information. Once hired, you'll have access to complete training material that will teach you how to understand the information you are looking for. Many counties have several types of courthouses. The training will help you understand which courthouse you need to visit. For example, you wouldn't go to a criminal court to collect information on mortgages!

The records researched is public information. Anyone can request these documents. Our clients hire court research companies (Also known as courthouse research) to collect this information. They use it for many various reasons. Our job is to collect their information based on the requirements they set. Generally, we are collecting names and addresses, as well as a couple other pieces of information.

Once the information has been collected, you'll submit it where it needs to go. At the end of the pay cycle, you'll submit your invoice for your visit. Based on the schedule you decide, you visit your courthouse accordingly. The schedule is flexible. As long as the records are kept current, you can visit when you'd like. Some projects may require more visits than others.

Sometimes, a county can be accessed online. We don't keep a running list, nor will we check for you. It is your responsibility to check if your county is online or not. Remember, we don't hire anyone for strictly online work. If you're not willing to leave your home for court research, we won't hire you.

There are many types of court researchers gathering various information from the public records available. The type of research depends on the needs of the client. When you are at the recorder, registrar of deeds, or bureau of conveyance office (or other name, depending on your locale), you will meet people who are researching records for much more detailed information than what we need. In some areas, we also collect information from court documents, including civil case filings.

The amount of work available in a given county depends largely on the population base and growth and mobility of the area. Very small counties (i.e. 10,000 people) may have only one hour of work per month while a very large county (over 1,000,000 population) could keep a researcher busy two days/week.

Click here for our FAQ about court research!