State Resources
New York
Free statewide court lookups for both civil and criminal, a free business and UCC search, and one of the largest unclaimed property funds in the country. The criminal history search is the most expensive in the nation at $95.
At a glance
| Record | Held by | Cost | Online |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business and entity search | Division of Corporations, Department of State | Free to search | Yes |
| UCC filings | Department of State — UCC Public Inquiry System | Free to search | Yes |
| Professional licenses | Dept. of State for occupations; NYSED Office of the Professions for licensed professions | Free | Yes |
| Property and land records | ACRIS for four NYC boroughs; 58 county clerks elsewhere | Free to search, including images in ACRIS | Yes |
| Court records | Unified Court System — WebCivil and WebCrim | Free to search | Yes |
| Criminal records | Office of Court Administration — CHRS Direct Access | $95 per name search | Yes |
| Vital records | NYS Dept. of Health; New York City has its own registry | Set by the state; NYC differs | Yes |
| Unclaimed property | Office of the State Comptroller | Free | Yes |
| Voter and resident records | State Board of Elections; county boards of elections | Modest fee | By request |
Worth knowing about New York
Free court searches, and one of them covers criminal
The Unified Court System publishes two free public lookups and most people only know about one.
WebCivil Supreme covers civil cases in Supreme Court statewide, searchable by party name or index number, with appearances and calendar dates. WebCivil Local covers city, town and village courts.
WebCrim covers criminal cases in the courts that have been brought onto it, searchable by defendant name, with charges and appearance dates. Free.
Between them these answer most questions without paying the $95 for a criminal history search — and unlike the OCA search, they show pending matters.
ACRIS is the best city property system in the country
New York City runs ACRIS, the Automated City Register Information System, covering the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens. Free, with document images going back to 1966.
Search by party name and you get deeds, mortgages, assignments, satisfactions, liens and UCC filings against real property — with the scanned document attached.
Staten Island is not in ACRIS. Richmond County records go to the Richmond County Clerk separately, which catches people out constantly.
Outside the city, each of the other 57 counties runs its own clerk system.
The criminal history search costs $95
The Office of Court Administration sells a statewide criminal history record search through its Direct Access programme. $95 per name, plus a convenience fee, paid by card or bank draft.
A public account limits you to five searches per request. A corporate account, available once you have used the programme, allows ACH payment.
What it covers: criminal convictions from the courts, statewide. It is a court-record search rather than a fingerprint-based repository check, so it matches on name and date of birth.
Before paying, run WebCrim and the county court in the relevant boroughs or counties. For a single subject in a known county, the free searches often answer the question.
Record by record
Business and entity search
Open entity search →- Held by
- Division of Corporations, Department of State
- Cost
- Free to search
Business and not-for-profit corporations, limited partnerships, LLCs, limited liability partnerships and other entities, plus assumed name filings for corporations, LLCs and limited partnerships.
The assumed name filings are the part people skip. A company trading under a DBA has to file it, and the filing ties the trading name back to the registered entity.
UCC filings
Open UCC search →- Held by
- Department of State — UCC Public Inquiry System
- Cost
- Free to search
Article 9 financing statements and amendments, and notices of federal tax liens filed under Article 10-A of the Lien Law — both in the same search.
Getting federal tax liens in the same place as UCC filings is unusual and useful. A single debtor-name search returns both.
A UCC-1 names the debtor, the secured party and the collateral, which frequently names the bank.
Professional licenses
Open professions search →- Held by
- Dept. of State for occupations; NYSED Office of the Professions for licensed professions
- Cost
- Free
New York splits licensing between two bodies and this is the commonest reason a licence lookup comes back empty.
- NYSED Office of the Professions — the licensed professions: medicine, nursing, pharmacy, engineering, architecture, accountancy, social work, and many more. Verification includes disciplinary history.
- Department of State — occupational licences: real estate, security guards, notaries, appearance enhancement, home inspectors.
If a person does not appear in one, check the other before concluding they are unlicensed.
Property and land records
Open ACRIS →- Held by
- ACRIS for four NYC boroughs; 58 county clerks elsewhere
- Cost
- Free to search, including images in ACRIS
ACRIS covers the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens with free name searching and scanned images back to 1966.
Outside the five boroughs, each county clerk runs its own system. Coverage and quality vary considerably; the larger suburban counties are generally good.
Search grantor and grantee by name rather than address to pick up every mortgage, lien and satisfaction attached to a person.
Court records
Open WebCivil →- Held by
- Unified Court System — WebCivil and WebCrim
- Cost
- Free to search
WebCivil Supreme — Supreme Court civil cases statewide by party name or index number, with appearances and calendars.
WebCivil Local — city, town and village courts.
WebCrim — criminal cases by defendant name in the participating courts, with charges and appearance dates.
Note the naming: in New York, Supreme Court is the trial court of general jurisdiction, not the highest court. The highest is the Court of Appeals.
Criminal records
Open CHRS →- Held by
- Office of Court Administration — CHRS Direct Access
- Cost
- $95 per name search
- Turnaround
- Same day in most cases
A statewide search of criminal convictions held by the courts. $95 per name plus a convenience fee, paid by card or bank draft at the time of the request.
The public account option caps you at five searches per request. Heavier users move to a corporate account.
It is name and date-of-birth based, not fingerprint based, so identity matching is on you.
Vital records
Open vital records →- Held by
- NYS Dept. of Health; New York City has its own registry
- Cost
- Set by the state; NYC differs
Two separate systems. The state Department of Health covers births, deaths and marriages outside New York City. Events within the five boroughs are held by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, with its own process and fees.
Requesting a New York City record from the state, or the reverse, is the commonest cause of a rejected application.
Unclaimed property
Open search →- Held by
- Office of the State Comptroller
- Cost
- Free
One of the largest unclaimed funds programmes in the country. Free name search over dormant accounts, uncashed cheques, insurance proceeds and securities.
Each record carries the address the holder had on file when the property was reported — a free, dated address.
Voter and resident records
- Held by
- State Board of Elections; county boards of elections
- Cost
- Modest fee
New York voter registration lists are available from the State Board of Elections and from county boards, subject to restrictions on use. Name, address, party enrolment and voting history are included.
County boards are usually quicker for a single lookup than the statewide file.
Public records requests in New York
- Statute
- Freedom of Information Law, Public Officers Law art. 6
- Response deadline
- 5 business days to acknowledge, then a reasonable date certain
- Appeal to
- The agency’s FOIL appeals officer, then Article 78 in Supreme Court
- Appeal window
- 30 days to appeal a denial
An agency has five business days to grant the request, deny it in writing, or acknowledge it and give a date by which it will respond. That date has to be reasonable, and if the agency misses its own stated date that is treated as a constructive denial.
Appeals go first to the agency’s designated FOIL appeals officer — not back to the person who refused you — within 30 days. The appeals officer has ten business days to decide.
The Committee on Open Government issues advisory opinions on FOIL questions. They are advisory rather than binding, but they are written by the body that administers the law and they carry real weight when you attach one to an appeal. Requesting an opinion costs nothing.
Beyond that the remedy is an Article 78 proceeding in Supreme Court, where a requester who substantially prevails may recover attorney’s fees.
What New York will not give you
- Driver and vehicle records. Closed under the federal DPPA.
- Vital records. Restricted to the person, immediate family, or someone with a documented lawful right.
- Sealed records. New York seals broadly — dismissals, acquittals, most non-criminal violations, and certain convictions after ten years. Sealed matters will not appear.
- LLC membership. Not required in the public filing. The corporate record often names nobody useful.
- Staten Island property in ACRIS. Richmond County records are with the county clerk, not ACRIS.
Related
- Connecticut — the neighbouring state
- Massachusetts — a very different set of answers
- UCC filings name the lender
- Finding the owner of record on a property
- Appealing a public records denial
Fees and procedures verified August 2026. Clerks change their counter rules more often than the statutes change — call before you drive.