State Resources
Texas
A $3 criminal history search anyone can run, a free statewide court portal, and a Public Information Act that puts the burden on the agency. The Secretary of State charges for business searches, but the Comptroller gives you one free.
At a glance
| Record | Held by | Cost | Online |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business and entity search | Comptroller of Public Accounts — Taxable Entity Search (free) | Free | Yes |
| UCC filings | UCC Section, Secretary of State (SOSDirect) | Charged per search | Yes |
| Professional licenses | TDLR, plus separate boards for medicine, law, real estate and insurance | Free | Yes |
| Property and land records | 254 county clerks; central appraisal districts for valuations | Copy fees set by the county | Varies by county |
| Court records | Texas Judicial Branch — re:SearchTX | Free to search | Yes |
| Criminal records | DPS Crime Records Division — Computerized Criminal History | About $3 per name search | Yes |
| Vital records | DSHS Vital Statistics, or the local registrar | Birth $22 · Death $20 · $3 each additional | Yes |
| Unclaimed property | Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts | Free | Yes |
| Voter and resident records | Secretary of State; county voter registrars | Fee set by statute | By purchase |
Worth knowing about Texas
Three dollars, instantly, on anyone
The DPS Computerized Criminal History public site sells a name-based criminal search for about $3. Create a free account, buy search credits at $1 each, and run a first name, last name and date of birth.
What’s in the CCH: Class B misdemeanour convictions and above, deferred adjudications, and the arrest records tied to those offences. Deferred adjudication showing up is significant — it’s the disposition people assume won’t appear.
No release, no permissible purpose, no relationship required. For the money this is one of the best statewide criminal searches in the country.
It’s name and date of birth matching, not fingerprints, so common names produce false positives and a subject using a variant name may not match at all. Confirm anything that matters against the county court record.
Don’t pay the Secretary of State for a business search
Texas SOSDirect charges per search — roughly a dollar a look — which catches out investigators used to free Secretary of State portals everywhere else.
The Comptroller’s Taxable Entity Search is free and covers every entity registered for franchise tax, which is essentially every active business in the state. It returns the entity, its status, its registered agent and the registered office address.
Start there. Go to SOSDirect only when you need the actual filed documents, the formation history, or a certified copy — and know you’re paying for it.
The Public Information Act puts the clock on them, not you
Texas has one of the better-designed records laws in the country, and the mechanism is worth understanding.
A governmental body that wants to withhold something must, within ten business days, ask the Attorney General for a decision, tell you it has done so, and cite the exceptions it’s relying on.
If it misses that deadline, the information is presumed public. Not "you may appeal" — presumed open, unless the body can show a compelling reason. Agencies that ignore a Texas request lose by default, and that’s a very different position from most states.
The Attorney General then has 45 working days to rule, extendable by 10.
Record by record
Business and entity search
Open entity search →- Held by
- Comptroller of Public Accounts — Taxable Entity Search (free)
- Cost
- Free
Free search by entity name, taxpayer number or file number. Returns the entity, franchise tax status, registered agent and registered office address.
Franchise tax status is a useful signal in itself. An entity "not in good standing" or forfeited tells you the business stopped filing, and roughly when.
UCC filings
Open SOSDirect →- Held by
- UCC Section, Secretary of State (SOSDirect)
- Cost
- Charged per search
Statewide Article 9 filings, plus state tax liens and utility security instruments. A UCC-1 names the debtor, the secured party and the collateral, which frequently names the bank.
Texas also records a great deal at county level. Fixture filings, real property related filings and some agricultural liens go to the county clerk, not the Secretary of State. Search both.
Professional licenses
Open TDLR search →- Held by
- TDLR, plus separate boards for medicine, law, real estate and insurance
- Cost
- Free
The Department of Licensing and Regulation covers a wide spread of trades and occupations in one free search — electricians, HVAC, cosmetology, tow operators, driver education, and many more.
Records carry license status, expiry and the address of record.
Property and land records
- Held by
- 254 county clerks; central appraisal districts for valuations
- Cost
- Copy fees set by the county
Deeds, deeds of trust, liens, abstracts of judgment and mechanics liens are recorded with the clerk of the county where the land sits. Texas has 254 counties and no statewide land search.
The large metro counties — Harris, Dallas, Tarrant, Bexar, Travis — have good online grantor/grantee indexes going back decades. Rural counties vary enormously.
Valuations and ownership come from the county central appraisal district, which is usually the faster free lookup and is separate from the clerk.
Court records
Open re:SearchTX →- Held by
- Texas Judicial Branch — re:SearchTX
- Cost
- Free to search
A genuine statewide court records portal, which not many large states have. Register a free account and search across participating courts by party name.
Coverage follows electronic filing, which Texas mandated for civil cases, so civil coverage is broad. Document access varies by court and by case type.
All 254 counties are listed below, tagged with what each one actually publishes.
Criminal records
Open CCH search →- Held by
- DPS Crime Records Division — Computerized Criminal History
- Cost
- About $3 per name search
- Turnaround
- Immediate
Public name-based search. Free account, search credits at $1 each with a small processing fee, and you need first name, last name and date of birth.
Covers Class B misdemeanour convictions and above, deferred adjudications, and the arrests tied to those offences.
Vital records
Open vital statistics →- Held by
- DSHS Vital Statistics, or the local registrar
- Cost
- Birth $22 · Death $20 · $3 each additional
Birth records $22 per certified or research copy. Death and fetal death records $20. Additional copies of the same record in the same order are $3.
Texas birth records are closed for 75 years and death records for 25 years, after which they become public. That makes older Texas vital records genuinely open to anyone — useful for genealogy-style work on a family line.
Unclaimed property
Open search →- Held by
- Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
- Cost
- Free
One of the largest unclaimed property programs in the country. Free name search over dormant accounts, uncashed cheques, insurance proceeds, mineral royalties and safe deposit contents.
Mineral and royalty interests are the Texas-specific item worth checking. They show up here when the operator can’t find the owner, and they represent a real asset attached to a name.
Voter and resident records
- Held by
- Secretary of State; county voter registrars
- Cost
- Fee set by statute
Texas sells the statewide voter registration file and county registrars sell county lists. It’s a public record, subject to restrictions on commercial use and on the use of certain data elements.
One of the more accessible voter files among the large states, and a legitimate address source.
Court records for all 254 counties
Texas has no single court records system, and it is the hardest big state to work. Eighty-eight counties publish a free case search of their own — those are tagged case search and the link opens the search itself. For the rest, that county publishes none, and the row goes to the clerk who holds the file. Before you call, try the two statewide systems: the Texas UCMS public portal, which is free and covers the small counties that joined the state program, and re:SearchTX, which reaches all 254 counties but needs a free eFileTexas account.
Nothing matches that.
Public records requests in Texas
- Statute
- Public Information Act, Tex. Gov’t Code ch. 552
- Response deadline
- 10 business days to produce or seek an AG decision
- Appeal to
- Office of the Attorney General, Open Government Division
- Appeal window
- AG rules within 45 working days, extendable by 10
The burden sits on the governmental body. Within ten business days it must either release the records or ask the Attorney General for a decision, notify you that it has done so, and state the exceptions it claims.
Miss that deadline and the information is presumed public unless the body can demonstrate a compelling reason to withhold. That presumption is the strongest single feature of the Texas act.
The Attorney General’s Open Government Division also takes complaints and operates an open government hotline. Use it — the AG rules on these constantly and the rulings are published.
What Texas will not give you
- Driver and vehicle records. Closed under the federal DPPA and the Transportation Code.
- Recent vital records. Births closed 75 years, deaths 25 years. Inside that window you must be a qualified applicant.
- Pre-eFiling court records. Not in re:SearchTX. County clerk or district clerk only.
- Statewide land records. Don’t exist. 254 county clerks.
- Free Secretary of State search. SOSDirect charges per search. Use the Comptroller for free lookups.
Course
How to Find Out Where Someone Banks
UCC filings, business registrations and lien records all point at the same thing: who holds the money. The course walks the full sequence, including the free sources on this page and the ones that cost.
See the bank locate courseRelated
- California — the other big state, and far more closed
- Judgment liens and where they attach
- Garnishment: what you need before you file
- UCC filings name the lender
- A FOIA request letter that works
Fees and procedures verified August 2026. Clerks change their counter rules more often than the statutes change — call before you drive.