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Contra Costa County, California

Seat: Martinez · Major metro

Essentials
14
Total sources
34

Contra Costa Superior Court runs on Tyler Tech Odyssey (migrated April 2026). New portal at kiosk-cacontracosta.tylertech.cloud/Portal/. Three branch courthouses: Martinez (main), Pittsburg, Richmond. Criminal case documents not available online — index only. Unlawful detainer cases not searchable online.

Court-clerk note
California
  • There is NO single statewide California court case search. Each Superior Court runs its own — you must search county by county. The "Find My Court" portal links to each county but does not search across them.
  • California has some of the strictest privacy laws in the country. Many police departments refuse name-based report searches, accepting only report-number requests. Always call the records division first and ask: do you release name-based searches to the public, or only report-number requests?
  • SB 1421 (2019) and SB 16 (2022) made certain police misconduct records public for the first time: sustained findings of dishonesty, sexual assault by an officer, and serious use-of-force incidents. Worth requesting if relevant.
  • Megan's Law site requires acknowledging a usage agreement before each search and prohibits copy/print. You can search by name, address, or zip but the data is harder to capture for your records.
  • In LA County, jurisdiction is split: LAPD covers only the City of LA. LA Sheriff (LASD) covers unincorporated areas plus 40+ contract cities like Compton, Lancaster, and Lakewood. Where the conduct happened determines which agency holds the report.
  • Marriage and divorce records are filed at the county Recorder/Clerk level, not at a state registry. CDPH only holds informational copies for marriages since 1949.
  • ASSESSORS — NO ONLINE OWNER NAME SEARCH: CA Gov Code 6254.21 prohibits county assessors from posting owner names online. AB 1785 (Dec 2024) further removed online APN search in many counties. All CA assessor sources are address/APN search only. For name-based ownership research, use the county RECORDER (deeds, liens, mortgages) — not the assessor.
  • LA COUNTY RECORDER — NO ONLINE ACCESS: Unlike most CA counties, LA County Registrar-Recorder provides NO online access to recorded documents (Gov Code 6254.21). All deed and lien research for LA County requires in-person visit to LAX, Van Nuys, Lancaster, or Norwalk offices, or phone request at (800) 201-8999. Call before visiting.
  • COURT NAME SEARCH FEES: Riverside Superior Court (epublic-access.riverside.courts.ca.gov) and San Bernardino Superior Court (cap.sb-court.org) charge search credits for online name lookups — not free. Case number searches remain free on both. Sacramento Superior Court criminal name search is free (no credits required).
Guided record check

Run this in order.

Start with the systems most likely to change your read of a person. Then cross-check custody, registries, and paper-trail sources before you go wider.

Case file · 06013
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Deeper directory: 0/20 reviewed
01 · The docket layer

Start with courts

3 sources

Run county and statewide court portals first. Civil, criminal, family, and lower-court systems are often separate, so this is where most missed records happen.

Start with courts
3 entries
STATECourt
California Courts — Find My Court (county portal directory)
Portal that links to each of the 58 county Superior Court case-search sites. NOT a unified search.
Free
Open ↗
The closest thing California has to a statewide court lookup. Use it to find the right county portal, then search there. Frustrating but unavoidable: there is no statewide case index in California.
COUNTYCourt
Contra Costa Superior Court — Public Case Portal
Civil, criminal, family law, probate, and small claims for Contra Costa County. Three courthouses: Martinez, Pittsburg, Richmond. Unlimited and limited civil documents downloadable free. Criminal cases: index online, documents require in-person or mail.
Free search; document copies by request
Open ↗
Covers Walnut Creek, Concord, Antioch, Richmond, and the East Bay. Note: portal migrated to a new Tyler Tech system late April 2026 — go directly to kiosk-cacontracosta.tylertech.cloud/Portal/ and search by name.
COUNTYCourt
Contra Costa Superior Court — Public Portal (Smart Search)
Full name search across all Contra Costa Superior Court case types: civil, criminal, family law, probate, small claims, and traffic/DUI. Covers all courthouse locations (Martinez, Concord, Richmond, Walnut Creek, Pittsburg). As of 2026-04-27, traffic cases migrated from the old cc-courts.org portal into this unified search.
Free search; 50¢/page for copies
Open ↗
One of the better CA court portals — free name search with no account required. Useful for civil judgments, restraining orders, DUIs, and criminal history across Contra Costa. Traffic cases (including DUI and reckless driving) merged here in April 2026, so this is now the single portal for all case types. DUI and reckless driving patterns often pre-date criminal escalation and are worth checking when vetting.
02 · Current risk signals

Check custody and registries

4 sources

Use jail, corrections, and registry systems to catch records that do not show up in a normal court search.

Check custody and registries
4 entries
COUNTYSheriff / Jail
Contra Costa County Sheriff — In-Custody Locator
Current inmates across all three county detention facilities: Martinez Detention Facility (main intake, maximum security), West County Detention Facility (Richmond), and Marsh Creek Detention Facility (minimum). Single search covers all three — no separate roster per facility.
Free
Open ↗
Search by full name or booking number — partial last names work. Returns booking date, charges, court date, bail amount, and which facility. If your subject was booked and released within the same day, they will not appear here; check Superior Court traffic and criminal records (the latter offline) to catch quick releases. Juvenile detention is operated separately and is not in this database.
COUNTYSheriff / Jail
Contra Costa Sheriff — In-Custody Locator
Current inmates at three Contra Costa facilities: Martinez Detention (max, 695 beds), West County Detention in Richmond (1,096 beds), Marsh Creek in Clayton (min). Search by name or booking number.
Free
Open ↗
Search by name for anyone currently held in Contra Costa County. Custody Services answers 24/7 at 925-646-4496.
STATECorrections
California Department of Corrections — Inmate Locator (CDCR)
California Incarcerated Records & Information Search (CIRIS). CDCR migrated from apps.cdcr.ca.gov/ciris/ to ciris.mt.cdcr.ca.gov/ (Microsoft Azure hosting). Confirmed live 2026-05-03.
Free
Open ↗
CDCR runs CIRIS for current inmates only. If your subject was released or paroled, they will not appear here — try the relevant county jail or court records instead.
STATERegistry
California Megan's Law — Sex Offender Registry
Statewide registry. Search by name, address, zip, or map.
Free
Open ↗
Requires accepting a use agreement before each search. Cannot save, copy, or print results — California enforces this. Take screenshots if you need a record. Cross-check against the federal NSOPW for cross-state coverage.
03 · Context and corroboration

Pull the paper trail

4 sources

Recorder, assessor, prosecutor, records-request, and licensing sources help verify addresses, liens, ownership, agency records, and local context.

Pull the paper trail
4 entries
COUNTYAssessor
Contra Costa County Assessor
California county assessor. Search by address or assessor parcel number (APN) only. CA Gov Code 6254.21 prohibits online owner name display by assessors statewide. AB 1785 (eff. Dec 2024) further restricts APN search in some counties. For name-based property research in California, use the county recorder instead.
Free
Open ↗
California assessors cannot show owner names online by law — so this isn't the right tool if you're trying to look someone up by name. Instead, go straight to the county recorder for California property research. The recorder indexes deeds and mortgages by name and is the primary tool for the GR audience in CA.
COUNTYAssessor
Contra Costa County Assessor — ParcelQuest Lite
Property parcel data, assessed values, and parcel maps for Contra Costa County. Search by APN or address only — owner names are not displayed online (CA privacy law).
Free
Open ↗
CA law prohibits the assessor from posting owner names online — the office states this explicitly. Use this for assessed value, parcel boundaries, and confirming details once you already have an address. For name-based property research in Contra Costa, go to the County Clerk-Recorder document search instead.
COUNTYRecorder
Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder — Recorded Documents
Recorded documents — deeds, deeds of trust, liens, marriage licenses, and fictitious business name filings — for Contra Costa County. Online index searchable by name from 1986 to present, with separate windows for 1986-1995, 1996-2003, and 2004-current.
Free index; certified copies $5+
Open ↗
This is the primary name-research tool for Contra Costa property and marriage records — use it instead of the assessor for any name-based query. Marriage licenses and FBN filings are searchable here. Document images cannot be posted online under CA law, so you will see the index entry but must order copies by mail (slow) or visit Martinez (fast). The historical depth back to 1986 is good for catching old liens or quitclaims.
STATEBusiness
California Secretary of State — Business Search (bizfile)
LLC, corporation, LP, LLP registrations: officers, agents, status, history
Free
Open ↗
Critical for finding businesses someone owns or operates. Search by entity or by individual name. CA business filings are particularly rich — show ownership chain, registered agents, statement-of-information history.
04 · Outside the county

Run the federal backstop

3 sources

Federal court and incarceration systems sit outside local portals. Run them before you decide the search is clean.

Run the federal backstop
3 entries
FEDERALCourt
PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records)
Federal District, Appeals, and Bankruptcy courts. Over 1 billion documents filed. $0.10/page (capped at $3.00/document); free if quarterly charges under $30. Account required for search. Confirmed live 2026-05-03.
Per-page fee, often waived under $30/quarter
Open ↗
PACER catches federal cases the state DOC and state courts will not. Account required, small per-search fees. Worth using for white-collar, federal drug, immigration, and bankruptcy.
FEDERALCorrections
Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator
All federal prison inmates, current and historical from 1982. Search by name (with race/sex/age filters) or inmate number. Note: search backend showed intermittent error during 2026-05-03 verification — likely temporary. If main tool is down, try https://www.bop.gov/mobile/find_inmate/byname.jsp as fallback.
Free
Open ↗
Free, fast, includes alias search. Use whenever the state DOC comes up empty and you suspect federal involvement.
FEDERALRegistry
National Sex Offender Public Website (NSOPW)
All 50 states aggregated, plus DC, US territories, and tribal nations. Search by name or location. DOJ-operated. Named after Dru Sjodin. Also links to abuse reporting resources. Confirmed live 2026-05-03.
Free
Open ↗
Cross-state coverage in one search. Run after the state-level registry to catch out-of-state moves.
Statute · California public records law

California's Public Records Act (Gov. Code § 7920 et seq., formerly § 6250) is broad on paper but slower in practice — many agencies take 30 to 60 days, some longer. The biggest structural limit: California has NO unified statewide court case search. Each county's Superior Court runs its own portal, with wildly different interfaces and access rules. SB 1421 (2019) and SB 16 (2022) opened up some previously-sealed police misconduct and use-of-force records, which is meaningful for vetting work in safety contexts.

Typical response · 14 to 60 days for most records-request agencies; instant for online court and registry lookups (where available)