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.
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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.
DeKalb County Clerk of Superior Court. Handles all Superior Court records (felonies, civil, domestic) and real estate deed recording. DeKalb County also has a separate Tyler Tech jail search portal. Court case search via re:SearchGA statewide portal.
DeKalb Superior Court covers Decatur and surrounding metro Atlanta areas east of Atlanta. Use re:SearchGA for eFiled case index. The DeKalb Clerk office also notes that real estate records date from 1842 (pre-Civil War), though online access via GSCCCA is from 1990.
Tyler Technologies statewide eFiling case index for Georgia. Covers Superior Court and other participating courts across Georgia counties. Name-based case search. Free account registration required. Unofficial copy — clerk of court is official custodian.
Georgia's closest equivalent to a unified court portal. Covers eFiled cases statewide — Superior Court (felonies, civil, domestic), and other participating courts. Free to register and search, though court is the official record source. Not all counties or case types are fully populated — older cases pre-eFiling may not appear.
02 · Current risk signals
Check custody and registries
3 sources
Use jail, corrections, and registry systems to catch records that do not show up in a normal court search.
DeKalb County Sheriff's Office online jail inmate search. Tyler Technologies portal. Name-based search for individuals in custody at the DeKalb County Jail (Decatur). Note: In January 2026, DeKalb switched to ViaPath for video visitation.
DeKalb County Jail is one of metro Atlanta's largest detention facilities — 3,485-inmate capacity. The actual search portal is the Tyler Tech URL (search_url). Note the 2026 vendor change for video visitation to ViaPath.
Georgia Department of Corrections online offender search. Searchable by name or GDC ID number. Returns current and historical information on offenders under GDC jurisdiction. Does not include county jail pretrial detainees.
For someone sentenced to state prison, start here. For pretrial county jail inmates, search the individual county sheriff sites. Georgia has 34 state prisons — this portal covers them all.
03 · Context and corroboration
Pull the paper trail
8 sources
Recorder, assessor, prosecutor, records-request, and licensing sources help verify addresses, liens, ownership, agency records, and local context.
DeKalb County real estate records — deeds, mortgages, liens, UCC filings — maintained by the Clerk of Superior Court. Searchable via the GSCCCA statewide portal. DeKalb also has its own Landmark Web portal (deeds.dekalbcountyga.gov). Records date from 1842; online from 1990 via GSCCCA.
DeKalb has both its own Landmark portal (url field) AND GSCCCA access (search_url). The local Landmark Web is the Clerk's official interface; GSCCCA is the statewide aggregator. Either works for name-based deed and lien searches.
Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority statewide real estate index. Name-based search across all 159 Georgia counties from 1/1/1990 to present. Covers deeds, mortgages, liens, plats, and other recorded instruments. Free name search; document images may require account or fee.
This is Georgia's most powerful property research tool — a single name search reaches recorded documents across every county in the state. In most states you search county by county; in Georgia, GSCCCA gives you statewide coverage from 1990 forward. Essential for tracing ownership history, liens, and encumbrances anywhere in GA. County clerk offices are the custodians; GSCCCA is the index layer.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.