How it Works

Here you will find basic information on how our company provides information to you. Please check our Help section if you are experiencing technical difficulties, or give us a call.

The Basics Is it Live or is it old data? How Do I Search for Someone? How Do I Keep track of My Searches? How Much Does This Cost? Can I Search at 2:00 in the Morning? Clerk's Abbreviations Civil Abbreviations How far back does this data go? What are the NC county codes?

The Basics

North Carolina Court Records begin with information entered by the local court clerks at their work station terminals in all 100 counties throughout the state. They are updated throughout any given day. These computer database records replaced paper records in the last 7 to 10 years. Each case is given a unique number in that county, but that same number may be used in other counties. The records are entered in a standard form by the clerks, and maintained in the state database by the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC).

Is it Live or is it Old Data?

4NCrecords has an agreement with AOC that allows our computer system to interact with their state-maintained database, not a database maintained by someone else. This allows you to directly search the AOC database and retrieve records in real time. This means you have access to the data as soon as it is entered. Your results are as current as AOC's data - not 24 or 48 hours or even weeks old! This also means our data is only as accurate as that entered by the clerks at AOC. Please review our Dislaimer here.

How Do I Search for Someone?

Criminal Name Search - You are able to search by name in any county, or all 100 counties at once. Using sex, race and date of birth may narrow your search, but AOC clerks do not always enter this information, and sometimes enter "U" for unknown. For instance, if you search on the criteria Doe,John, white, male - the search will return all John Does that are white & male, but also some that have "U" or empty fields for sex and race.

The AOC uses a Soundex indexing system, which means that if you search on Smith, it may also return Smyth, Smithe, etc. This is a feature that may help if you are uncertain of the exact spelling. First and middle names are optional. Sometimes the state computer will return more data using the complete name, such as Smith,John,Doe than using a partial name, such as Smith,J or Smith,John,D. You should search with all combinations to ensure listing as many names as possible. Every name search is a separate charge.

Our name search will return a table of results, with a maximum of 320 records, listing name, case number, county and offense. If you wish to view details for a listed case, click on the case number to bring up the disposition. There is a charge for each disposition viewed.

Criminal Case Number Search - Do you already know the case number and county? Then go directly to the Case Number Search to search for case details.

PF3 Defendant Record Check - Some traffic courts require a comprehensive Defendant Record Check. This search must be performed individually in every applicable county and is keyed on exact name spelling, not Soundex. If the clerk enter Williams,John,James; then you must enter the same to search. trying Williams,John,J will not produce accurate results.

Civil - You may search Civil records in much the same way, by Private Party Name, Company Name or Case Number. Case Details, Judgments, Service Summaries and Party Information is available for many cases.

Driver's History - NC Driver's License History can be searched for the past 3 or 7 years - with or without accident reports. You must know the driver's license or state ID number.

Motor Vehicles - Vehicle information may be obtained by searching on driver's license number, tag (license plate) number or VIN (vehicle information number).

>> interpret your results

How Do I Keep track of My Searches?

Our Order tracking System enables you to easily see the searches you have done previously and lets you associate each case with a file or folio number. The reports page will provide details on past search activity. The default grid shows a summary of today's searches for the logged-in user, which may be more than one page. Clicking one of the headers will sort ALL pages by that criteria. Click on Details at the right end of any row for more search details. Click Export to Excel at bottom of grid to save or view all pages in Excel format. Change the Start and End date to view report for different dates. This system combined with our monthly Cost Recovery Report ensures that all your searches are associated with billable cases, keeping your profits up!

How Much Does This Cost?

Each of our searches has a charge associated with it (see price list ). Your searches will be totaled and summarized for you in a monthly bill. There is no monthly service charge or membership fee for 4NCrecords web access. You can choose to pay Monthly Net 15 days or directly billed to a credit card monthly.

Can I Search at 2:00 in the Morning?

Our web site is working around the clock. However, the AOC has reserved certain hours for maintenance. If you try to search and AOC is down, you will not be billed for that search. Criminal records are typically available from 1:00 AM until 10:00 PM seven days a week, and often longer.

Civil records may be now accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with a few minutes interruption at 6am and 7pm. The Civil system also is sometimes closed for maintenance from 4 to 6am Sundays.

The N.C. Motor Vehicle Department determines the operating hours for the Vehicle Registration and Drivers License History Databases. As new NCID transaction-based Services are added, the operating hours pertinent to such new Services will be posted on the Website.!