Industry News
Maine Opens Two Courts to Onsite Research and Gives Special Consideration to PIs for Court Research Requests

In Cumberland County, the Superior Court, and the Portland District Court are once again conducting Walk-in Civil & Criminal search requests. This change applies to all court divisions in these two courts. These are the only two courts in the state to be exempt from the Research Center at this time (see below).

Per a letter sent by the Judiciary to all the court clerks, private investigators may receive immediate walk-in service at all individual Maine courts, instead of mailing requests to the Service Center in Lewiston. The Investigator must provide a copy of his/her current license to the court staff and is then limited to search four (4) names per visit per day. Same fees apply.

Maine's New Court Record Search Procedure

The Maine Judicial Branch has fully implemented its new procedure for all civil and criminal name search requests. The Judicial Branch Service Center, in Lewiston, Maine is the central location for all mail and walk-in record search requests for all District and Superior Courts in the State of Maine and the Violations Bureau. All walk-in and mail search requests made at the local individual courts are no longer honored. One must have the case number in order to obtain documents in person. The new system requires that all requests must be submitted on the agency’s Request for Records Search Form. The fee is $20.00 per name per location. Although the fee includes a search of both the criminal and civil docket index if requested, this can delay the turnaround time by 5 days.

A web page to a detailed explanation of this new system, including a direct link to the required Request Form is at https://www.courts.maine.gov/ecourts/index.html