E-Filing and Access to Court Records

Public Court Records Access

Public Access to court records is controlled by applicable statutes, rules of court, administrative orders, and the Case Records Public Access Policy of the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts. 

Court records may be accessed by the public in-person at the relevant custodian/recording office unless the records are determined to be confidential or otherwise unavailable under an applicable policy, rule of court, or statute. To access records in this manner, you must visit the relevant recording office and request access to the case record in person or use a public computer terminal in the office or on the court campus to access the records.

Case and court records may be viewed, printed, e-mailed, and copied. Physical copies/printed copies can be subject to a fee as part of the fee bill of the relevant recording office.

For cases before the Magisterial District Judge, visit the office of that Magistrate.

Public Computer Terminals

Currently, public computer terminals are available to use in the following locations:

  • The Washington County Prothonotary's Office
    • Located at 100 W. Beau Street, Suite 205 (Courthouse Square)
  • The Washington County Register of Wills/Office of the Clerk of the Orphans' Court
    • Located at 100 W. Beau Street, Suite 102 (Courthouse Square)
  • The Washington County Courthouse
    • The Courthouse Law Library computers may be used to access and view public records.

Online Court Records Access

Certain public Court and case records are available remotely, i.e. over the internet. Not all records that are accessible to the public may be accessible remotely under Pennsylvania law.

Criminal Court Records

To access criminal court (both Common Pleas and Magisterial District Court) case records, please visit the Pennsylvania Unified Judicial System Web Portal. The portal only provides docket sheets, and does not provide case documents.

Civil Division and Orphans' Court Records

Until the C-Track Public Portal has been activated, Civil Division and Orphans' Court case records created after June 16, 2023 will not be accessible online. You will only be able to access these records in the office of the record custodian.

To access Civil Court and Orphans' Court case records created prior to June 16, 2023, as well as public records in the Prothonotary and Register of Wills, please utilize the legacy case management system, known as the Washington County Electronic Retrieval System ("ERS"). The ERS permits access to docket sheets in public Orphans' Court cases and docket sheets and publicly available documents in Civil Court cases.

Certain Civil Division records will not be made remotely accessible in the C-Track Public Portal. Cases concerning the Protection From Abuse Act and its associated statutes and cases concerning Child Custody will not be remotely accessible to the public. Only the parties and legal counsel on those cases may view their own case records online.

In Orphans' Court, case documents will not be made remotely accessible on most case types. Consult the Case Records Public Access Policy for more information.

No Remote Access

Case records and documents relating to the following topics are not publicly or remotely accessible:

  • Juvenile Court (Delinquency and Dependency)
  • Domestic Relations (Child and Spousal Support)

C-Track Case Management System and Public Portal for Court Records

The Washington County Court of Common Pleas is in the process of adopting a new case management system and public records portal. This system will permit public and participant access to court records relating to the Civil Division and the Orphans Court Division, as well as filings made in the Washington County Prothonotary and the Washington County Register of Wills.

The Court will begin using C-Track internally and offering public terminals with C-Track on June 20, 2023

Transition from the Electronic Retrieval System ("ERS") to C-Track

The data cutoff date for ERS is June 15, 2023 at 12:00 p.m.

There will be a transition period of approximately 2-4 months as we migrate from the ERS into C-Track. During that time, the ERS will remain active and all active subscriptions will be honored. However, the ERS will no longer contain current or up-to-date case records filed after the launch of C-Track. 

There will be a period of time required to transfer all documents from our legacy computer system into C-track, and this time period will be used to configure and prepare the C-Track Public Portal so that it can be used by the public. 

During this transition, the ERS will be the website recommended for accessing court records that were filed before June 16, 2023. The ERS will contain no records dated after June 16, 2023. During this time, court records created after June 16, 2023 will not be available remotely over the internet. Any person who wishes to view court records will be required to go to a Court public terminal and use C-Track to review court records.

Once the data migration is complete and the C-Track Public Portal is completed, it will be activated and made available to the public. Any person will be able to register an account to view case records on cases that they are participants in, and members of the public may subscribe to view publicly accessible court records. 

Once the C-Track Public Portal is available to the public, the ERS will have all of its functions transferred to C-Track and it will be shut down.

Cost

The public will be permitted to activate and/or renew subscriptions to the ERS up to the date that the ERS is shut down. If a subscription is only partially used at the time of the shut down of the ERS, the user should contact the Washington County Finance Department to request a prorated refund. Subscriptions to the ERS will not be migrated to C-Track.

C-Track subscriptions prices have not been finalized and are subject to change. There may be an additional fee assessed on any legal filings that are electronically filed. Check back with this page later for up-to-date information.

Electronic Filing ("E-Filing")

When the C-Track Public Portal is launched, the public will be able to e-file court documents. Parties will be able to e-file documents on cases approved by local rule. Not all case types or legal papers will be able to be e-filed. Some cases will have to be filed in person at the respective recording office. If a case or legal paper is permitted to be e-filed, you will be able to pay any applicable filing fee by credit card through C-Track. All e-filings will be subject to 1) a credit card payment processing fee and 2) an additional e-filing fee.

[To be added - Guide to E-Filing with C-Track]

[To be added - link to Public Portal]