Marin County
Situated to the west of the Pacific Ocean, Marin County is in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of California. Technology, healthcare, and tourism drive its economy, making it one of the highest-income counties per median household income. Over 250,000 people live in Marin County as of July 1, 2023 estimate.
The Superior Court of Marin County is the only court in the county. This court is organized into several divisions, each handling its own subject matter. Its Criminal Division deals with misdemeanors punishable by a fine or county jail term, as well as felony violations punishable by jail term in the state prison. On the other hand, non-criminal matters between individuals or organizations involving the title of real property or contract disputes are handled in the Civil Division.
The Traffic Division addresses most traffic violations and vehicle code offenses. Cases in this court are initiated when a ticket or citation is written by a law enforcement officer. Additionally, the Unified Family Court is a division designed to handle a wide spectrum of family-related cases such as divorce and legal separation, juvenile dependency, adoption, domestic violence, and child support.
The division of a decedent's estate, guardianship, conservatorship, and establishment of the fact of birth or death are handled by the Probate Division, while the Small Claims Division resolves disputes over amounts up to $12,000 for individuals and $6,250 for businesses quickly and inexpensively.
In Marin County, publicly available court records are those generated during the court proceedings of probate, civil, criminal, small claims, traffic, and family law cases. These cases are filed with either the Civil Clerk or Criminal Clerk in both electronic and paper formats; however, they are maintained by the Court Records Division of the Superior Court. Anyone can conduct a court case search remotely by registering for an ePortal account with Public Access. It is important to note that the ePortal resource does not allow access to copies of documents and minute records for individuals subscribed to this access type.
Interested parties can search and obtain copies of court records by submitting a completed records request form by email, mail, or drop box to the Court Records Division. To conduct an in-person search, you may visit the Division in room 113 of the courthouse from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. or 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Due to the sensitive information they contain, Marin County makes the records of these cases accessible to the public only at the courthouse:
- Divorce case
- Criminal case
- Civil harassment case
- Child custody case
