San Francisco County
San Francisco County is a hub for business, culture, and finance in California. It was founded on December 16, 1848, and named after Francis of Assisi. As of 2020, the county had over 873,965 people living within its 46.9 square miles of land area. Its seat is in San Francisco City.
San Francisco County is served by Superior Courts, which are divided into several divisions for administrative convenience. These courts are all located in San Francisco City and have the jurisdiction to hear all cases within the county. Examples of divisions in the Superior Courts include Criminal, Civil, Small Claims, Family, Probate, Juvenile, and Traffic divisions. The Civil Division handles non-criminal disputes between parties. It is further divided into Limited and Unlimited Subdivisions. While the Limited Subdivision handles cases that fall within a financial limit of $25,000, the Unlimited Subdivision handles civil cases without financial limits. The Criminal Division handles cases that involve offenses against the state. The Small Claims division handles civil claims valued below $7,500 in dispute. The Family Division hears cases related to domestic relationships, while the Probate Division hears cases related to the administration of an estate. The Juvenile Division hears cases involving minors. Finally, cases related to traffic offenses fall under the purview of the Traffic Division.
All the courts in San Francisco County keep public court records. These public court records are official documents related to legal cases heard by the Superior Courts which are available to the public. They contain details about the case, including information on the involved parties and their attorneys, witnesses linked to the case, and the verdicts handed down by the judge. Public court records in San Francisco County are managed by the Superior Court Clerk. The office makes the following court records accessible to the public upon request:
- Adult criminal records
- Civil records
- Probate records
- Family records
- Traffic records
In accordance with the California Public Records Act, anyone can have access to court records in the county. To view court records, interested persons can search the county's online court records database. Alternatively, the clerk's office also provides physical access to public court records. Interested persons may visit in person or mail a request to the office located at:
400 McAllister St.,
Room 103
San Francisco, CA 94102-4514
Phone: (415) 551-3808
To obtain printed copies of court records in the county, requesters must pay a $0.50 fee for each page. Where the record is searched with the help of a Superior Court Clerk, the requester incurs an additional $15 charge for each name search lasting up to 10 minutes. If the desired record is to be certified, then an additional $40 certification fee applies.
