Passaic County
Created on February 7, 1837, from parts of Essex and Bergen Counties, Passaic County is New Jersey's ninth-most-populous county and home to over 524,000 residents spread across 186 square miles of land area.
The Passaic County trial court system falls under Vicinage 11 of the New Jersey judicial system and comprises a Superior Court with several divisions that have varying jurisdiction over different types of legal matters. These include:
- Civil Division: This division has jurisdiction over civil cases, including personal injury claims, breaches of contracts, and small claims cases.Â
- Criminal Division: This division handles all indictable criminal matters involving adults. Depending on the seriousness of the crime committed, juveniles may also be tried in the Criminal Division.
- Family Division: The Family Division handles matters involving divorce, child support, juvenile delinquency, domestic violence, termination of parental rights and adoption, and other cases specifically related to family or family-like relationships.
- Municipal Division: The Municipal Court typically handles ordinance violations, motor vehicle and traffic violations, and disorderly persons' offenses.
Passaic County also has a Surrogate Court, which handles matters dealing with probate and guardianships, and a Recovery Court, which is a program that operates within the Superior Court to address non-violent drug-addicted offenders.
Passaic County public court records are documents of cases and other legal proceedings heard in the county's various courts and court divisions. These include court orders and judgments, case summaries, and legal motions. Passaic County public court records are typically transferred to the state's Superior Court Records Center, where they are stored and maintained by the Superior Court Clerk's Office.
You can request copies of these records by completing a New Jersey Judiciary Records Request Form and submitting this form online via the NJ Judiciary Electronic Document Submission (JEDS) Platform. A fee of five cents per page is charged for letter-size copies and seven cents per page for legal-size copies. Additional charges may be incurred based on special requests and your preferred delivery method. You can also access copies of Surrogate Court records by contacting the Passaic County Surrogate at (973) 881-4760 or using this court's index search platform.
