Massachusetts Court Records: How to Search, What's Public, and How to Seal Them

Massachusetts offers one free, statewide portal for looking up Trial Court cases, but the state's own courts are careful to describe it as informational only, not the official record, and the site itself is built around a specific limitation on criminal searches that trips up a lot of first-time users.

This page covers how to use the Massachusetts Trial Court's public access site, what stays confidential under Massachusetts court rules, and how sealing works differently from expungement here, including the state's own explanation of why the two are not the same thing.

Information last verified on 2026-08-10. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

How to Search Massachusetts Court Records

Massachusetts runs its public case-lookup tool through masscourts.org, officially called Massachusetts Trial Court Case Access. The landing page describes its own purpose simply: "You can use this site to: Look up case information; Pay some court fees online." It's free to use, though the search itself sits behind an "I'm not a robot" verification step.

The portal is direct about its limits. Its own text states, "The information on this site is not the official record of the court," and warns that "it may not include the most recent court activity." Treat anything you find there as a starting point for confirming a case exists, not as a certified or fully current record.

Massachusetts's own Trial Court rules, described as the Uniform Rules on Public Access to Court Records, establish the underlying principle: case records are presumptively public documents unless a statute, court rule, standing order, or case law specifically requires them to be withheld. Restricting access to an otherwise-public record, called impoundment under the companion Uniform Rules on Impoundment Procedure, is meant to be the exception, not the default, and it requires a judge's written finding of good cause. According to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, a legitimate privacy interest can support good cause, but mere embarrassment or fear of unwanted publicity does not, and the burden stays on whoever wants continued secrecy to keep justifying it.

What's Public and What's Restricted in Massachusetts

The Massachusetts Trial Court operates seven departments covered by the public-access portal: District Court, Superior Court, Probate and Family Court, Housing Court, Land Court, Boston Municipal Court, and Juvenile Court. Most judicial materials, including transcripts, evidence, memoranda, court orders, and search warrant materials once returned, are presumed accessible under the state's common-law and rule-based access framework.

Categories where confidentiality can apply include trade secrets and confidential business information, grand jury proceedings and related materials, juvenile delinquency and dependency proceedings, certain civil discovery materials, and sealed settlement agreements that involve intensely personal information. An impoundment order does not carry a continuing presumption of validity; the party benefiting from it has to keep showing good cause if the order is challenged.

Sealing vs. Expungement in Massachusetts

Massachusetts draws a sharp line between these two words, and the state's own guidance explains why they matter differently for a person's record. Expungement means the record is permanently destroyed, and the state is direct that this "is not the same as having a record sealed." Sealing leaves the record in existence but restricts who can see it.

Massachusetts's sealing waiting periods come from General Laws Chapter 276, Section 100A, and they are fixed rather than discretionary starting points. For a misdemeanor, the statute requires that "the person's court appearance and court disposition records, including any period of incarceration or custody for any misdemeanor record to be sealed occurred not less than 3 years before the request." For a felony, the statute requires the same disposition and any incarceration or custody to have "occurred not less than 7 years before the request." In both cases, the applicant also has to show no new criminal conviction, in Massachusetts or any other jurisdiction, within that same window, and the statute is explicit that the no-imprisonment condition applies to both tracks, not just the felony one: no imprisonment in any state or county within the preceding 3 years for a misdemeanor petition, and within the preceding 7 years for a felony petition.

The waiting period is not the only gate, and some records never clear it. Section 100A states that it "shall not apply in case of convictions for violations of sections 121 to 131H, inclusive, of chapter 140," the firearms provisions, "or for violations of chapter 268 or chapter 268A, except for convictions for resisting arrest." Sex offenses as defined in Chapter 6, Section 178C are separately barred: they are not eligible for sealing for 15 years following their disposition, counting termination of supervision, probation, or any period of incarceration, or for as long as the person is under a duty to register, whichever is longer. Anyone who has at any time been classified a Level 2 or Level 3 sex offender is never eligible to seal a sex offense. The section also requires that the rest of the person's record contain no convictions for offenses outside its reach, so a single excluded conviction can block the whole request.

The procedure depends on how the case ended, and the two tracks work very differently. For convictions, Section 100A is administrative rather than judicial: the person asks the Commissioner of Probation to seal the file "on a form furnished by the commissioner and signed under the penalties of perjury," and the statute provides that "the commissioner shall comply with the request" once the listed criteria are met. No judge weighs the request and the statute sets out no hearing. For cases that did not end in conviction, Section 100C controls. A finding of not guilty, a no bill returned by the grand jury, or a finding of no probable cause is sealed by the commissioner automatically, unless the defendant "makes a written request to the commissioner not to seal the records." Where a nolle prosequi or a dismissal was entered, the court decides, and the statutory standard is whether "it appears to the court that substantial justice would best be served."

This page covers the general mechanism and timing rules. For a full eligibility walkthrough, see our Massachusetts expungement guide, which should be read alongside this state's actual sealing-versus-expungement distinction rather than assuming the two terms mean the same thing.

Certified Copies and Practical Search Tips

For a certified copy of a Massachusetts court record, contact the clerk's office of the court where the case was heard. Masscourts.org itself repeatedly disclaims being the official record, so treat it as a lookup tool, not a substitute for the clerk's office when you need something certified.

Because Massachusetts's own portal is not the official record and can lag behind recent activity, don't assume a blank or outdated-looking result means nothing is happening in a case. If timing matters, such as confirming whether a hearing has already occurred, a direct call to the clerk's office is more reliable than relying on the portal alone. For general guidance on name-versus-case-number searching, see our how to look up court records guide.

Using Court Records Responsibly: The FCRA Rule

Checking your own case, or a case you have a legitimate personal reason to look into, is a normal use of masscourts.org. Using it, or a commercial people-search product pulling from the same underlying data, to screen a tenant or job applicant is governed separately by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), not by Massachusetts's court-access rules.

Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681c, most negative consumer-report information ages off after seven years, but § 1681c(a)(5) exempts criminal convictions from that window, so a conviction can be reported indefinitely unless a Massachusetts sealing order actually restricts it, and even an expunged record's disappearance from public view does not change how the FCRA treats reporting more broadly. In 2023, the FTC fined TruthFinder and Instant Checkmate $5.8 million for marketing public-records-based background reports for tenant and employment screening without complying with the FCRA, on the theory that a company marketing reports for that purpose is a consumer reporting agency under the law. Treat masscourts.org as personal-use research, and run any real tenant or employment screening through a properly FCRA-compliant background check.

Related Massachusetts Records Searches

This page is part of our broader Court Records by State guide, and our are court records public page covers the general presumption-of-openness concept nationwide. If you're checking your own history before a job or a lease, see Massachusetts background check laws. If you think you might have an active warrant rather than an ordinary case, see Massachusetts warrant search. For records held by state agencies rather than the courts, see Massachusetts public records laws.

Disclaimer

This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Court portals, fees, and coverage change without notice, and the Massachusetts Judiciary is the only authoritative source for its own records. If you need a certified copy or have a legal question about a specific case, contact the clerk of court where the case was filed, or consult a licensed Massachusetts attorney.

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Last updated: 2026-08-10. Portal facts and fees reflect their published status as of August 2026.