New Jersey Public Records

To find a divorce record in Woodcliff Lake, NJ (Bergen County), contact the New Jersey Superior Court Family Division - Bergen Vicinage at 10 Main Street, Hackensack, NJ 07601 (201-527-2300). All NJ divorce decrees are filed at the Superior Court Family Division of the county where filed. New Jersey Courts Public Access at https://portal.njcourts.gov/ shows case status. Certified copies of decrees come from the New Jersey Records Center at PO Box 967, Trenton, NJ 08625 (609-421-6100) for $25. New Jersey Open Public Records Act (OPRA, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1) governs disclosure. Sealed records are excluded. Sources: NJ Courts (https://www.njcourts.gov/), NJ Records Center (https://www.nj.gov/treasury/revenue/).

To search property ownership in New Jersey, use the NJ Property Records Search at https://njpropertyrecords.com/ (free, statewide, includes deeds and assessor data). Each county Clerk's office records deeds (e.g., Bergen at https://www.co.bergen.nj.us/, Essex at https://www.essexcountynj.org/, Middlesex at https://www.middlesexcountynj.gov/), and the Tax Assessor in each municipality maintains current ownership and assessed values. NJ Department of Treasury Division of Taxation maintains statewide property tax data at https://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxation/. NJ Open Public Records Act (OPRA, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1) makes deeds and assessment data public. Recording fees are about $40 first page. Sources: NJ Property Records (https://njpropertyrecords.com/), NJ Treasury (https://www.state.nj.us/treasury/).

To look up a court case in Rahway, NJ (Union County), most cases are heard in Union County Superior Court at 2 Broad Street, Elizabeth, NJ 07207 (908-787-1650), with online case search at https://portal.njcourts.gov/. Rahway Municipal Court handles city ordinance violations and minor traffic at 1 City Hall Plaza, Rahway, NJ 07065 (732-381-2270). Cases are searchable at https://www.njcourts.gov/courts/municipal. NJ Open Public Records Act (OPRA, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1) governs disclosure. Sealed/expunged cases are excluded. Sources: NJ Courts (https://www.njcourts.gov/), Union County (https://ucnj.org/).

To look up a marriage license in Boonton, NJ (Morris County), contact the Morris County Clerk's Office at 10 Court Street, Morristown, NJ 07963 (973-285-6120), with online searches at https://www.morriscountynj.gov/. Marriage licenses are issued by the local Registrar of Vital Statistics in the municipality where the license was applied for; the Town of Boonton Vital Records is at 100 Washington Street, Boonton, NJ 07005 (973-402-9410 ext. 633). Statewide marriage verifications come from the New Jersey Department of Health Vital Statistics at https://www.nj.gov/health/vital/ for $25. Marriage records are public under NJ OPRA (N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1). Sources: NJDOH Vital Records (https://www.nj.gov/health/vital/), Morris County (https://www.morriscountynj.gov/).

For salaries of Perth Amboy, NJ firefighters (Middlesex County), file a NJ Open Public Records Act (OPRA, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1) request with the City of Perth Amboy Custodian of Records, City Hall, 260 High Street, Perth Amboy, NJ 08861 (732-826-0290). OPRA requires response within 7 business days. Public-employee salary information is expressly public under OPRA. Many NJ municipal salaries are also published on aggregate transparency sites like NJ.com Data Universe at https://www.nj.com/datauniverse/. The NJ State Comptroller publishes municipal payroll data at https://www.nj.gov/comptroller/. Sources: NJ OPRA (https://www.state.nj.us/grc/), Perth Amboy (https://www.perthamboynj.org/).

To access personal bankruptcy filings in Monmouth County, NJ, use the federal PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) system at https://pacer.uscourts.gov/. Monmouth County is in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey, with court locations in Newark, Trenton, and Camden. PACER charges $0.10 per page (capped at $3 per document). Free alternatives: Free Law Project's CourtListener at https://www.courtlistener.com/ and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Voice Case Information System (VCIS) at 866-222-8029. The NJ Bankruptcy Court Trenton division is at 402 East State Street, Trenton, NJ 08608 (609-858-9333). Sources: PACER (https://pacer.uscourts.gov/), NJ Bankruptcy Court (https://www.njb.uscourts.gov/).