Custodian · New Jersey · 21 counties

Subpoena
duces tecum New Jersey public records by county: OPRA requests, land records, voter registration, courts and more

Receivedanswer due in 7 business days

Pick your county to find the office that holds the record: OPRA requests, deeds, the Surrogate, voter registration, the courthouse and more. Every link was opened and checked.

Your county

Statewide

How to file an OPRA request

Instructions to the requester, from the Act itself (N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq., as the Government Records Council publishes it, read with P.L.2024, c.16, the 2024 amendments the GRC page does not yet show).

  1. Name the record, not the question. Ask for a document that exists — “the contract with X dated Y,” “the minutes of the March meeting” — not for answers or research. A custodian must produce records; the Act does not make them explain anything.
  2. Send it to the custodian. Every county and town names one. Use the portal or form linked below for your county; most take a request online, by mail, or in person. You may request anonymously, but an anonymous requester cannot take a denial to the GRC or to court, and silence is not a deemed denial — give a name and an address you check.
  3. Count seven business days. The custodian must grant or deny access “as soon as possible, but not later than seven business days after receiving the request” (47:1A-5). Silence past that day is a denial you can act on (some requests get 14 business days; the custodian must tell you within seven).
  4. Pick the medium. If the agency keeps the record electronically, you can have it electronically. Copies cost the actual cost of duplication; an unusual request may carry a “special service charge,” which must be reasonable and quoted before it is incurred.
  5. If denied, choose your forum. You may file a complaint with the Government Records Council (no filing fee, no lawyer needed) or an action in Superior Court, heard in the vicinage where it is filed (47:1A-6). Act promptly: the Supreme Court applies a 45-day limit to court actions (Mason v. City of Hoboken, 196 N.J. 51 (2008)). A requester who prevails may be awarded a reasonable attorney’s fee; the award is mandatory only if the agency acted unreasonably, in bad faith, or knowingly violated the Act (47:1A-6, as amended by P.L.2024, c.16).

This is the Act as written, not advice about your request. The GRC’s Citizen’s Guide to OPRA is the official walkthrough.

Every office, county by county

Thirteen offices per county, every link opened and checked on 2026-09-02. A link nobody could open is shown as text with the reason, not guessed.

Jump to: Atlantic, Bergen, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Essex, Gloucester, Hudson, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Salem, Somerset, Sussex, Union, Warren.

Atlantic

13 of 13 checked

Bergen

13 of 13 checked

Burlington

13 of 13 checked

Camden

13 of 13 checked

Cape May

13 of 13 checked

Cumberland

13 of 13 checked

Essex

13 of 13 checked

Gloucester

13 of 13 checked

Hudson

13 of 13 checked

Hunterdon

13 of 13 checked

Mercer

13 of 13 checked

Middlesex

12 of 13 checked
OPRA request
OPRA request
Voter registration
Board of Elections
Sheriff’s sales
Foreclosure auctions
Bar association
Middlesex County Bar Association: not yet verified

↑ all counties

Monmouth

13 of 13 checked

Morris

13 of 13 checked

Ocean

13 of 13 checked

Passaic

13 of 13 checked

Salem

12 of 13 checked

Somerset

13 of 13 checked

Sussex

12 of 13 checked

Union

13 of 13 checked

Warren

12 of 13 checked

A lawyer

Records are the raw material; sometimes the next step is a person who can read them for you. Free legal help, every county’s referral service, how to check a lawyer’s licence and discipline, and how to complain: the Lawyers page.

Your case

Once the records are in hand, the case itself has stations and clocks. Sixteen kinds of New Jersey case, from a civil complaint to probate, appeal, criminal, family, foreclosure, tenancy and municipal court, each step quoting its rule: the Your case page.

About this page, and the Act behind it

duces tecum — “bring with you.” The order that makes a custodian of records show up with the records.

To
The Custodian of Records of each of the twenty-one counties of New Jersey, and every office named below.
You are commanded
to grant or deny access, within seven business days of a request under N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1, to the government records so requested, or to state in writing the specific basis for withholding each one.
Issued by
the Legislature, in the Open Public Records Act. This page only tells you where to serve it.

New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1, says a government record is public unless a listed exception applies, and it gives the custodian seven business days to answer — the same clock a subpoena runs on. Deeds, mortgages and liens are filed with the County Clerk or Register and are public without any request at all. Every link on this page was opened and checked before it was listed. A link nobody has opened is shown as not yet verified instead of being guessed.

Custodian is legal information, not legal advice. Records offices change their websites; when a link is wrong, the county’s own site is the source of truth. Court records are not covered by OPRA and follow the Judiciary’s own access rules, listed above; the Judiciary’s request forms for transcripts, record searches and court access are free walkthroughs at in.formapauperis.com.

Cross-reference. Going to court and cannot pay the filing fee? See the notice of motion to proceed in forma pauperis (the New Jersey court fee waiver) or open the fee waiver form directly. Every other New Jersey court form is free at in.formapauperis.com.