Custodian · Essex County, New Jersey
Return of
service Essex County, New Jersey: OPRA request, land records, Surrogate, voter registration, Sheriff, courthouse, tax board, County Clerk, bar association, crime victims
The three things people look up in Essex County. Every link was opened and checked; one nobody could open is shown as text with the reason.
- OPRA requestAsk the county for a government record; the answer is due in seven business days.
- Land recordsDeeds, mortgages and liens at the County Clerk or Register; public without any request.
- SurrogateWills, estates and guardianships.
Every office in Essex County
How to file an OPRA request, in five steps.
- OPRA request
- OPRA request
- Land records
- County Clerk / Register search
- Surrogate
- Wills, estates, guardianships
- Voter registration
- Board of Elections
- Sheriff’s sales
- Foreclosure auctions
- Civil process
- Service of papers, writs, levies
- Courthouse
- Essex vicinage
- Ombudsman
- Help without a lawyer · 973-776-9300 ext. 56886
- Tax appeals
- County Board of Taxation
- County Clerk
- Passports, notary, trade names
- Bar association
- Essex County Bar Association
- Lawyer referral
- Low-fee first consultation · 973-622-6207
- Crime victims
- Prosecutor’s victim-witness unit · 973-621-4687
From here, your case
Each office above is where a case starts; each step of the case has a rule and a clock. From the Surrogate: a probate matter or a guardianship. From the Sheriff’s sales list: a foreclosure. From the Board of Taxation: a tax appeal. From the courthouse in Essex County: an eviction, a restraining order, a Special Civil Part claim, or any of sixteen kinds of case, each step quoting its rule.
Complaint about a lawyer. An ethics grievance about a lawyer practising in Essex County goes to the District Ethics Committee, District V A · 973-239-5700; District V B · 973-239-5700; District V C · 973-424-2061 (Newark, suburban Essex or west Essex, by the town where the lawyer's office is). Fee disputes go to the District Fee Committee instead. How to file, deadlines and every address; to find or check a lawyer, the Lawyers page.
About Essex County and this page
A return of service says who was served, where, and when. This one names every office in Essex County that holds a public record, with the address that answered on 2026-09-02.
In Essex County, an OPRA request goes to the county's records custodian and must be answered within seven business days. Voter registration is kept by the Board of Elections. Superior Court matters are heard in the Essex vicinage, whose Ombudsman answers at 973-776-9300 ext. 56886 for anyone without a lawyer. The Essex County Bar Association runs a lawyer referral service at 973-622-6207. Crime victims reach the Prosecutor's victim-witness unit at 973-621-4687. Deeds and mortgages at the County Clerk are public without any request. A link nobody could open is shown as text with the reason, not 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 rules — see the statewide sources on the main Custodian page.
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.