We are aware of an ongoing issue affecting document downloads. Some users may be experiencing errors during this time. Our team is actively investigating and working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. We appreciate your patience and will provide updates as they become available.
PACER is a government system to access US court records.
Why do I need it?
Docket Alarm uses PACER to access Federal Court documents.
Under the flat-rate plan, we pass these fees on to your
account without markup.
What will I be charged?
If we already have the document in our database, you will not be charged
anything. However, if we do not, then we must retrieve it from the court
and incur their access fee.
PACER charges $0.10 per page with a 30 page (or $3.00) cap for all
documents, except transcripts which have no cap. For
example, a five page document is $0.50 and a 50 page document is $3.00.
Accessing docket sheets also incurs a fee if we do not already have the
full docket sheet (again, max of $3.00). These fees are only incurred for
Federal Courts and Bankruptcies.
Do other courts have fees?
Certain state courts, mostly in California, charge for access to some
documents. When accessing for-pay state courts, you will always be
given an option to accept or decline the payment.
Basic Free Access
We’re committed to keeping the law open. We provide
free searches and document/docket views
a week for documents already in our system. You have
pages left for free
viewing.
Note: free views don't apply to documents purchased from government
systems, e.g., PACER.