What is PACER?

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.