Minnesota Court Records Online (MCRO) provides online access to many public Minnesota state district court records and documents.
Four search tabs are available to help users access court records and documents:
- Case Search allows users to search for court cases by person name, business name, attorney name, case number, citation number, or attorney bar number. It also provides access to a Register of Actions and the public documents available online in each case.
- Document Search allows users to search by case number to find public documents in court cases that are available online.
- Hearing Search provides information for hearings scheduled in a court case. Users can search for hearings by person name, business name, case number, judicial officer, attorney name, or attorney bar number.
- Judgment Search allows users to search by debtor name for judgment details, including any satisfactions, for docketed money judgments.
Users can access and download the following types of public documents:
- All documents in all Major and Minor Criminal and Civil case types
- All documents in all Formal Probate, Other Probate, Guardianship and Conservatorship, and Trust case types
- Only orders, appellate opinions, and notices prepared by the court in:
- All Family case types
- Post-Adjudication Paternity Proceedings
All judgments, orders, appellate opinions, and court-generated notices to parties filed from July 1, 2005, to June 30, 2015, in case types that were publicly and remotely accessible at the time of filing.
Documents Not Accessible through MCRO:
- Public documents in public Civil Commitment, Domestic Abuse, Harassment, Delinquency Felony 16+, and Child in Need of Protection or Services (CHIPs) cases.
- Access to documents in MCRO filed prior to July 1, 2015, is limited. Users may need to contact local court administration for more information about these documents.
For more information on which documents are available through MCRO, review the MCRO Document & Case Access Overview Handout.
There is no charge for documents accessed and downloaded through MCRO.
Most-Frequently Asked Questions
You are strongly encouraged to view the document with a Portable Document Format (PDF) viewer application, such as Adobe Acrobat Reader. Viewing a document within a browser window or tab is not recommended.
- Find pending criminal matters when searching by defendant name. For more information, see “How do I search for a pending criminal case?” (Question 5) below.
- Request certified documents or judgments – contact local court administration to make these requests.
- Background checks – contact the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA)’s Minnesota Public Criminal History Search (CHS) system: access online at https://chs.state.mn.us/; at the office located at 1430 Maryland Avenue East in St. Paul; or by calling (651) 793-2400 for information.
- Pay court fines or fees
- Schedule a court hearing
- File documents with the district courts
No. Rather than using the Back button, use the breadcrumb navigation links. These links are located at the top of the Search Results, Case Details and Judgment Details pages.
- A case or hearing will not return when searching by the defendant’s name if it is a pending criminal case (i.e. no conviction has been entered as defined by Minn. Stat. § 609.02, subd. 5). The limitation applies for both the Case Search and Hearing Search when searching by defendant name.
- The name searches in MCRO are exact name searches. Results will only return for cases that match what the user enters.
- To broaden the search, the user may want to use a wildcard (*) or the Sounds Like option.
- Users may also want to perform multiple searches to get the most results. For example, search with and without a middle name; search with and without a middle initial; search with Sounds Like if the name includes a common name with different spellings (“Johnson”).
- Refer to the Handout: Tips for Name Searches in MCRO.
You will need to have the case number, citation number, attorney name, or attorney bar number for an attorney on the case. You cannot search by defendant name until there is a conviction on the case. A “pending criminal record” is a record for which there is no conviction as defined by
Minn. Stat. § 609.02, subd. 5. Cases that are dismissed or continued for dismissal are considered pending criminal cases.
Use the breadcrumb links at the top of the screen and return to the search page. Select “Clear” and enter your new search. You can also select one of the search tabs at the top of the screen to start a new search.
Accessibility
NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA) and Mozilla Firefox work best together.
Narrator and Microsoft Edge work best together.
The JAWS screen reader may provide a better experience for the Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome browsers.
For all browsers on Apple products (such as an iPhone or MacBook), VoiceOver provides better experience. VoiceOver screen reader has better performance with all MCRO Searches.
Your screen reader may need to be adjusted. For example, the character limit or other settings in the Browse mode may need to be adjusted.
When a lot of data is loaded to the webpage, your NVDA screen reader may take some time to load information and to read the content. This may also occur when navigating from a Search page to a Search Results page, or between different searches. Try narrowing down your search or wait a few minutes to allow NVDA to read the content from the page.
There may be some differences or duplications in how text is announced based on the browser and screen reader used. For example, some labels may be announced twice. Using a different screen reader may resolve the issue.
General
Yes, MCRO replaces MPA Remote. MPA Remote is unavailable as of April 17, 2023. MCRO provides public access to Minnesota state district court records and documents, per the Minnesota Rules of Public Access. More information and training materials are available at
Minnesota Court Records Online.
- Case Search allows you to search for a court case and view the Case Details (Register of Actions) with case information and public documents for the case.
- Document Search allows you to search for public documents in court cases that are available online.
- Hearing Search allows you to search for hearing information for hearings scheduled in a court case.
- Judgment Search allows you to search for the judgment details, including any satisfactions, for docketed money judgments. Per Minn. Stat. § 485.06, judgment search is available by debtor name.
Access to MCRO is available on mobile devices. These browsers are supported: Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge. Using Internet Explorer to access MCRO is not recommended. Some functionality is not available with Internet Explorer, such as the Hearing Search by Judicial Officer Name and Print Preview.
No. Users do not need to register at this time. In future phases, registration may be required for the purchase of documents.
- Phase 1 (Document Search) provides access to certain public documents when searching by case number. This Phase became available in March 2021.
- Phase 2 (Case Search) provides access to the case Register of Actions. Phase 2 also provided additional ways to search for cases, such as party name, attorney name, and attorney bar number. Phase 2 became available in December 2021.
- Phase 3 (Hearing Search and Judgment Search) allows users to search for court hearings and monetary judgments. This Phase became available in August 2022.
Government partners should continue to use Minnesota Government Access (MGA) for all work-related needs. MCRO remains an option for all searches not authorized under the partner’s signed Government Subscriber Agreement and for personal use. See the
Minnesota Government Access FAQ tab for more information.
The application resets after 30 minutes of inactivity. After 28 minutes of inactivity, you will be warned that your session is about to expire. If that happens, you may refresh your session. After 30 minutes of inactivity, you’ll be asked to accept the Terms and Conditions again.
Document filenames will contain MCRO, the case number, the MN Court Information System (MNCIS) case event name, the date the document was added to the case, and the date the document was accessed in MCRO (for example: MCRO_99-CR-20-100_Order-Other_2020-01-31_20210203043013.pdf).
The MCRO watermark that appears on documents is applied as a signature. This error is likely to appear the first time you download and open a document from MCRO. To resolve the error, click on the Signature Panel button, right-click on the listed signature, and then click on “Show Signature Properties.” Click “Show Certificate button” (under the summary tab), and then click the “Trust” tab and click “Add to Trusted Identities.” When the Adobe Security window opens, click “OK.” If other documents have been signed by different court officials, this error may pop up again. To resolve it, follow the same process.
No. The watermark is applied as a signature, but it is not the same thing as a certified copy. To obtain a certified copy, contact
court administration of the county where the document was originally filed.
reCAPTCHA frequency is determined by a Google algorithm and may vary from user to user, as well as by the types of documents or cases being searched. There is no guaranteed way to have a better reCAPTCHA experience, as it is all dependent on how Google’s servers analyze your browser’s requests. You may try the following:
- Slow down your clicks within reCAPTCHA.
- Clear your cookies and browser cache.
- If using Chrome, sign into your Google account, if possible. This could legitimize requests from your browser.
- Use a different browser (not in Private or Incognito mode).
- Try not to use VPN if possible, as all VPN requests come from the same IP address.
- Avoid using proxy servers (servers that change your IP address).
Searching
Search by person or business name, citation number, attorney name, or attorney bar number in Case Search to find your case number. If it is a case type that is not available online, contact
court administration in the county where the case was filed.
- If you are searching for a person or business who is a party in a criminal case, and the case has not resulted in a conviction, that case will not appear in the results. See “How do I search for a pending criminal case?” (Question 5) above.
- The case may not be available on MCRO. See MCRO Accessible Case Types and Documents.
- The case may have been expunged.
- The case may have been destroyed per the District Court Record Retention Schedule.
- Older cases may not be available electronically. You may need to contact court administration for assistance.
A wildcard character is a kind of placeholder represented by a single character, such as an asterisk (*), that can be used in searches if the full name is not known. In MCRO, asterisks are the only acceptable wildcard.
Use Sounds Like if you are not sure of the spelling of the name (“John” or “Jon”) or if it may or may not include punctuation ("U.S. Bank" or "John Smith, Jr."). The Sounds Like feature will locate similar names ONLY when the first letter of the name matches, and there is enough similarity in the remaining text to calculate a matching value (e.g., a Sounds Like search for Kathy will locate someone named Kathie, but not named Cathy).
Some judicial officers worked in different courts or have had different roles with the Judicial Branch. Users should search with each of the duplicate names to get the most results.
Only monetary judgments in public cases that are available online will display. The monetary judgment must be docketed with court administration, and the Judgment Search must be done using the debtor name. If you do not know the debtor’s name, locate the case with the Case Search and review the Dispositions section of Case Details. Information about non-monetary judgments, such as Dissolution Granted or Dismissal with Prejudice, are available in the Dispositions section of the Case Details.
Using spaces will result in an error message. You may use only numbers, hyphens, and letters in your search.
Search Results
The court’s case management system may generate a Document Index Number when a case event that could have a document is added, even if there is not a document attached to the case event.
Because of the way documents are categorized in the Minnesota Judicial Branch’s case management system, some documents have “-Other” at the end of their name. Open the document to see what type of document it is.
Sometimes, a document’s page count cannot be read by the MCRO system. Open the document to see the number of pages. If a document has an unknown number of pages, users will see “Unknown” both in the Documents Available Online list when using Document Search, and in the Case Events section of the Case Details.
The court’s case management system does not require a party name to be entered on every event, so some events may show a party’s name while others do not.
No. The Active Warrant flag on the party may or may not pertain to the case you are viewing. You may need to search for and view the Case Details for additional cases to determine which case the warrant was issued on. Contact
court administration if you have questions regarding an Active Warrant flag.
Level of Sentence (LOS) is a feature that automatically calculates and displays the level of conviction on an offense based on the sentence imposed by the judge that is entered into the case management system, and on the provisions in
Minn. Stat. § 609.13 and
Minn. R. Crim. P. 23.02. For more information, see the
Level of Sentence Fact Sheet on mncourts.gov.
Hearings scheduled for the current day will always show up under Upcoming hearings both in the Hearings section and the Overview, even if the hearing has already been held or continued.
To comply with Minnesota Rules of Public Access, certain party names cannot be displayed online. You may need to search for the information using a public access terminal a courthouse or contact
court administration in the county where the case was filed for assistance.
Contact
court administration in the county where the judgment was entered for assistance. The amount changes based on interest calculations.
The Minnesota Judicial Branch has a
Judgments webpage with additional information and resources.