Connecticut keeps its records by town as much as by state. The Judicial Branch publishes case look-ups by case type, the Department of Correction publishes everyone in its custody with a warning that custody is not conviction, the Secretary of the State looks up a voter from a town, a name and a birth date, and the State Vital Records Office holds births, marriages and deaths since July 1, 1897 while each of the 169 towns keeps its own.
A workable order: the Superior Court look-ups first, one for civil, family, housing and small claims and one for criminal and motor vehicle; the inmate search and the registry for status; the voter lookup once the town is known; eLicense and the Business Records Search for licenses and companies; then the town clerk for land records and vital records, which in Connecticut is where the property trail lives.
- Courts, free: the Judicial Branch Case Look-up, with separate searches for civil, family, housing and small claims cases, criminal and motor vehicle cases, the housing session and centralized small claims.
- In custody: the Department of Correction inmate information search, by inmate number, name or date of birth.
- Registered offenders: the DESPP Sex Offender Registry, with last known address, descriptors and offense details.
- Voters: the Voter Registration Lookup, which needs the town, last name, first name and date of birth.
- Licenses, companies, certificates and money: eLicense, the Business Records Search, the State Vital Records Office and the CT Big List.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Connecticut's own systems: the Connecticut Judicial Branch, the Department of Correction, the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, the Secretary of the State's voter lookup and business portal, the Department of Public Health State Vital Records Office, the Freedom of Information Commission, each read on October 13, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
The Judicial Branch case look-ups
The Connecticut Judicial Branch's Case Look-up section covers Supreme and Appellate, civil, family, criminal, motor vehicle, housing and small claims cases, and it is organized as separate look-ups rather than one search: a Supreme and Appellate Court look-up, a Superior Court look-up for civil, family, housing and small claims cases, a second Superior Court look-up for criminal and motor vehicle cases, a housing session look-up and a centralized small claims look-up. A person's name therefore has to be run in each look-up that could apply, since a divorce sits in the family look-up and a conviction in the criminal one. The section page itself is a menu; the search terms and the disclaimer are on each look-up.
The inmate search, and why custody is not conviction
The Department of Correction's Offender Information Search takes a CT DOC inmate number, a last name, a first name or a date of birth in one or more fields, and the department advises entering only the inmate number or only the first few letters of the last name for better results. Its disclaimer is unusually direct: a person's current incarceration does not necessarily indicate they have been convicted of a crime, because Connecticut's correctional system also holds people awaiting trial. The department updates the information regularly but says it may change quickly, that release dates may shift with the application of Risk Reduction Earned Credits, and that its computer system cannot process every statute with its subsections. People held under the Youthful Offender Statute and people held for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are not in the database. A location shown as PO followed by a number and a name means supervision by a parole officer at a regional parole office. The Public Information Office is at 24 Wolcott Hill Road, Wethersfield, CT 06109, 860-692-7780.
The DESPP sex offender registry
The Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection keeps the Sex Offender Registry, a searchable record that includes each offender's last known address and physical descriptors as well as the location, date and details of the offense. The department states that it has not considered or assessed the specific risk of re-offense of any individual before inclusion and has made no determination that any individual in the registry is currently dangerous. The registry search itself runs at sor.ct.gov, which did not answer an automated read, so the search fields are on the site.
Voters: by town, name and date of birth
The Secretary of the State's Voter Registration Lookup requires four things, a town, a last name, a first name and a date of birth, and returns the registration along with whether an absentee ballot has been received by the town clerk. When read, the page stated its data was current as of 10/13/2026, the same day. Questions about a registration go to the local Registrar of Voters. Because the town is required, this lookup confirms a person rather than locating one: it works once the town is already known.
eLicense and the Business Records Search
The state's professional and occupational licenses are looked up through eLicense, whose lookup page returned its title and no text to SearchSystems, so its fields are set on the page. The Secretary of the State's Business Records Search loads as an application rather than a page; the business portal's own knowledge base describes it as a search by business name, business ALEI or filing number that covers all domestic entities formed in Connecticut and all foreign entities formed elsewhere and on record with the office.
Vital records: the state since 1897, and the 169 towns
The Department of Public Health's State Vital Records Office keeps official records of births, marriages and deaths in Connecticut, statewide from July 1, 1897 to the present, and each of Connecticut's 169 towns also keeps its own records for events that happened locally or involved town residents. Where a birth certificate is obtained depends on the person's date of birth and the town of birth. Anyone over 18 can buy a certified copy of a Connecticut death certificate, with fee waivers for family members of deceased veterans. Marriage and civil union certificates are available from the town where the marriage took place or from the state office. The office also handles adoption and foreign birth certificates, apostilles, divorce certificates, fetal death and stillbirth records, and amendments such as adding a parent or changing the sex listed on a birth certificate, and it points researchers to the Connecticut State Library for vital records from before 1897. For a people search the death certificate rule is the one that matters: an adult can confirm a Connecticut death with a certified copy, no relationship required.
Unclaimed property, the FOI Commission and the pages that were gone
Connecticut's unclaimed property search is the Treasurer's CT Big List, which answered SearchSystems with its title only. The state's Freedom of Information Commission publishes the FOI Act, its regulations, declaratory rulings, commission and court decisions and contested case hearings; the commission's page read as a menu, so the Act's terms are not summarized here. The state's Address Confidentiality Program page and its criminal history record request page both answered on October 13, 2026 with the CT.gov notice that the page is no longer here, so this guide says nothing about either beyond that.
Connecticut: cases, inmates and 169 towns
A Connecticut search is a town search once the state look-ups have done their part. The Judicial Branch look-ups, run by case type, answer whether the person has been a party to a civil, family, housing, small claims, criminal or motor vehicle case. The inmate search answers custody, with the department's own reminder that custody may mean awaiting trial. The registry answers registration, and the voter lookup confirms a name, birth date and town. Land records and local vital records sit with the 169 town clerks rather than with counties, and the Connecticut pages at SearchSystems list the town offices.
Commercial people search reports on Connecticut residents are built from these same look-ups and town records; nothing in them comes from a state criminal history the public cannot request, and the case look-ups and the town clerk are where any claim is confirmed.
County Starting Points
Questions about finding someone in Connecticut
Every Connecticut Guide
The full set: arrest records, background checks, inmate search, offender registry, birth certificates, unclaimed property, business search, and the Connecticut records law that opens every door on this list.