Whether you want to find out more about someone you went on a few dates with or you want to know what others can find out about you, you can search the public records. Though you can find some free records, others require that you pay a small fee to gain access. Public records provide you with general information that includes content available to the public. If you look up someone who got in trouble with the law as a juvenile, you’ll usually find that the court sealed those records. Most criminal records attached to juveniles are not open to the general public.

The information that you find will depend on the type of records that you access. If you look up address records, you can look up a view into a piece of a property and the people who live there. The records can also uncover a wealth of information about the previous property owners. Public court records are also available, and can help you save hours running around government buildings trying to uncover hidden data. There is a lot of information in public records, so you simply have to decide what you’re looking for first.