House History - What Court Records Can Tell You About Your House

Records of the courts can contain information of great interest to those researching property history. They just might offer up some useful information about your house or the former homeowners of the property. If you come across any references to court cases applicable to your property while researching deeds, newspapers or other documents write down any dates, names, court case numbers, etc. In many states, these records give more social history than a deed search offers. In some cases the records may even explain such things as a property division that affects your house. For example, if the heirs to an estate could not agree on how the property would be divided, there might have been a court action to partition the estate among the heirs. Disputes over property should be investigated, as they may contain information about earlier members of the family or owners of the property in question.

The majority of court cases are filed at the county level, so a good starting point is to begin with your local county courthouse. Most court records have not been placed online yet, but it is always worth doing a quick Internet search first just in case. You probably will need to make a trip to the courthouse though. Generally records have two indexes, an index to plaintiffs (those who bring the case to court) and an index to defendants (those who are being brought to court). Indexing systems vary, but generally if there are multiple plaintiffs or multiple defendants, the case appears in each index only once. Go through the plaintiff and defendant indexes, looking for the names of your property owners. If you find any matches, copy down the reference number, and ask the person at the desk to bring you the appropriate court records. You just might find new names to research in your quest to build your house’s family tree.

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