FOIL vs Court Records in Bronx County
New York public-record access has two tracks. Agency records are generally governed by the Freedom of Information Law, found in Public Officers Law Article 6, with text published by the New York Department of State. Court records are judiciary records, controlled by court statutes, judiciary rules, and clerk procedures, not by ordinary agency FOIL. A police report, a DOC administrative record, or a city-agency email can be a FOIL request. A certified Supreme Court paper, a divorce decree, a certificate of disposition, a Family Court file, or a Surrogate file is requested from the court clerk under court rules.
FOIL is powerful but it has limits. Public Officers Law § 87 gives access to agency records subject to exemptions, and § 89 sets the procedures and appeal rights. FOIL does not erase privacy statutes, and it is not a shortcut around a sealed Bronx criminal file or a confidential Family Court matter. The right framing is that FOIL may help with agency records, but it is not a way around sealed or confidential court files.
The Department of State publishes the full text of Public Officers Law Article 6, the Freedom of Information Law.
Records the Bronx County Clerk Maintains
The Bronx County Clerk is both a court-records office and a public-records office, but it is not a universal repository for every Bronx record. The Clerk maintains Supreme Court case records, certifies Supreme Court documents, files business and corporation certificates, and collects court-document filing fees. Judgments, liens, and certain tax-warrant filings run through the Clerk's Dockets Department.
Several common records are not Clerk records, which is where searchers go wrong. Deeds and mortgages are not Clerk records. Marriage records are not Clerk records. Birth and death certificates are not Clerk records. Inmate records are not Clerk records. Divorce decrees are Clerk records, but they are restricted records. The Bronx County Clerk page covers the full request process.
Liens, Judgments, and Tax Warrants
The Bronx County Clerk Dockets Department records judgments, mechanic's liens, notices of pendency, hospital liens, satisfactions, and building-loan agreements. The Dockets page states that judgments and liens are permanent public records indexed by name, so a searcher needs the debtor's last name. A judgment can be enforceable against real property for ten years and personal property for twenty years.
Tax warrants changed in 2025. The Dockets page says that effective July 1, 2025, New York State Tax Department tax warrants and related documents are filed electronically with the New York Department of State instead of County Clerks. The Bronx County Clerk still provides certified copies and related documents for state tax warrants filed on or before June 30, 2025. The Bronx warrant search page covers the tax-warrant change in more detail.
Deeds, Mortgages, and ACRIS
Many people assume the County Clerk records deeds. In the Bronx, it does not. The Bronx County Clerk Dockets Department directs deed and mortgage filings to the NYC Office of City Register at Bronx City Register, 3030 Third Avenue, 2nd Floor, Bronx, NY 10455. Online property records are searched through ACRIS, the city's Automated City Register Information System.
This is a key distinction for a public-records search because the word "county clerk" elsewhere often means the deed recorder. In the Bronx, property recording and court records are separate offices. A title search, a deed copy, or a mortgage record is a City Register and ACRIS request, while a judgment or lien against the property owner is a County Clerk Dockets request.
Note: Bronx deeds and mortgages are filed with the City Register and searched through ACRIS, not the Bronx County Clerk.
How to File a Bronx Public Records Request
The request method depends on the track. A FOIL request goes to the agency that holds the record; a court-record request goes to the relevant clerk under court rules. The steps below cover the general path for both.
- Identify which office holds the record and whether it is an agency record or a court record.
- For an agency record, send a FOIL request to that agency's records access officer describing the records clearly.
- For a court record, follow the clerk's process: the Bronx County Clerk uses a written request with a self-addressed stamped envelope and proper payment.
- Pay the applicable copy, search, or certification fees by an accepted method.
- If a FOIL request is denied, use the administrative appeal path under Public Officers Law § 89 before seeking court review.
The Committee on Open Government issues advisory opinions on FOIL but does not order Bronx courts to release case files.
Public Records Request Fields
A clear request speeds the response. Whether the request is FOIL or a court-record request, the same core details help the office find the record. The realistic field set is below.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Notes / Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Requester name and contact | Text | Yes | For the response and any appeal |
| Record description | Text | Yes | Specific records, dates, and parties |
| Case / index number | Text | Helpful | For court records; speeds the clerk search |
| Search period | Date range | Conditional | County Clerk searches by two-year periods |
| Self-addressed stamped envelope | Document | Court records | Required for Bronx County Clerk mail requests |
| Payment | Money order / check | Yes | Money order, certified check, or NYS attorney check |
Bronx Public Records Fees
Court-record fees are set by the Bronx County Clerk. FOIL copy fees are set in the FOIL framework and agency rules. The table lists the confirmed Bronx County Clerk fees most relevant to a public-records request.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Certification of a Supreme Court document | $8 |
| Certification of business or corporation documents | $10 |
| Search certificate, two-year period | $10 |
| Each additional two-year search period | $5 |
| Exemplified copy | $25 plus certification and copy fees |
| Plain copy per page (minimum $1.50) | $0.65 |
Payment by mail must be a U.S. postal money order, certified check, or NYS attorney's check; cash is accepted only in person, and personal checks are not accepted.
Marriage, Divorce, and Vital Records
Vital records are their own track again. NYC marriage records are handled by the City Clerk for marriages from 1950 to the present. Divorce decrees are court records held by the Bronx County Clerk, with access limited to a party, attorney of record, or authorized person. Divorce certificates since 1963 come from the New York State Department of Health. Birth and death certificates run through NYC vital-records channels.
The Bronx marriage and divorce page walks through the City Clerk and DOH processes in full, including the marriage history lookup and the divorce decree access rules.
Confidential and Restricted Bronx Records
Some records are closed regardless of which track they sit on. Family Court files are restricted under Family Court Act § 166, which bars indiscriminate and public inspection and requires case-by-case decisions. Sealed criminal records under CPL 160.50 and related statutes are not public. Adoption records, juvenile delinquency files, grand jury minutes, and matrimonial files all carry confidentiality protections.
Criminal-history searches have limits too. A casual public lookup is not the official Division of Criminal Justice Services record, and a sealed Bronx case will not appear in a standard public search. The Bronx arrest records page explains sealing and background-check limits in more depth.