Who Handles Camden County Court Records
New Jersey runs a single, unified court system. There is no county-run "clerk of court" who keeps Superior Court case files the way some states do. Instead, three parts of the Judiciary share that job. The Camden Vicinage court division records offices handle open cases by division. The statewide Superior Court Clerk's Office in Trenton, often called the SCCO, handles closed and archived files, plus foreclosure and judgment lien records. And the Camden criminal records room sits inside the courthouse for in-county criminal files.
Camden County is Vicinage 4 of the Superior Court of New Jersey. The public courthouse is the Camden County Hall of Justice at 101 South 5th Street. That is where the criminal records room is located, and where many trial-level matters are heard. For records that have closed or moved to storage, the request usually routes out of the county to the SCCO. The split sounds odd at first, but it is simple once you know which office matches your file.
To learn how the actual case databases work, see the Camden County court records page and the court dockets page. The Superior Court page covers the divisions that produce these files.
Court Clerk vs the Elected County Clerk
This is the part that trips most people up. New Jersey has two very different offices that both use the word "clerk," and they do not hold the same records. The court records clerk function belongs to the Judiciary and covers Superior Court case files. The elected Camden County Clerk is a separate county constitutional officer and does not keep court case files at all.
The elected Camden County Clerk, Pamela R. Lampitt, runs an office at 520 Market Street, Room 102. That office records deeds, mortgages, and other property documents. It registers trade names, handles passport applications, processes notary oaths, and supports county elections and vote-by-mail. None of that is a court case. If you want a deed or a business name filing, that is the county clerk. If you want a lawsuit, a criminal file, or a divorce judgment, that is the Judiciary. The difference matters because sending a request to the wrong office wastes days.
Probate is its own track again. Wills, estate administration, and guardianship files go through the Camden County Surrogate, not the court records clerk and not the county clerk. For property and business filings, see the Camden County Clerk page. For estates and wills, see the Surrogate's Court page.
Note: The elected County Clerk records deeds and trade names, while the Judiciary keeps Superior Court case files, so match your record to the right office first.
The Superior Court Clerk's Office
The Superior Court Clerk's Office is the statewide hub for court record requests. It sits in Trenton at the Richard J. Hughes Justice Complex. Closed and archived Camden cases route here, along with statewide foreclosure files, judgment liens, and satisfactions of liens. The SCCO also processes the copy fees for certified and authenticated court documents. When a Camden civil, criminal, family, or divorce case has closed, the request for copies generally goes to this office.
The office returns most records by email after a request form is processed. You can also mail the form. The contact card below lists the mailing address and the customer service line, which the Judiciary also uses to help people find a missing ticket or case.
Superior Court Clerk's Office (SCCO)
Richard J. Hughes Justice Complex
P.O. Box 971
Trenton, NJ 08625-0971
(609) 421-6100
For Camden criminal files specifically, the in-county point is the criminal records room at the Hall of Justice. The Judiciary lists this room on its Criminal Division Records Rooms page. Open cases still route by division and county on the request form, so you do not always need to wait for a file to close before you ask.
How to Request a Certified Copy
A certified copy is a court document the clerk attests is true. Courts, banks, agencies, and other states often demand one. A plain copy will not work for those uses. The steps below walk through a Camden County court records request from start to finish using the Judiciary process.
- Find your case identifier. A docket, complaint, indictment, or ticket number opens a file fastest. Without one, gather party names, a birth date, and the last four digits of a Social Security number for criminal or municipal matters.
- Download the Judiciary Records Request form (CN 10200) from NJ Courts. Read the copy-fee box before you fill it in.
- Pick the processing location and division. For open Camden cases, choose the division, such as Civil or Family, then choose Camden County. For closed, archived, foreclosure, or judgment lien files, choose the Superior Court Clerk's Office.
- Mark the copy type you need. Options include seal only, certified without seal, certified with seal, and exemplified. Each carries its own fee from the schedule below.
- Submit the form. Most records return by email to the address on the form. You can also mail the form to the SCCO address above. Certified, sealed, and exemplified fees can be paid by credit card.
Divorce copies follow a stricter path. A final judgment of divorce and related documents go only to a party or an attorney of record unless a court order directs release. Be ready to prove you are a party. The marriage and divorce records page covers that limit in more depth.
Records Request Form Fields
The Judiciary Records Request form, numbered CN 10200, asks for who you are, where the file lives, how to identify the case, and which copy type you want. Having these details ready before you open the PDF makes the form quick to finish. The table lists the main fields the official form collects.
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Request Date | Yes | Date you submit the form. |
| Preferred Delivery | Yes | Pick Up, US Mail, On Site Inspection, Fax, or Email. |
| Requestor Name and Address | Yes | Last, first, middle initial, plus mailing address and city, state, zip. |
| Daytime Telephone | Yes | Include the area code. |
| For electronic delivery | Needed if you want the file sent by email. | |
| Processing Location | Yes | Superior Court Clerk's Office, Municipal Court, Appellate Division, Tax Court, Supreme Court Clerk, or Other. |
| Division | Yes | Choose the relevant division, such as Civil, Criminal, or Family. |
| County | Conditional | Select Camden for a county division request. |
| Case Name | If known | The case caption. |
| Docket / Complaint / Ticket Number | If known | If unknown, provide defendant details for criminal or municipal files. |
| Defendant Identifiers | Conditional | Name and aliases, birth date, last four SSN digits for criminal or municipal cases. |
| Records Requested | Yes | Describe the records as completely as possible; attach pages if needed. |
| Copy Fees | If copies requested | Seal only, certified without seal, certified with seal, or exemplified. |
| Named Party or Attorney | Yes | Marked yes or no; matters for restricted files like divorce. |
For criminal cases, the form also leaves room for sentencing date, the name of the sentencing judge, the indictment or arrest date, and the indictment, accusation, complaint, or municipal number. The more identifiers you give, the faster staff can pull the right file.
Camden County Court Record Copy Fees
New Jersey Courts set copy fees statewide, so a Camden file costs the same as a file from any other vicinage. Plain copies are priced by the page. Certified and authenticated copies cost more because a clerk attests to them. Divorce documents carry their own line items. The table lists the published Judiciary fees.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Plain copy, letter size, per page | $0.05 |
| Plain copy, legal size, per page | $0.07 |
| Certified copy | $15.00 |
| Seal of the Court | $10.00 |
| Exemplified copy plus plain copy fees | $50.00 |
| Certificate of statewide judgment lien | $10.00 |
| Certificate of divorce | $10.00 |
| Certified copy of final judgment of divorce | $25.00 |
The copy names are easy to mix up. The short list below explains what each type buys before you mark a box on the form.
- Plain copy
- A simple print or photocopy, fine for personal review but not certified for legal use.
- Certified copy
- A copy the clerk attests is a true copy, often needed for court or official business.
- Exemplified copy
- An authenticated copy with a clerk attestation and a judicial certificate, used in another court or another state.
The full fee list and the request steps appear on the NJ Courts Copies of Court Records page. Certified, sealed, and exemplified fees can be paid by credit card when you submit the form.
Open, Closed, and Archived Camden Court Records
Where a file sits changes where the request goes. The Judiciary draws a clear line between cases that are still active and cases that have ended or moved to storage. Getting this right the first time avoids a bounce-back.
Open Civil Division, Chancery General Equity, Special Civil Part, Criminal Division, and Family Division records route by division and county. On the form, you choose the division and then Camden County. Closed civil, criminal, divorce, family, and special civil cases route to the Superior Court Clerk's Office. Archived civil, divorce, foreclosure, general equity, statewide judgment liens, and satisfactions of liens are also processed by the SCCO. For statewide judgment liens and foreclosure records, the form points to the SCCO from the start.
Before any of this, it helps to confirm the case exists. The NJ Courts Find a Case page links the public databases for civil, criminal, judgment lien, and tax records. A quick search there often gives you the docket number, which then makes the request form much faster to complete.
Note: Closed and archived Camden files route to the Trenton clerk's office, while open cases route by division and county on the same request form.
Restricted Camden County Court Records
Most case files are open under Court Rule 1:38, but several types are closed or limited. Divorce documents are the most common restriction people hit. A final judgment of divorce and related papers go only to a party or an attorney of record unless a court order says otherwise. Adoption judgments and proceedings are sealed. Juvenile records are safeguarded by statute. Sealed and expunged records do not appear in the public view, and grand jury and certain mental health materials stay closed.
To see a sealed or restricted file, you generally file a motion or petition with the court that holds it and show legal grounds for release. A judge, not the records clerk, decides whether to unseal. For criminal files, the more common route is an expungement, which the arrest records page covers. When you request a restricted file you are entitled to, the form asks whether you are a named party or attorney, so answer that field carefully.