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To those of you from out-of-state looking for county recorder's offices for public records, Connecticut's governmental structure will present some confusion, but it's actually fairly simple. The main thing to remember is that there's no county government in Connecticut (with the limited exception of the county sheriffs, who still provide guard and prisoner transport services in the courthouses, and other public safety services). County government was abolished in the 1970s in favor of local rule. Thus, we have no county courts and no county recording offices. Geographically, however, we still refer to the eight counties of Fairfield, Litchfield, New Haven, New London, Hartford, Middlesex, Tolland and Windham. As a result, our civil and family courts (Superior Courts) were re-organized into Judicial Districts, which roughly follow the old county boundaries (Fairfield and New Haven Counties being the main exceptions). Criminal courts, small claims courts, and traffic courts were re-organized within Geographical Areas, and these courts are generally found in the principal cities and towns. Our Superior Courts are our courts of general jurisdiction (civil matters with more than $3,500 in dispute), and they maintain all records on court cases filed in or transferred between those locations. Superior Courts also register foreign judgments. However, if you are looking for a record of judgments, be advised that court clerks generally do not maintain such an index. You must search local town or city records, as any judgments affecting an interest in real property would be recorded on the local land records where your subject owns property. Instead of having centralized county land records offices or county registrars of deeds, Connecticut deed and mortgage records are filed at the local level, and each city or town (169 in all) maintains its own land records in the office of the town or city clerk. A complete listing of town government offices and officers (with addresses, phone numbers and hours) can be found in Section VII of the State Register and Manual at http://www.sots.state.ct.us/RegisterManual/regman.htm.
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Aside from the extra
legwork involved for public records researchers, the main problem this
scheme creates is in identifying those localities that are actually
incorporated towns with local records offices. Many so-called
"towns" are actually not incorporated but are part of another town or
city. For example, Huntington, CT has a town center, a fire
station and its own postal station, but it is actually part of Shelton,
and all property records for Huntington residents will be found in
Shelton. Similarly, the Town of Greenwich has several localities (Byram,
Cos Cob, Glenville, Mianus, Riverside, etc.), each of which appears to
be a separate little town with schools, community centers. post offices,
etc., but which are actually all part of the Town of Greenwich.
Again, the Secretary of State's Register and Manual has a helpful
guide
to all postal stations in Connecticut, and identifies the actual town in
which each locality is located. Our probate system complicates matters a bit further, as most towns and all cities (133 probate districts, for those who are counting) have their own probate courts (follow link for a directory). In the smaller towns, this is often just a part-time elected probate judge and a part-time secretary. Many locations are consolidated into one probate court; check our probate court page for a complete listing. To locate a will in Connecticut, you'll need to know the town where the decedent resided at the time of death. If you're looking for a public record and aren't sure which location to check, contact Court PC at the addresses or numbers given on the opening page. Additional CT public records may be located through the Courtport or Search Systems websites, reached through the banners below:
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