Public Records

The IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search is a free government database that allows anyone to verify whether an organization has been granted federal tax-exempt status, check whether that status is currently active, and access the organization’s publicly filed financial returns — all in under five minutes, at no cost. If you’re donating to a charity, … Read more

Property deeds and filings are the recorded documents that document ownership transfers, encumbrances, and legal interests in real estate. Knowing how to find them, read them, and interpret what they show is one of the most practical skills in public records research — because property records answer questions about identity, financial condition, and legal history … Read more

SEC EDGAR is the Securities and Exchange Commission’s free public database of financial filings submitted by publicly traded companies, investment funds, and individuals with disclosure obligations under federal securities law. It contains some of the most detailed financial and ownership records available anywhere in public data — and it’s entirely free to search. For researchers, … Read more

Secretary of State business records are the official government filings that document the existence, ownership, structure, and history of every registered business entity in a state — corporations, LLCs, partnerships, and nonprofits. Searching them is free, takes under five minutes per state, and answers questions that no background check service can answer as directly: does … Read more

An investigation report is a structured document that organizes the findings of an investigation into a clear, source-cited, logically organized record that supports a specific decision, action, or conclusion — and that can be reviewed, challenged, and defended by anyone who reads it. You’ve completed an investigation. You’ve searched court records, verified employment, confirmed an … Read more

When you need verified information about a person, two distinct tools are increasingly competing for the same task: AI-powered search and analysis tools that synthesize information from across the web, and public records databases that surface government-maintained documents directly. They produce different types of information, with different reliability profiles, from different sources — and understanding … Read more

Journalists investigate individuals legally by searching publicly available records — court filings, property records, business registrations, financial disclosures, and licensing databases — to verify claims, establish facts, trace connections, and build documented evidence about a person that can be independently verified by editors, fact-checkers, and the public. A source makes a claim about someone. A … Read more

Investigating a charity before donating is the process of verifying that an organization is legally registered, financially transparent, spending donor money on its stated mission, and not operating as a fraud — before you contribute money, time, or resources. A charity asks for your donation. Maybe it was in your inbox, at your door, after … Read more

Investigating a person from another country is the process of verifying their identity, background, and claims using international public records, open-source research, and cross-border data sources — while accounting for the structural differences between U.S. records systems and those of other jurisdictions. Someone from another country is asking for your trust — in a business … Read more

Documenting findings for legal use is the process of capturing, preserving, and organizing evidence gathered through public records research and open-source investigation in a form that is admissible, credible, and useful in a legal proceeding — whether that’s a court case, an administrative hearing, a law enforcement report, or a formal dispute resolution process. You’ve … Read more