The Erie County Clerk
The elected Erie County Clerk is Michael P. Kearns. His official bio says he has served the Buffalo area in elected office for more than a decade, including the Buffalo Common Council, the New York State Assembly, and now the Clerk's Office. The Clerk's FAQ says the office processes more than 2 million transactions each year.
The Clerk runs the record room, the legal records division, and the public search site. It is the office that records and stores deeds, mortgages, business certificates, judgments, and many court-filed legal records for Erie County. The Clerk's bio page is below. See it at the official Clerk bio.
The main office sits in a building most locals know on sight, Old County Hall in downtown Buffalo.
Clerk Office Location and Hours
The Erie County Clerk's Office is on the first floor of Old County Hall at 92 Franklin Street. The office opens Monday through Friday. People filing documents are asked to be in line with completed papers by 4:15 p.m. so the filing can be done before close.
Erie County Clerk
Michael P. Kearns, Clerk
Old County Hall
92 Franklin Street, 1st Floor
Buffalo, NY 14202
716-858-8785
Mon-Fri 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
The office is closed on county holidays, including New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Election Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. The Clerk's contact page lists division phone routing for civil actions, closed criminal records, divorce records, and judgments.
Records the Erie County Clerk Holds
The Clerk maintains or provides access to a wide mix of county records. The list helps you decide whether the Clerk is the right office before you call or visit.
- Deeds, mortgages, and other recorded land instruments.
- Judgments, liens, and legal records from civil and criminal cases.
- Business certificates, corporations, and powers of attorney.
- Divorce records from 2007 to the present, plus older divorce files dating to the early 1800s.
- Historical marriage records before April 29, 1935, and historical naturalization records.
- Military discharges and maps.
The Clerk does not hold current court calendars or live criminal case status. Those sit in the state court systems. For active case data, see Erie County court dockets, and for the full portal map, see court records.
How to Search Erie County Clerk Records Online
The Clerk offers a free public search through two tools. The Official Records Public Search and the BrowserView search both let you look up filed records by party name, document type, date, and more. BrowserView is the cross-browser choice. Basic and Advanced search need Internet Explorer or Edge with Microsoft .NET support.
- Open the Official Records Public Search at ecclerk.erie.gov and read the notice. The Clerk warns it makes no guarantee of accuracy.
- Pick BrowserView if you use Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or a Mac. See the BrowserView search page.
- Choose a search type. Party search is broadest. Enter last name first, no comma, or enter a business name.
- Add a document type code or a date range if you know it. Shortcut buttons cover 7, 30, and 90 days.
- Review the results. Confirm the party spelling, instrument number, and recorded date before you order a copy.
Note: the Clerk advises searching all spelling variations of a name, since older indexes cover hyphenated names, business suffixes, and handwritten records.
Record Request Forms
The Clerk publishes several request forms for mail and in-person copy orders. The main one is the Record Search and Copy Request PDF. Its field set is below so you know what to gather first.
| Field | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Text | Yes | Requester name. |
| Address | Text | Yes | Requester mailing address. |
| Phone | Text | Yes | Primary phone. |
| Text | Optional | Used for payment and electronic contact questions. | |
| Doc Type 1 | Text | Yes | Up to 20 characters in the PDF field. |
| Owner Name | Text | Yes | Party or owner name for the first record. |
| Owner Address / Town | Text | Optional | Address up to 65 characters; town up to 30. |
| Notes | Multiline | Optional | Up to 500 characters; a second request block repeats these fields. |
Other forms include a deed request, a copy request when the book and page are known, a divorce record request, a local criminal record search request, and a FOIL request form. The Clerk offers an online request for electronic copies by email, but divorce and criminal records are not available through that online method.
Copy and Search Fees
The Clerk charges set fees for copies, certified copies, and searches. Fees come from the official schedule and the CPLR. Plain copies cost less than certified ones. A search fee applies per name and per two-year period.
| Item | Fee |
|---|---|
| Copies, first 2 pages | $1.30 |
| Copies, each additional page | $0.65 |
| Certified copies, first 4 pages | $5.00 |
| Certified copies, each additional page | $1.25 |
| Maximum charge per document | $40.00 |
| Manual search, per 2-year period | $10.00 per name |
| Digital search, per 2-year period | $5.00 per name |
| Certificate of search of court records, per name | $5.00 |
County clerk copy fees are set in part by CPLR § 8019. The statute page is below. View it at the New York Senate site.
The Clerk's own fee schedule fills in the per-page amounts and the $40 cap per document.
How to Request a Certified Copy
A certified copy carries the Clerk's seal and is accepted for legal use. Plain online copies are not certified. Follow these steps to order one.
- Find the exact record first. Use the online search to get the instrument number or book and page.
- Fill out the Record Search and Copy Request form with the document type and party name.
- Mark the certification box and note how many pages the document holds.
- Add payment for the copy fee plus the certification charge, and include return postage if mailing.
- Mail or bring the form to the record room at 92 Franklin Street, or use a public terminal in the office to view images.
Divorce and Criminal Records at the Clerk
The Clerk handles divorce and closed criminal records through special routes, not the online copy tool. For divorce, the key date is the commencement date, not the judgment date, so a wider search may be needed. Matrimonial files are sealed, and the Clerk follows the state confidentiality rules. For more, see marriage and divorce records.
Closed criminal records are requested through the Actions and Proceedings Office at 92 Franklin Street, open 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays. A 2024 notice says local criminal record searches may be limited to 10 per day at the Clerk's discretion. For arrest data and the criminal case path, see arrest records.
Historical and Genealogy Records
The Clerk keeps a deep set of historical records. These draw family history researchers from across the region. Holdings include marriage records before April 29, 1935, naturalization records, deeds dating to the early 1800s, and divorce files from the same era. The Clerk's genealogy page lists what survives and how to ask for it. For estate and probate files from the same period, the records sit with Surrogate's Court instead.