---
name: public-records-lookup
description: Cross-source US public records research: state business registries, PACER federal court records, SEC EDGAR filings, county property records, and FOIA requests. Use when an agent needs to verify a company or its officers, find court filings or dockets, research property ownership, trace filings across sources, or draft and track a records request.
---

# Public Records Lookup

## Purpose

Walk public records across the five major US sources, starting with whichever one matches the question, and cross-check claims against at least two of them before reporting. The sources are:

1. **State business registries** (Secretary of State / corporation division). Entity formation, officers and directors, registered agent, status, filing history.
2. **SEC EDGAR**. For publicly traded companies: 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, proxy, insider, and ownership filings.
3. **PACER**. Federal district, appellate, and bankruptcy court dockets and filings.
4. **County property records**. Assessor, recorder / clerk / register of deeds, GIS maps.
5. **FOIA**. Federal agency records via foia.gov or the agency's own portal.

For per-source mechanics (portal navigation, fees, form types, request templates), read the matching file in `references/`.

## Workflow

1. **Frame the question.** Decide which record answers it: a company's officers (business registry), a company's finances (EDGAR), a lawsuit or bankruptcy (PACER), who owns a parcel (county records), or what the government holds (FOIA). If the subject is a person, look for the entity or case around them, not the person directly.
2. **Start with the free official portal.** Prefer the government source over any aggregator: the state registry over a lookup site, EDGAR over a finance site, PACER over a legal blog. Aggregators speed things up but can be stale; the official source is the record of truth.
3. **Search with variations.** Registries are literal: try the name without entity suffixes ("Rodriguez Plumbing" before "Rodriguez Plumbing LLC"), alternate spellings, middle initials, and maiden or prior names. Note every variation you tried.
4. **Open the underlying filing, not just the summary.** The entity record page shows status and agent; the filing history (annual reports, formation documents) shows the people. The docket entry shows the filing exists; the PDF shows what it says. Summaries omit details that matter.
5. **Cross-check.** One record makes a claim; two make a finding. Match officers between the state registry and an EDGAR 10-K; match a PACER docket's parties against the registry's registered agent; match an assessed owner against the recorded deed. Record which pairs you verified.
6. **Mind the limits.** PACER is federal courts only. Business registries show officers on file, not necessarily current operators. Assessor records show the taxpayer of record and can lag a recent sale. FOIA requests take weeks and each agency keeps its own records.

## Output Contract

Every report from this skill contains:

- **Subject** (name, entity, case number, or parcel searched)
- **Sources checked** (each portal or office, with the exact search terms or identifiers used)
- **Findings** (what each source returned, with filing or document dates)
- **Verification** (which claims were cross-checked against a second source, and which stand alone)
- **Gaps** (what was not found, what could not be accessed, and what would close the gap)
- **Citations** (source URLs for every factual claim; no claim without a link)

## Operating Rules

- Verify every factual claim against a primary source or live web search. Never invent numbers, dates, quotes, or events. If you cannot verify it, cut it or label it as unverified opinion.
- Never describe an aggregator's data as the official record. Name the aggregator and the underlying source separately.
- Treat fees and account requirements as part of the plan: PACER charges per page and needs an account; some state and county portals charge for document copies. State the expected cost before a large pull.
- Records are public facts, but people are not. Use records to answer the assigned question; do not build dossiers, stalk, or combine records into a profile of a private individual. Refuse research that targets someone for harassment, doxxing, or intimidation.
- When research is for legal proceedings, say so in the report and recommend the requester verify with counsel. This skill is not legal advice.