I'm assuming that you are talking about "claims" against real estate. The court house has records that show copies of past conveyances of deeds, mortgage (loan) documents which were filed of record, subsequent loan pay offs, tax liens and assorted other items of this nature. Now the problem is, if you go down to the court house to try and figure this out you are going to have difficulty doing so since each court house recorder's office operates a little differently. This best bet is to walk in and look for someone that has a friendly disposition and ask them for help. If they aren't too busy they may well take you by the hand and help you. However, your search will only be as good as the efforts of the people conducting it (you...who knows little or nothing about what they are doing and a court house employee who may or may not be good at what they do). Thus, once you walk out you won't have any legal recourse against the employee helping you and you won't have any guarantee that the search was done properly. This is why people pay title companies to search the records and provide them with a title insurance policy. That policy provides a "guarantee" that the search has been done properly and that the company will stand behind the results of the search. Now, if you are just checking on the status of a property and don't really intend to purchase it.....or you haven't yet made up your mind, the title company may be willing to do a simple records search (at a reduced cost) and provide you with copies of all recorded documents impacting the property. Just give them a call, tell them what you want to do and ask them to quote you a price for this service. Now remember, if you do decide to buy the property make sure the purchase contract is contingent on good title being delivered to you and order a title policy and have someone that knows what they are doing review it and the recorded documents for you. If you understand legal documents, and the title is fairly "clean" you can probably do this yourself. However, if you want to be real certain everything is OK, pay a real estate attorney to help you with the transaction. Good luck.