Reprinted from the February 23, 2001 edition of The Monitor

County court-at-law records accessible through new Web site

Edinburg, February 23, 2001—The four Hidalgo County Courts-at-Law are the first in the county’s judicial system to place records online, allowing the public to search more than 12 years of court and probate information.

County Clerk J.D. Salinas III on Thursday unveiled the web site—www.idocket.com—to attorneys, bail bondsmen and judges in the courthouse auditorium, saying it was a step toward reinventing government by using technology to bring services to the public.

“This is something that we wanted to do since we came into office,” Salinas said. “This is just another step closer to bringing government to the taxpayers for easier and faster service.”

Hidalgo County is the first iDocket.com site in Texas to include probate information and date-of-birth records. Probate includes estate, wills and guardianship records.

The web site currently serves only the county courts, but the District Clerk’s office has agreed to post its information on the site as well.

Users can search a case by name, and results include the specific case number, events in the case, parties involved and the attorneys.

There will be a charge for more complicated searches, including motions filed by attorneys or orders from a judge. Subscription fees range from $19.95 per month to $99.99 per month, depending on the amount of use.

Twenty percent of all subscription fees collected by the Amarillo-based Solutions Inc. go into the county’s general fund, said Armando Balderrama, owner of the company.

With a subscription, users also can see daily hearing schedules for each court.

“This is definitely going to be a time-saving feature,” said Tillman Welch, a bail bondsman in Edinburg.

“Everyday we come over to the courthouse with a book of cases to look up,” he said. “We’ll still have to come over here, but the amount of cases we are checking on will be less.”

The Internet site is maintained by Solutions, Inc., which downloads the updated court records each night. The records are kept by the company’s secure server.

“We take privacy and security very seriously,” Balderrama said. “We are interested in maintaining the integrity of the record, but at the same time we want to maintain everyone’s privacy. We don’t put home phone numbers, addresses or other personal information on our site that might be listed at the clerk’s office.”

Balderrama’s company also serves five other Texas counties: Potter, Randall, Brooks, Navarro and Eastland. The company is in the process of placing court records from Cameron, Harris, Lubbock and Galveston counties on its web site.