Court case lookup in Bulgaria 2026: check a case online

You receive a summons (призовка) with a case number and a hearing date. Or you hear from an acquaintance that “there is a case against you”. Or you simply want to see what the court decided in your neighbour’s case about the shared roof. In all three situations the first thing you do is look for a “case lookup” (справка по дело).

Here is the honest answer before anything else: a lookup of someone else’s case by ЕГН (the Bulgarian personal identification number) or by name does not exist. Since April 2018 the case lookup portals have removed search by the name of a party to protect personal data, and the public part of ЕПЕП has no such field. What works is three different portals that answer three different questions. If you mix them up, you will search for hours for something that takes two minutes in the right place.

Three portals, three different questions

The word “lookup” hides three different needs. One is to follow the progress of a specific case whose number you know. The second is to read what the court decided, including in other people’s cases. The third is to see all the documents in your own case without going to the court registry (деловодство). Each has its own place.

The Unified Portal is established by the Judiciary Act (ЗСВ). It is not a private website but a system that the Supreme Judicial Council (ВСС) is obliged to maintain.

Way 1: a lookup in ЕПЕП without registration

This is the fastest route when you know the case number. The number is in the summons, in the notice from the court or in the document you filed. Every case has a number and a year, and the court is the one that opened it.

If you only have the incoming number of the document with which the case started, the portal also searches by it. The field is called “Incoming number” (Входящ номер) and is under the case number. The same applies to the number of a related case from another instance.

Way 2: a lookup on the court’s website

Every court has its own page at an address of the form “name-of-the-court.justice.bg”, linked to ЕПЕП. In the menu “Information on cases” (Информация за дела) or “Case lookups” (Справки по дела) there is the same lookup, but only for the cases of that court.

This is also where the difference that matters for older cases lies. Some courts keep on their websites lookups from the old case management systems, from before the Unified Court Information System (ЕИСС). If you are looking for an older case, handled in the court’s previous case management system, and ЕПЕП does not find it, try the court’s website.

Providing information on how to make a lookup and how to file documents electronically is a duty of the court, not a courtesy.

Way 3: reading decisions in the register of court acts

If your question is not “what is happening in my case” but “how do courts decide cases like this”, the place is the register of court acts at legalacts.justice.bg. It searches the text of the acts themselves, by keywords, by judge, by the type and status of the act and by ECLI number, the European identifier for court decisions.

Publishing the acts is a duty of every court, and access is free for everyone. The names in the acts are redacted.

Two groups of acts will be missing, and this is not a fault of the system. Sentences by which the defendant is sentenced to serve a penalty are published only after the prosecutor notifies the court that steps have been taken to enforce them. Acts in cases on the civil or health status of people, for example on parentage, adoption or placing under guardianship, are published without their reasons.

The full electronic file: only for the parties to the case

The public lookup shows the outline of the case, but not the documents in it. The statement of claim, the response, the evidence, the minutes of the hearings and the notices are in the electronic case file, to which only the parties and their representatives have access.

The parties’ access to the electronic case file is free and remote, and this is a duty of the court by law.

Identification with a КЕП is not a whim of the portal. The Code requires that electronic statements to the court come from an identified person.

“Is there a case against me?”: what can really be checked

This is the most common question and it has the most inconvenient answer. There is no public register in which you enter your ЕГН and see all the cases against you. Not in the courts. Here is what works instead.

The most important is the first. If you are a defendant and nobody finds you at the address, the court does not stop. It sticks up a notice and starts counting. The Code requires the process server to have come at least three times within the month, with at least a week between the visits and at least once on a non-working day, unless they have gathered evidence that you do not live at the address.

The practical conclusion: if you expect a case, for example after an unpaid loan, a dispute with a neighbour or the division of a property, keep your current address up to date and check your letterbox. The notice on the door is a small white slip that is easily torn off.

How to read the case number from the summons

The full designation of a case looks like this: “гр. д. № 12345/2026 г. по описа на Софийски районен съд, 45 състав” (civil case No. 12345/2026 of the Sofia District Court, panel 45). For the lookup you need three of these elements.

The abbreviations for the types of case are the same in all courts: “гр. д.” is a civil case, “ч. гр. д.” is a private civil case, usually order for payment proceedings over a debt, “т. д.” is commercial, “адм. д.” is administrative, “н. о. х. д.” is a criminal case of a general nature, and “н. ч. х. д.” is a criminal case of a private nature, for example for insult or defamation.

What the register of acts is and why your judgment is in it

The acts that end a case before one instance or are subject to separate appeal are announced in a register of the acts of the courts, which by law is part of the unified information system of the courts. Ordinance No. 4 of 2017 of the Supreme Judicial Council describes it as a web-based database with free lookups by court, judge, year, case number and act number and by ECLI number. These are the criteria by which legalacts.justice.bg also searches.

For the parties to the case access is full, for everyone else it is free but with personal data redacted.

How to receive summonses online instead of waiting for a courier

If you are already a party to a case, the most useful thing ЕПЕП gives is not the lookup but the service of documents. You can give an electronic address for service and the court will send the notices there, instead of through a process server (призовкар).

Besides ЕПЕП, the Code allows qualified electronic registered mail and the state’s Secure Electronic Delivery System. ЕПЕП is the route that goes together with access to the case.

The practical difference is big. The notice does not get lost, is not stuck on a door and does not depend on whether you are at home. The price is the discipline of opening your profile, because the seven days run even without you.

Frequently asked questions

Can I look up a case by ЕГН?

No. In the public part of ЕПЕП and on the courts’ websites there is no search by ЕГН or by name. You search by court, type of case, number and year. For your own cases you get full access after registering with a КЕП and an application approved by the court.

How do I find out whether there is a case against me?

There is no universal lookup. The court must serve a summons on you at the address given in the case, and if it does not find you, stick a notice on the door or the letterbox. As a party you can ask at the court registry with an ID card. For enforcement cases with a ЧСИ there is a separate register of debtors.

Is a case lookup free?

Yes, in all three places: ЕПЕП, the court’s website and the register of court acts. You pay for certified copies and certificates from the court registry, under the tariff of court fees.

Do I need an electronic signature to check a case?

Not for the public lookup. You need a КЕП only to register in ЕПЕП and to access the full file of a case in which you are a party, as well as to file documents electronically.

Why can’t I find my case in ЕПЕП?

The three most common reasons are: you chose the wrong court, for example the city court instead of the district court; you entered the year of the hearing instead of the year of opening; or the case is old and was handled in a previous case management system. In the third case, try the lookup on the court’s own website.

Can I read a judgment in someone else’s case?

Yes. The courts’ acts are published immediately after they are issued, with personal data redacted. Search the register of court acts at legalacts.justice.bg by court, number, year or keywords. The reasons are not published in cases on civil and health status, and sentences that impose a penalty are published under a separate procedure.

What is the difference between a case lookup and a lookup at a ЧСИ?

A court case is the dispute before the court. An enforcement case with a ЧСИ starts after there is already a court act or an order for enforcement and is conducted in the enforcement agent’s office, not in the court. For it, the lookup is in the Register of Debtors of the Chamber of Private Enforcement Agents and in the ИССИ system of the Ministry of Justice.

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