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Court Records

Alabama Court Records

How Alabama's courts are organized, where their records are kept and how to search them.

Alabama runs a unified, state-funded court system, which makes its records easier to find than in many states. Every circuit and district court in all 67 counties feeds the same statewide case management system, so one search can reach trial court records anywhere in the state.

The catch is cost. Alabama's statewide trial court search is a paid subscription service, and free access is mostly limited to the courthouse itself. Probate courts, which keep wills, estates and land records, sit outside that system and keep their own files.

How Alabama's courts are organized

Alabama has a single top court, two specialized intermediate appellate courts, and two levels of trial courts, plus probate and municipal courts.

Supreme Court of Alabama

Nine justices make up the state's court of last resort. It hears appeals in many civil cases directly and reviews decisions of the two intermediate courts by petition for a writ of certiorari.

Court of Civil Appeals and Court of Criminal Appeals

The Court of Civil Appeals hears domestic relations, workers' compensation, administrative and smaller civil appeals. The Court of Criminal Appeals hears every appeal from a criminal conviction, including post-conviction petitions under Rule 32.

Circuit courts

The general jurisdiction trial courts, organized into 41 judicial circuits. They hear felonies, larger civil suits, divorces and appeals from district and municipal courts. The circuit clerk in each county keeps the records.

District courts

Limited jurisdiction courts in every county that hear misdemeanors, traffic cases, felony preliminary hearings, small claims and smaller civil suits, and in most counties juvenile cases. The same circuit clerk's office usually keeps district court files.

Probate and municipal courts

Probate judges handle wills, estates, guardianships, adoptions and name changes, and also record deeds, mortgages and marriage records. Municipal courts hear city ordinance and traffic violations.

Searching Alabama court records online

Because all state trial courts share one case management system, Alabama's statewide search really is statewide. Expect to pay for it.

  • AlacourtThe official online access service for Alabama circuit and district court records, run under contract with the Administrative Office of Courts. It requires a paid subscription or per-search purchase and covers civil, criminal, domestic, traffic and small claims cases in every county.
  • ACIS: Alabama Appellate Courts Public PortalFree search of cases in the Supreme Court, Court of Civil Appeals and Court of Criminal Appeals, with docket entries and many opinions.
  • Alabama Unified Judicial SystemThe judiciary's home page, with a directory of circuit clerks and links to opinions and court rules.

Getting records from the clerk's office

Every county has an elected circuit clerk who keeps the files for both the circuit and district courts. Public terminals in the clerk's office let you search the same statewide system as Alacourt without a subscription, and staff can print or certify copies for a per-page fee.

Wills, estates, deeds and marriage licenses are not in the circuit clerk's office. For those, go to the county probate office, many of which offer their own online land records search. If you are not sure which county handled a case, a paid Alacourt search across all counties can save several phone calls.

What is public, and what is not

Most Alabama court records are open to the public, including civil, criminal, traffic and domestic case files. Juvenile records, adoption files, grand jury proceedings and records sealed by court order are not. Filers are expected to leave out or redact Social Security numbers, financial account numbers and the names of minors.

Alabama allows expungement of records for many charges that were dismissed, no-billed or ended in acquittal, and a 2021 law extended relief to some old misdemeanor and violation convictions. Expungement petitions are filed in the circuit court of the county where the charge was brought.

Older and archived records

Older Alabama trial court files are often still in the county courthouse, sometimes on microfilm. Many 19th and early 20th century circuit court, probate and chancery records have been microfilmed or transferred to the state archives.

The state's electronic system generally reaches back to the late 1970s or 1980s, depending on the county and case type, so older cases usually require a request to the clerk or a visit to the archives.

Criminal history and background records

A court file tells you what happened in one case in one court. A criminal history record (often called a rap sheet) pulls together arrests, charges and outcomes reported from across the state, so it is a different product kept by a different agency.

In Alabama, criminal history records are kept by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA). A court search shows individual cases, while ALEA's record compiles arrests and dispositions reported across the state.

Federal court records in Alabama

Federal cases, including federal crimes, bankruptcies, and lawsuits over federal law or between citizens of different states, are not filed in Alabama's state courts. Alabama is divided into 3 federal judicial districts, and each has its own clerk's office:

Federal case files are searched through PACER, the federal judiciary's records system. PACER charges a small fee per page, but you pay nothing if your charges stay under the quarterly fee-waiver threshold, court opinions are free, and every federal courthouse has public terminals you can use at no cost. Many PACER documents have also been copied into the free RECAP Archive on CourtListener. Appeals from Alabama's federal courts go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Tips for a faster search

  • Alabama case numbers begin with a case type code, such as CC for circuit criminal, CV for circuit civil, DR for domestic relations and DC or SM for district criminal and small claims.
  • If you only need to check one case, a single paid Alacourt search or a visit to the courthouse terminal is usually cheaper than a subscription.
  • Remember to check the probate office separately for wills, estates, guardianships and property records.
  • Have the full names of the parties, the county and a rough date range ready. A case number is the fastest way in if you have one.
  • Online indexes are not the official record. If a decision depends on it, get a copy (or a certified copy) from the clerk's office that holds the file.

Legal help and law libraries

Clerks and law librarians can explain how to find a record, but they cannot give legal advice. These organizations can point you in the right direction:

This guide is general information about public records, not legal advice. Court websites, fees and rules change, so confirm details with the court before you rely on them. Civics-Online.org is not affiliated with any court or government agency.