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Court Records

Alaska Court Records

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

Alaska has one of the simplest court systems in the country. There are no county courts at all: a single, state-run court system serves every community, from Anchorage to villages reachable only by plane. That also means one free statewide search covers trial courts everywhere.

Alaska is unusual in one important way. By state law, the court system's website may not show criminal cases that ended in an acquittal or dismissal, so an online search will not tell the whole story for some defendants.

How Alaska's courts are organized

The Alaska Court System has four levels, all funded and run by the state. Trial courts are grouped into four judicial districts.

Alaska Supreme Court

Five justices hear appeals in civil cases and review Court of Appeals decisions. The court also oversees the whole court system and adopts its rules.

Alaska Court of Appeals

Hears appeals in criminal cases, juvenile delinquency cases, and post-conviction relief and sentence appeals.

Superior Court

The general jurisdiction trial court. It hears felonies, larger civil cases, divorces and custody, probate, children's cases and appeals from the district court.

District Court and magistrates

Hears misdemeanors, smaller civil cases, small claims, domestic violence protective orders and traffic cases. Magistrates serve smaller and remote communities and can handle many of the same matters.

Searching Alaska court records online

Alaska offers free online access to trial court case information statewide. Documents themselves are generally not available online, but the docket shows parties, hearings, charges and outcomes.

  • CourtView public accessFree search of Superior and District Court cases from every court location by name, case number or ticket number. Confidential case types and some criminal cases are excluded.
  • Appellate court case searchDocket information for Alaska Supreme Court and Court of Appeals cases.
  • Alaska Court SystemOpinions, court rules, forms and contact information for every court location.

Getting records from the clerk's office

To see or copy a case file, contact the clerk's office at the court location where the case was filed. Clerks can provide copies and certified copies for a fee, and many requests can be handled by mail or email. Older files may have been sent to the court system's records center, which can add time.

Because there are no county clerks in Alaska, there is no second office to check for trial court records. Recorded documents such as deeds are handled separately by the state Recorder's Office.

What is public, and what is not

Public access to Alaska court records is governed by Administrative Rule 37.5, which presumes records are open and lists the exceptions. Children in Need of Aid cases, adoptions, most juvenile delinquency cases, mental health commitments and guardianship details are confidential, as are records sealed by a judge.

Alaska law (AS 22.35.030) keeps the court system from publishing online the record of a criminal case if all charges were dismissed or the defendant was acquitted, once the case has been closed for a period of time. Those records are still public at the courthouse. Alaska does not have a general expungement law, although some records can be sealed in limited situations.

Older and archived records

Closed court files are stored by the court system for set periods and then either destroyed or transferred to the Alaska State Archives under the court's records retention schedule. Some territorial-era court records, from before statehood in 1959, are also held by the National Archives in Seattle.

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.

Alaska's statewide criminal history records are kept by the Department of Public Safety in the Alaska Public Safety Information Network (APSIN).

Federal court records in Alaska

Federal cases, including federal crimes, bankruptcies, and lawsuits over federal law or between citizens of different states, are not filed in Alaska's state courts. Alaska is a single federal judicial district, and each has its own clerk's office:

The federal district court sits in Anchorage, with divisions in Fairbanks, Juneau, Ketchikan and Nome.

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 Alaska's federal courts go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Tips for a faster search

  • Alaska case numbers start with a code for the court location and the judicial district, such as 3AN for Anchorage or 4FA for Fairbanks.
  • If a criminal case you expected to find is missing from CourtView, it may have been dismissed or ended in acquittal. Ask the clerk at the court location.
  • Small courts in rural communities may keep limited hours. Call before you travel.
  • 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.