civics.online

Court Records

Indiana Court Records

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

Indiana's trial courts have moved almost entirely onto one statewide case management system, which makes Indiana one of the easiest states for finding court records. The free MyCase site searches cases from courts across the state and shows many filed documents.

Records are still kept locally by the elected clerk of the circuit court in each of Indiana's 92 counties, who handles copies, certified records and anything not online.

How Indiana's courts are organized

Indiana's appellate courts include a specialized Tax Court. Its trial courts are circuit and superior courts in every county, along with a small number of city and town courts.

Indiana Supreme Court

Five justices hear appeals in cases with sentences of life without parole, review Court of Appeals decisions on petition, and oversee lawyers and judges.

Indiana Court of Appeals

Fifteen judges in five districts hear most appeals from trial courts and some state agencies.

Indiana Tax Court

Hears appeals from state tax agency decisions.

Circuit and superior courts

The general jurisdiction trial courts. Every county has a circuit court, and most also have one or more superior courts, some with specialized dockets for criminal, family, probate or small claims cases.

City and town courts

Limited jurisdiction courts in some communities that hear misdemeanors, traffic and ordinance violations.

Searching Indiana court records online

MyCase is the statewide public portal for Indiana court records.

  • MyCaseFree search of trial and appellate court cases statewide by name, case number or attorney. Many documents in public cases can be viewed.
  • Indiana appellate case searchOpinions and case information for the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals and Tax Court.

Getting records from the clerk's office

The clerk of the circuit court in each county keeps records for all circuit and superior courts in that county. Clerks provide copies and certified copies for a fee, and most accept requests by mail or email.

Probate and guardianship cases are part of the same court system, so the same clerk holds them. Deeds are kept by the county recorder.

What is public, and what is not

Indiana's Rules on Access to Court Records spell out what is public. Most records are open, but juvenile, adoption, mental health and paternity records are confidential, along with personal identifiers. Filers must use special green paper or electronic confidential designations for confidential information.

Indiana's expungement law (Indiana Code 35-38-9) lets people seal or mark as expunged many arrests and convictions after a waiting period. Most expunged records are sealed from public view; some felony convictions remain public but are marked expunged.

Older and archived records

Closed court records are kept under retention schedules set by the Indiana Supreme Court. Many historical county court records have been transferred to the Indiana Archives, and some counties keep their own historical collections.

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.

The Indiana State Police keeps the state's criminal history repository and offers a public limited criminal history search.

Federal court records in Indiana

Federal cases, including federal crimes, bankruptcies, and lawsuits over federal law or between citizens of different states, are not filed in Indiana's state courts. Indiana is divided into 2 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 Indiana's federal courts go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Tips for a faster search

  • Indiana case numbers include the county and court number, the year and a case type, such as F5 for a Level 5 felony or SC for small claims.
  • If a record you expect is missing from MyCase, it may be confidential or expunged, or it may predate the court's move to the statewide system.
  • City and town courts may not be on MyCase. Call them directly.
  • 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.