Kentucky Court Records
How Kentucky's courts are organized, where their records are kept and how to search them.
Kentucky's Court of Justice is a unified, state-run court system. Every county has a circuit court and a district court, and an elected circuit court clerk keeps the records for both.
Kentucky does not offer a free public statewide case search. Instead, the Administrative Office of the Courts sells official statewide criminal record reports, and individual case files come from the circuit clerk.
How Kentucky's courts are organized
Kentucky's courts were reorganized in 1976 into a four-level unified system.
Supreme Court of Kentucky
Seven justices hear appeals in cases with sentences of 20 years or more, review Court of Appeals decisions and oversee the courts and the bar.
Kentucky Court of Appeals
Hears most appeals from the circuit courts.
Circuit courts
The general jurisdiction trial courts. They hear felonies, larger civil cases, land disputes and appeals from district court. Family courts, a division of circuit court, handle divorce, custody, adoption and dependency cases.
District courts
Limited jurisdiction courts that hear misdemeanors, traffic, small claims, smaller civil cases, juvenile matters, probate and mental health commitments.
Searching Kentucky court records online
Online access to Kentucky trial court records is limited for the public. The Court of Justice offers these tools:
- Kentucky Court of Justice record requestHow to request records from the courts, including AOC criminal record reports that search statewide court data for a fee.
- Kentucky appellate case informationFree case search for the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals.
- Kentucky Court of JusticeOpinions, court directories and self-help resources.
Getting records from the clerk's office
The elected circuit court clerk in each county keeps records for both circuit and district courts, including probate and family cases. Clerks provide copies and certified copies for a fee, and you can view public files at the clerk's office.
In Kentucky, deeds, mortgages and marriage licenses are kept by the county clerk, which is a different office from the circuit court clerk.
- Kentucky circuit court clerksContact information for the courts and clerk in each county.
What is public, and what is not
Most Kentucky court records are open to the public, but juvenile, adoption, dependency, mental health and many family court records are confidential, along with personal identifiers.
Kentucky allows expungement of dismissed charges and acquittals, and of many misdemeanor and some felony convictions after a waiting period. Kentucky's courts also run a free expungement eligibility certification through the AOC.
- Kentucky expungement informationHow to check eligibility and apply for expungement.
Older and archived records
Closed court records are kept by circuit clerks for set periods and then sent to the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives or destroyed. KDLA holds many historical circuit court records on microfilm.
- Kentucky Department for Libraries and ArchivesHistorical state and local government records, including court records.
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 Kentucky, the courts themselves are the main source for criminal record checks. The Administrative Office of the Courts sells statewide criminal history reports drawn from court records, and the Kentucky State Police keeps fingerprint-based records.
- AOC criminal record reportsStatewide criminal record reports from Kentucky court data, available for a fee.
- Kentucky sex offender registryKentucky State Police public search of registered sex offenders.
- Kentucky Online Offender Lookup (KOOL)Find people in Kentucky Department of Corrections custody or on supervision.
Federal court records in Kentucky
Federal cases, including federal crimes, bankruptcies, and lawsuits over federal law or between citizens of different states, are not filed in Kentucky's state courts. Kentucky 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 Kentucky's federal courts go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Tips for a faster search
- Kentucky case numbers include the year, a case type such as CR (circuit criminal), CI (circuit civil) or M (district misdemeanor), and a sequence number.
- If you need a statewide check on a person, an AOC record report is usually more complete than calling individual clerks.
- Remember that the circuit court clerk and the county clerk are different offices.
- 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:
- Kentucky State Law LibraryThe state's public law library in the Capitol.
- Kentucky Justice OnlineFree legal information and links to legal aid programs.
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.