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Court Records

Nebraska Court Records

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

Nebraska's state courts share a single case management system, called JUSTICE, which covers the district, county and separate juvenile courts statewide. That system is available online, so you can search Nebraska trial court cases from anywhere.

Name searches in JUSTICE are a paid service, while searching by case number is cheaper.

Because county and district courts share JUSTICE, it is also easier to trace a case that started in county court and moved to district court, such as a felony bound over after a preliminary hearing.

How Nebraska's courts are organized

Nebraska has two appellate courts and three kinds of trial courts, plus a Workers' Compensation Court.

Nebraska Supreme Court

Seven judges hear appeals in life sentence cases and other major cases and review Court of Appeals decisions.

Nebraska Court of Appeals

Hears most appeals from the trial courts.

District courts

The general jurisdiction trial courts, in 12 judicial districts. They hear felonies, larger civil cases, divorce and appeals from county courts.

County courts

Hear misdemeanors, traffic, small claims, smaller civil cases, probate, guardianships and, in most counties, juvenile cases.

Separate juvenile courts

Douglas, Lancaster and Sarpy counties have separate juvenile courts.

Searching Nebraska court records online

JUSTICE is Nebraska's statewide trial court search.

Getting records from the clerk's office

District court records come from the clerk of the district court in each county; county court records come from the county court clerk magistrate. Both provide copies and certified copies for set fees.

Deeds are kept by the county register of deeds.

Each county has both a clerk of the district court, usually an elected official, and a county court staffed by state employees. Both offices can search JUSTICE for you at the counter, and public terminals in many courthouses let you look up cases yourself without paying online fees.

What is public, and what is not

Most Nebraska court records are public, but juvenile, adoption, mental health and some family records are confidential, along with personal identifiers.

Nebraska allows people to have a conviction set aside after completing probation, and newer laws allow some criminal records to be sealed. Sealed records are hidden from public searches.

Nebraska's Supreme Court rules require that Social Security numbers and financial account numbers be redacted from public court filings. Juvenile court records are confidential, but Nebraska law also lets juveniles ask the court to seal records once their case is complete.

Older and archived records

Historical Nebraska court records, including territorial and early county records, are held by History Nebraska, which runs the state archives.

Older county court and district court records may still be stored in the county courthouse. History Nebraska's Government Records division accepts and microfilms historical court records from counties across the state.

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 Nebraska State Patrol keeps the state's criminal history records. Conviction records are public and can be requested by anyone.

Federal court records in Nebraska

Federal cases, including federal crimes, bankruptcies, and lawsuits over federal law or between citizens of different states, are not filed in Nebraska's state courts. Nebraska is a single federal judicial district, 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 Nebraska's federal courts go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Tips for a faster search

  • Searching JUSTICE by case number costs less than a name search, so get the case number first if you can.
  • Check whether a case was in district court or county court; they have different clerks.
  • Juvenile cases in Omaha, Lincoln and Sarpy County are in the separate juvenile courts.
  • If you only know a name, JUSTICE can search statewide, but expect to pay a per-search fee; searching by case number costs less.
  • 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.