Texas Court Records: How to Find and Search Them

Texas has one of the largest and most layered court systems in the country, with more than 2,000 trial courts spread across 254 counties. There is no single database that holds every Texas court record. Each court keeps its own files, and which office holds a file depends on the type of court that heard the case.

The good news is that most Texas court records are public, many counties now post their dockets online, and appellate cases from the state's highest courts can be searched for free. This guide walks through where each kind of record lives and how to get it.

How Texas's courts are organized

Texas is one of only two states with two courts of last resort: one for civil cases and one for criminal cases. Below them sit the intermediate courts of appeals, and below those a mix of state and county trial courts.

Supreme Court of Texas

The final word on civil and juvenile cases. Nine justices hear appeals from the courts of appeals, and the court also writes the rules of civil procedure and oversees the State Bar.

Court of Criminal Appeals

The highest criminal court. It hears death penalty appeals directly, reviews court of appeals decisions through petitions for discretionary review, and handles post-conviction habeas corpus applications (often called 11.07 writs).

Courts of Appeals

Regional intermediate appellate courts hear civil and criminal appeals from trial courts in their districts. The Fifteenth Court of Appeals, created in 2024, hears appeals involving the state government from anywhere in Texas. A new appeal gets its own cause number.

District courts

The general jurisdiction trial courts. They handle felony criminal cases, divorces and custody, title to land, election contests and large civil suits. Their records are kept by the district clerk of each county.

County courts and probate courts

Constitutional county courts and statutory county courts at law hear misdemeanors with possible jail time, mid-sized civil cases and appeals from justice and municipal courts. Statutory probate courts in the larger counties handle wills, estates and guardianships. These records sit with the county clerk.

Justice and municipal courts

Justice of the peace courts handle small claims, evictions, debt claims and Class C misdemeanors. Municipal courts handle city ordinance violations and traffic tickets inside city limits. Each keeps its own records.

Searching Texas court records online

Online access in Texas is a patchwork. Start with the statewide tools below, then check the county's own district clerk or county clerk website, since many larger counties run their own searchable portals.

re:SearchTXThe statewide e-filing search run by the Office of Court Administration. A free account lets you search civil filings from district, county and probate courts in participating counties. Not every county or case type is included, and downloading full documents can cost extra.
TAMES case searchFree search of cases in the Supreme Court of Texas, the Court of Criminal Appeals and the courts of appeals. Briefs, opinions and orders are often available to view online.
Texas Judicial Branch court directoryLook up any Texas court, judge or clerk's office with addresses and phone numbers, which is the fastest way to find who holds a local file.

Getting records from the clerk's office

If a record is not online, request it from the clerk of the court where the case was filed. As a rule of thumb, the district clerk keeps district court files (felonies, divorces, large civil cases), while the county clerk keeps county court, probate and misdemeanor files, plus land records, marriage licenses and assumed name certificates. Justice of the peace and municipal court records come straight from those courts.

Most clerks let you view public files for free at the courthouse and charge for copies, usually about a dollar a page, with an extra fee for a certified copy. Many accept requests by mail or email if you include the case number or party names, the year and a check for the fees. In a criminal case, the clerk's record (the filings) and the reporter's record (the transcript of what was said in court) are separate documents; a transcript is usually only prepared if someone pays the court reporter for it or the case is appealed.

Texas State Law Library: Court Records guideA detailed guide to Texas court, criminal and federal records, including a key to reading appellate cause numbers.

What is public, and what is not

Texas court case records are governed by common law, statutes and court rules, not by the Texas Public Information Act. Most case files, dockets and trial settings are open to anyone. Certain records are closed by law, including most juvenile records, adoption files and many family cases involving children, and sensitive data such as Social Security and bank account numbers must be redacted from filings.

In civil cases, a judge can seal records only after following the notice and hearing process in Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 76a. In criminal cases, an expunction destroys the records of an arrest that did not lead to a conviction, while an order of nondisclosure hides certain records (such as a completed deferred adjudication) from the public but not from police. Records of the courts' own administration are covered separately by Rule 12 of the Rules of Judicial Administration.

Texas Judicial Branch open records policyExplains which rules apply to case records and to court administrative records.
TexasLawHelp.org: Expunctions and nondisclosurePlain-language guidance on clearing a Texas criminal record.

Older and archived records

How long a court keeps a file depends on the type of case. Some records, such as felony judgments and land records, are kept permanently, while others may be destroyed after a set number of years under the retention schedules published by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Older files are often kept by the county clerk or district clerk, or have been sent to the state archives.

Historical appellate files from the Supreme Court of Texas go back to the days of the Republic, and many early district court records survive on microfilm.

Texas State Library and Archives CommissionThe state archives holds historical court records and can help you find where older county records ended up.
Local government retention schedulesShows how long Texas courts are expected to keep each type of record.

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 Texas, the Department of Public Safety keeps the statewide criminal history repository. Its public conviction database only covers convictions and deferred adjudications reported by local agencies, so a court search is still the best way to see the full story of a case.

DPS Criminal History Conviction DatabaseName-based search of Texas convictions and deferred adjudications for a small fee per search.
Texas Public Sex Offender RegistryFree search of registered sex offenders by name or address.
TDCJ inmate searchLook up people currently held in Texas state prisons and state jails.

Federal court records in Texas

Federal cases, including federal crimes, bankruptcies, and lawsuits over federal law or between citizens of different states, are not filed in Texas's state courts. Texas is divided into 4 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 Texas's federal courts go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Tips for a faster search

Appellate cause numbers tell you the court: a number like 03-24-00123-CV is a civil appeal in the Third Court of Appeals filed in 2024, while PD- and WR- numbers belong to the Court of Criminal Appeals.
Check whether a case was in district court or county court before you call, since the two have different clerks even in the same courthouse.
Larger counties such as Harris, Dallas, Tarrant, Bexar and Travis run their own free online case searches that often include criminal cases not found in re:SearchTX.
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:

Texas State Law LibraryFree research help from law librarians by phone, chat and email, plus remote access to legal databases for Texas residents.
TexasLawHelp.orgFree legal information, court forms and a directory of legal aid organizations.

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.