Indiana Court Docket Search

An Indiana court docket search is a way to obtain information about pending and completed court proceedings. Court dockets are official records that summarize a case's proceedings and filing history in chronological order. They are primarily maintained by court clerks who are also tasked with assigning a docket number, or case number, to each court case that is filed in Indiana state courts. These numbers are assigned to the court docket created for the case.

Like Indiana court records, the information included in a docket typically includes the parties' names, the case's type, information about linked cases, and a chronological summary of the case, among other significant case information. Most Indiana court cases’ court dockets are available online through the public access portal maintained by the state judiciary branch.

Are Court Dockets Public Records in Indiana?

In Indiana, court dockets are indeed public records. The general public has the right access to court records under Indiana's Access to Public Records Act (APRA) and Rules on Access to Court Records. Court records are defined as both case records and administrative records under Rule 3 of the Rules on Access to Court Records. Court dockets can be categorized as either case records or court administration records, making them public records in Indiana.

However, court dockets of certain cases are exempt from public access under Rule 5 of the Rules on Access to Court Records. These include all cases that have been classified as confidential or sealed by state or federal law or as required by a court order.

Where to Find a Court Docket in Indiana

Court dockets are maintained as court records by courthouses in Indiana. Hence, inquiries to find a case court docket should be directed to the clerk's office of the court where the case was initially filed.

Besides courthouses, record seekers can also find a court docket through third-party aggregate websites. Some third-party aggregate websites offer online services that allow consumers to access public cases court dockets for a fee. When using such websites, record seekers should exercise the utmost caution because the accuracy and completeness of the information gained through such services are not always guaranteed. Verifying information from other sources against official dockets kept by the relevant court is a good modus operandi to adopt to ensure dockets accuracy.

How to Conduct an Indiana Court Docket Search

As mentioned in previous sections, interested persons can conduct an Indiana court docket search by querying the clerk's office of the courthouse where the case in question was filed. Courthouses in Indiana may provide access to court dockets they maintain either in electronic format, physical format, or other format or a combination of both ways.

Physical copies of a non-confidential case's court docket can be obtained by visiting administrative office or the clerk's office of the courthouse where the case was filed and requesting an in-person docket search. In order to help identify the case, record seekers are typically required to provide information about the case. This information could contain the case number or the names of the parties involved. Requesters should note that they may be charged for court dockets copies furnished to them.

An alternative is to use the mycase search portal to search court dockets for cases of Indiana's trial courts online. Record seekers should note that the mycase portal only provides information on non-confidential court cases maintained by Indiana courts that use the odyssey case file management system. The court list published on the state judicial branch website contains information on Indiana courts that make use of the Odyssey case management system. On the mycase search portal, record seekers can search for a case’s court docket by using specific keywords about the case. These include the case’s number, litigants’ names, or the attorney’s name/bar number.

On the other hand, interested persons can use the Appellate Case Search portal to conduct a court docket search for Indiana supreme court, court of appeals, and tax court cases. Similar to the mycase, a simple search can be conducted on the appellate case search portal by providing a litigant name (person or organization). Usually, a simple search yields many results (for common names). To hedge against this, record seekers can opt for advanced search which would require them to provide more specifics about the case. These include details about the court where the case was filed (type and county of origin), case type, and a specific timeline believed to be when the case was filed.

Additionally, some Indiana courts also provide judgment docket indexes of cases heard in their courthouse on their official website. These dockets may offer insight into relevant court cases despite their lack of depth. An example is Hamilton county court.

What is the Purpose of a Court Docket in Indiana

In Indiana, a court docket's primary purpose is to provide specifics about a case as well as a detailed timeline of the case's proceedings and filings. Court clerks use these details to appropriately identify and manage court cases within their respective court systems. Additionally, a court docket can act as a calendar for a case, notifying the court of the dates set for various proceedings in the case.

Court dockets also are utilized by case parties, attorneys, and the general public in addition to being employed as administrative tools inside the judicial system. In the sense that a case’s court docket can be examined to learn about the dates of impending trials, filings in a court case, details about the judge handling the case, and claims and charges in the case.

What Do Court Dockets Contain Indiana?

Information present in most court dockets generated in Indiana includes and is not limited to:

The case title
The type of court
The case number
The case statute. This indicates whether a case is still open, inactive, closed, or has been reopened.
The case type. For example civil action, court business, probate, or small claim.
The case’s filing date
The date the case was last updated
The names of case litigants as well as their attornies information (if available). These can include the attorney’s bar number, their office’s address, and phone number
Related case(s) information and the court where this case(s) was heard.
Final judgments and orders in a case.
Chronological Case Summary (CCS). This section of a court docket lists each event that occurred during a case’s proceeding as well as the date when it occurred. This includes all motions, pleading, affidavits, orders, and notices filed or issued in the case.

What is a Court Docket Number in Indiana?

In Indiana, a court docket number is a unique string of characters assigned to each court case filed within the state judiciary system. A court docket number, often referred to as a "case number," is used to identify court cases and set them apart from one another. As a result, every court file and document relevant to a case is identified by the court docket number assigned to it. This makes it easier for the court to find the case's documents and retrieve important information.

Despite the moniker “court docket number,” can contain more than just numbers. It can contain numbers, letters, and special characters like a hyphen. Pursuant to Ind. Administrative Rule 8(B)(1), court docket numbers in Indiana can be divided into four distinct sections. These sections are as follows:

Court identifier
Year/month of filing
Case type
Filing sequence.

The first five (5) characters of a docket number, known as the court identifier, typically provide the court, court type, and court number of the courthouse where the case was filed.

The “year/month of filing” section is normally the next four (4) digits of the docket number after the court identifier. As the name implies (year/month of filing), this section represents the year and month the case was filed. The first two characters (usually numbers) represent the filing year, and the remaining two represent the month the case was filed.

The next section (case type) consists of two (2) characters that designate the type of proceedings. Some examples of case types code include:

BL Board of Law Examiners
CO Contempt Proceedings
CQ Certified Questions
DI Attorney Discipline
JD Judicial Discipline

Other examples are listed in Ind. Administrative Rule 8. The last section (filling sequence) is a sequence of numbers assigned to each case filed in a court. This number starts at “1” at the beginning of the year and sequentially increases throughout the year. With the information above interested person can read certain court case numbers. For instance, 49D06-0709-PL-0000123 decodes as:

49 - Marion county
D - Superior court
06 - Civil division 6
07 - 2007
09 - September
PL - Plenary
0000123 - Case number 123

How to Conduct a Court Docket Number Lookup in Indiana

Anyone interested in conducting a court docket number lookup in Indiana typically needs other information about the court case in question. These may include any of the case’s litigant names or the name of any attorney involved in the case. With the aforementioned information, record seekers can visit the clerk's office of the courthouse where the case was filed to request a court docket number lookup. A record seeker can supply the court staff with these details about the desired court case and pay the appropriate fees (if required) to conduct a court docket number lookup. Record seekers can also look up a case’s court documents to find the case’s court docket number. Because a case’s court docket number is typically included in all court filling and documents related to the case.

Some courthouses, for instance, Allen county superior court, provides electronic court docket display centers that inquirers can use to look up a court docket number. Alternatively, interested persons can conduct court docket number lookup remotely in the comfort of their home through the mycase and the Appellate Case Search portal. The mycase portal can be used to look up court docket numbers of trial court cases. While the appellate case search portal can be used to look up appellate, supreme, and tax court cases. Similar to in-person requests, search criteria needed to look up docket information (including docket number) through the portals include any of the litigant names or detail of attornies involved in the case.