Search Clinton County Court Records
Most current Clinton County court records are searched through Indiana MyCase, the public case portal linked by the Indiana Judicial Branch for Clinton County. MyCase can show public case information and many free documents, but it is not the certified court record. The official file remains with the court and clerk that maintain it. If a document is missing online, if a certified copy is needed, or if the result looks incomplete, the next step is the Clinton County Clerk of the Courts.
The MyCase search tips support case, party, and attorney searches. Clinton County users may need to check Clinton Circuit Court, Clinton Superior Court, and Frankfort City Court records. Older lawsuits, divorce files, criminal records, guardianships, probate files, and marriage application books can be outside the online portal and may be held by Archives instead.
- Open MyCase from the state Clinton County court page or go directly to the public portal.
- Choose case search for a case number, citation number, or cross-reference number.
- Use party search when the case number is unknown, with a last name plus first name, middle name, or date of birth.
- Review the case details for court, filing date, status, hearings, docket entries, financial balances, and available documents.
- Contact the Clerk or Archives for certified copies, older files, or documents that are not online.
The county homepage is a useful starting point for office routing. The official Clinton County homepage shows county navigation and local office information for Frankfort.
The county page helps confirm the local agency path before a court user moves to MyCase, the Clerk, Archives, the Sheriff, or another office.
Clinton County Court System
Indiana does not use a county-level district court model. Clinton County has a Circuit Court, a Superior Court, and Frankfort City Court. The Indiana Judicial Branch Clinton County page places the county in Judicial District 12 with Boone, Hamilton, and Tipton counties. Appeals from local trial courts move through Indiana's appellate courts, with most state appeals going first to the Indiana Court of Appeals.
The county's court page explains that circuit courts are constitutional trial courts with broad jurisdiction unless another court has exclusive or shared authority. Superior courts are created by statute and often hear civil, criminal, small-claims, and minor-offense matters by local assignment. City and town courts are more limited and often handle local ordinance and traffic matters.
The official Clinton County Courts page lists the Circuit and Superior Court contacts and links court records, fine payment, local rules, and hearing tools.
That local court page is the practical bridge between statewide court access and the county offices that handle hearings, fines, and records.
| Court or Office | Official or Judge | Records and Role |
|---|---|---|
| Clinton Circuit Court | Judge Brad Mohler | General trial jurisdiction, including civil, criminal, probate, and other matters by assignment. |
| Clinton Superior Court | Judge Justin Hunter | General trial jurisdiction that may include civil, criminal, small-claims, and minor-offense matters. |
| Frankfort City Court | Judge Matthew K. Beardsley | Limited local jurisdiction, including city traffic and ordinance matters. |
| Clerk of the Courts | Stephanie Harshbarger | Records, payments, marriage licenses, child support, licenses, certificates, and voter registration. |
Clinton County Record Copies
The Clinton County Clerk of the Courts is the current contact for certified court copies, marriage licenses, payment questions, and many case-file requests. The Clerk's public page lists Stephanie Harshbarger as Clerk, with the office at 2 E Washington St. STE 304 in Frankfort. Court users should note the address issue in the research: current county pages list 2 E Washington St. suites, while the Indiana court directory still carries Courthouse Square addresses for some court offices.
Older court and legal records may be a separate request. Clinton County Archives holds old divorce records, lawsuits, criminal records, guardianship, probate, and marriage application books from 1882 through 1905. Archives also states that records dating back to 1830 were brought to the local library for indexing when the courthouse was remodeled in 2000.
The county departments index gives another official route into Clerk, Courts, Archives, Probation, Community Corrections, Recorder, Prosecutor, Sheriff, and other local offices.
Because Clinton County records are split across several offices, the department index can prevent a wrong-counter request.
| Request Type | Where to Start | Key Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Current certified court copy | Clerk of the Courts | Call or visit the Clerk when MyCase does not provide the official document needed. |
| Older legal records | Archives | Archives has old divorce, lawsuits, criminal, guardianship, probate, and selected marriage applications. |
| Marriage license copy | Clerk of the Courts | Indiana Health directs certified marriage and divorce record seekers to the county Clerk. |
| Sheriff incident or booking record | Sheriff Records Division | The Sheriff's app links public-records, photo, and video request forms. |
The county phone directory lists direct numbers for court, clerk, sheriff, prosecutor, probation, archives, and other departments.
That directory is useful when a record path depends on the office holding the file rather than the online search portal.
Clinton County Court Record Types
Clinton County court records include civil lawsuits, small claims, criminal cases, court charge records after arrest, family and divorce matters, probate and guardianship files, traffic and infraction cases, protective orders, and some judgments or tax-warrant-related filings. The court listed on the case depends on subject matter, local assignment, and whether the matter began in Circuit Court, Superior Court, or Frankfort City Court.
Traffic tickets are a good example of why the court name matters. A citation may route through Clinton Circuit Court, Clinton Superior Court, or Frankfort City Court depending on the ticket. A court traffic record is also distinct from an Indiana BMV driver record, which shows license status, suspensions, violations, points, and other driving-history entries.
- Civil records: complaints, answers, motions, judgments, liens, collections, evictions, and service papers.
- Criminal records: charging information, hearings, pleas, dispositions, sentencing, probation, and costs when public.
- Family records: dissolution, custody, support, parenting time, and protective-order filings with restricted details where required.
- Probate records: estates, wills, guardianships, trusts, inventories, notices, accountings, and final orders.
- Traffic records: citations, infractions, hearings, payments, disposition, failure-to-appear entries, and court costs.
What Clinton County Records Show
Public case records usually show the case number, case caption, court, filing date, status, parties, attorneys, hearings, docket entries, financial data, and public documents. Criminal entries may add charges, Indiana Code citations, offense levels, bond, pleas, disposition, sentence, probation, and court costs. Family, juvenile, adoption, mental-health, sealed, and expunged matters can be restricted or redacted.
A docket entry is not the same as the full document. A MyCase line may say a motion, order, summons, notice, or judgment was filed, while the actual document may or may not be viewable online. If the online document is absent, the Clerk or Archives must be contacted. Certified copies have to come from the official record custodian.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Case number | Indiana court, case type, filing year, and sequence details when available. |
| Caption | Parties such as State of Indiana, defendant, plaintiff, petitioner, or respondent. |
| Court | Clinton Circuit Court, Clinton Superior Court, or Frankfort City Court. |
| Docket entries | Filings, hearings, orders, notices, continuances, judgments, payments, or warrant actions. |
| Disposition | The outcome, such as judgment, dismissal, plea, conviction, acquittal, or closed status. |
| Documents | Public filings and orders when online access is allowed by Indiana court-access rules. |
Clinton County Public Access Rules
Indiana court-record access is governed by both general public-record law and court-specific rules. The Indiana Access to Public Records Act generally makes public agency records available unless a statute or rule excludes them. Court records have more specific rules through Indiana Administrative Rule 9 and the Access to Court Records Rules.
The state public-records hub links MyCase, document access information, marriage lookup, DOC offender search, the county jail locator, and public-records request guidance. For Clinton County, this means online public access is useful but not the whole process. The Clerk remains the official path for certified court records, and the Sheriff handles law-enforcement record requests.
Key Statutes:
IC 5-14-3 generally allows inspection and copying of public agency records unless an exception applies.
Access to Court Records Rule 9 provides a process for requesting records excluded from public access.
IC 35-38-9 governs sealing and expungement of qualifying arrest, charge, and conviction records.
IC 31-39 controls juvenile-law records and limits ordinary public access.
Restricted Clinton County Records
Some Clinton County court records are not ordinary public records. Juvenile files, adoption records, mental-health proceedings, sealed cases, expunged cases, protected-party safety information, confidential addresses, social security numbers, financial account numbers, medical details, and minor identifiers may be withheld or redacted. A record may also exist in the court system but be unavailable through MyCase because the document type or filing date is not online.
Expungement in Indiana can limit public access to qualifying arrest, charge, and conviction records. A Clinton County expungement petition usually routes through Clinton Circuit or Superior Court and the Clerk. The effect is access limitation, not a promise that every government copy is destroyed. Law-enforcement and court agencies may retain access for official reasons.
Indiana's public-records page is the statewide access gateway for court, marriage, jail, and other record channels.
Archives is especially important in Clinton County because many older records are real public records but are not modern portal records.
Clinton County Jail Records
The Clinton County Sheriff's Office provides a separate public-safety and jail records path. Sheriff Brendon Bright's office uses an OCV site and app with inmate search, jail information, commissary, inmate communication, public-records requests, photo and video requests, BuyCrash, OffenderWatch, tax warrants, sheriff sales, and most-wanted features. Jail and booking data are not the same as the court case file.
The official Clinton County Sheriff's Office site is the starting point for jail and sheriff records. The Sheriff's Office main line is 765-659-6393, Records Division is 765-659-6373, and jail division/housing inquiries go to 765-659-6396.
Community Corrections matters because court records may reference home detention, work release, day reporting, or other local supervision after a criminal case.
Clinton County Marriage and Probate
Marriage licenses are handled by the Clinton County Clerk of the Courts. Indiana's marriage-license process allows the online application to start through the state system, but the couple still appears at the Clerk's Office to finish the process and receive the license. The statewide Marriage License Public Lookup covers many, but not all, Indiana records from 1993 forward.
Divorce records are court records held by the Clerk where the dissolution was filed. Indiana Health directs certified marriage-license and divorce-decree requests to the county Clerk, not to the state health department. Probate matters are handled within the Clinton Circuit and Superior Court system, with current records through the Clerk and older probate or guardianship records through Archives.
- Testator
- A person who made a will.
- Executor
- A person named to handle estate duties under a will.
- Guardian
- A person appointed by the court to manage care or affairs for a minor or incapacitated adult.
- Intestate
- A death without a valid will, causing state inheritance rules to apply.
Clinton County Records Fees
Not every Clinton County fee was published in the reviewed official sources. The strongest fee data comes from Archives and Indiana's marriage-license guidance. For current court certified copies, filing fees, letters, and payment service charges, the safer path is to call the Clerk before mailing money or visiting the office.
The Clerk page is the official local source for hours, address, payments, child-support links, hearing lookup, and traffic-payment links.
The Clerk page also confirms that records and payments are handled locally even when a statewide portal is used to locate the case.
| Item | Amount or Status |
|---|---|
| Archives base copy request | $1 base fee. |
| Archives copies | $1 per copy plus mailing costs. |
| Marriage license, Indiana resident | $25 if one or both applicants are Indiana residents. |
| Marriage license, out-of-state residents | $65. |
| Certified marriage-license copy | $4 each. |
| Current court copy fees | Not located in the reviewed Clinton Clerk source; confirm with the Clerk. |
Clinton County Court History
Clinton County was created on March 1, 1830 from eastern parts of Tippecanoe County and was named for DeWitt Clinton. Frankfort is the county seat. The county homepage says the courthouse was completed in 1892 and entered on the National Register of Historic Places on December 5, 1978. That history matters for records because older legal files may be in Archives rather than a modern portal.
Probation and Community Corrections also add local context to criminal and supervision records. The Probation Department is led by Chief Probation Officer Matthew Risk, and Community Corrections was established in 2002. The county probation page publishes payment and reporting rules for people under supervision.
The official Probation page supplies local supervision rules tied to court orders and fee payments.
Those supervision rules can appear in criminal court records as probation terms, revocation filings, fees, or compliance hearings.
Federal Records Near Clinton County
Federal cases are separate from Clinton County court records. Clinton County is in the Indianapolis Division of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana under 28 U.S.C. section 94. Federal civil, criminal, bankruptcy, habeas, and federal-question cases do not appear as county cases in MyCase. They use federal court systems instead.
Direct federal docket and document access usually requires PACER. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana handles bankruptcy records for county residents and businesses. The Seventh Circuit handles federal appeals from Indiana federal district courts.
The county Recorder page is a useful contrast because deeds, mortgages, mechanics liens, and many land instruments are recorded documents, not court case files.
That distinction helps separate court judgments and tax warrants from land and recorded-instrument searches.
Clinton County Court FAQs
Can Clinton County court records be searched online?
Yes. MyCase is the main statewide public portal for current Clinton County case information and some documents. It is not the official certified record, so certified copies and missing documents must be requested from the Clerk or Archives.
Which court handles Clinton County cases?
Clinton County has Circuit Court, Superior Court, and Frankfort City Court. Case assignment depends on the record type, filing, citation location, and local court rules.
Where are old Clinton County legal records?
Archives holds old divorce records, lawsuits, criminal records, guardianship, probate, and selected marriage application books. Its public hours differ from the Clerk's office hours.
Are warrants posted online?
The Sheriff's OCV site has a most-wanted/warrants feature, but the official feed reviewed for research had only a placeholder. An empty list should not be treated as proof that no warrant exists.
Are jail records court records?
No. Jail records show booking and custody details. The court file shows charges, hearings, pleas, disposition, sentence, and court orders.