Find the Right Texas Court Before Searching a Person’s Name
Texas does not operate one complete public database containing every felony, misdemeanor, ticket and criminal appeal. The fastest search begins by identifying where the charge was filed and which level of court handled it.
Use the district clerk for most felonies, the county clerk or district clerk for Class A and Class B misdemeanors, and the individual justice or municipal court for Class C cases. Once you find the docket, save the cause number and locate the document that shows how every count ended.
Texas trial records remain distributed among local courts and clerks.
Search the district clerk in the county where the case was filed.
Use the county clerk, district clerk, justice court or municipal court.
An exact cause number is safer and faster than a name alone.
Statewide procedures checked August 3, 2026.
Choose the record that actually answers what you need
Find the indictment, docket, bond orders, plea, judgment, sentence and post-judgment activity.
Start in the county where the prosecutor filed the felony.Use the county clerk in many counties, but confirm whether the local district clerk manages criminal records.
Local clerk responsibilities are not identical statewide.County-level portals often omit fine-only cases, traffic citations and city-ordinance violations.
The issuing court name is often printed on the citation.Find briefs, orders, opinions, mandates and activity in the regional court of appeals or Court of Criminal Appeals.
Appellate search data is refreshed nightly, not in real time.Search public conviction and deferred-adjudication information reported to the state criminal-history repository.
A DPS history is not the same document as a court docket.Texas county and district clerks do not maintain federal indictments, federal dockets or federal judgments.
Search the federal court directly or use the nationwide PACER Case Locator.Match the charge to the court that normally handles it
Case type |
Usual trial court |
Likely record holder |
What the record may contain |
|---|---|---|---|
Felony |
District court |
District clerk |
Indictment, settings, motions, bond orders, plea, judgment, sentence and post-conviction filings. |
Class A or Class B misdemeanor |
Constitutional county court or county court at law |
Usually county clerk; sometimes district clerk under local practice |
Complaint or information, docket, bond, plea, judgment, probation and dismissal records. |
Class C misdemeanor |
Justice of the peace or municipal court |
The individual justice or municipal court |
Citation, plea, fine, payment, dismissal, driving-safety course or other disposition. |
City-ordinance violation |
Municipal court |
Municipal court clerk |
Complaint, setting, plea, fine, dismissal or judgment. |
Criminal appeal |
First–Fourteenth Courts of Appeals |
Clerk of the applicable court of appeals |
Notice of appeal, briefs, motions, orders, opinion, judgment and mandate. |
Highest state criminal review |
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals |
Clerk of the Court of Criminal Appeals |
Petitions for discretionary review, habeas matters, orders, opinions and mandates. |
Federal criminal prosecution |
United States district court |
Federal district-court clerk and PACER |
Complaint, indictment, docket, detention orders, plea, judgment and sentence. |
Use the Texas Judicial Directory instead of guessing a portal
Search a Texas criminal docket without relying on a name alone
Name-search combinations worth trying
Last, first and middle name exactly as filed.
Useful when the court omitted or shortened the middle name.
Use with a date range when the portal allows broad searches.
Older court cases may remain indexed under a prior name.
Try Jr., Sr., II, III and a search without the suffix.
Some portals accept the numeric portion when the court prefix is unknown.
Understand the fields shown in a Texas criminal case
Field or document |
What it usually means |
What it does not prove |
Next action |
|---|---|---|---|
Cause number |
The court’s identifying number for one criminal case. |
That it is the only case from the arrest. |
Search for related causes under the same defendant. |
Filed date |
When the case was entered with the clerk. |
The date of arrest or alleged offense. |
Compare it with the charging instrument and arrest information. |
Charge or offense |
The offense currently associated with the court cause. |
Guilt or that the charge remained unchanged. |
Open the indictment, information or complaint. |
Indictment |
A grand-jury accusation in a felony prosecution. |
Conviction. |
Read later pleas, orders and the judgment. |
Information or complaint |
A charging document commonly used in misdemeanor or lower-level cases. |
That the allegation was sustained. |
Locate dismissal, plea or judgment documents. |
Pending |
The case has not reached a final disposition in the displayed system. |
That a hearing is currently scheduled. |
Check the newest setting and contact the clerk or attorney. |
Disposed or closed |
The court considers the case concluded or inactive. |
Conviction, dismissal or acquittal by itself. |
Find the document explaining the disposition. |
Dismissed |
The identified charge or cause was dismissed. |
That every charge from the arrest was dismissed. |
Check all counts and related cause numbers. |
Deferred adjudication |
The court deferred a finding of guilt while imposing supervision and conditions. |
The record automatically disappeared after completion. |
Locate the order and discharge; review nondisclosure eligibility separately. |
Judgment of conviction |
The court entered a conviction and sentence for the specified offense. |
That an appeal or later modification did not occur. |
Check appellate and post-judgment entries. |
Acquittal |
The defendant was found not guilty on the identified count. |
That unrelated counts or cases were also resolved. |
Request the certified judgment of acquittal when proof is needed. |
Mandate |
The appellate court’s judgment has been formally transmitted to the lower court. |
That every later trial-court action is already posted. |
Return to the trial docket for proceedings after remand. |
Why a Texas criminal case may not appear online
Request the document that proves how the case ended
A non-certified copy may be enough for personal research, attorney review or understanding the docket.
A clerk-certified document carries official authentication and is commonly required for government, licensing, correction or record-clearing purposes.
Some offices charge an additional search fee when the cause number, year or complete identifying information is missing.
Ask for the specific outcome document
Use Re:SearchTX as a lead—not as the final certificate
What Re:SearchTX can help with
- Searching electronically available records from participating Texas courts.
- Locating a possible cause number, county or court.
- Reviewing available docket information or document images.
- Connecting records filed through the statewide electronic-filing system.
What it cannot guarantee
- Complete coverage of every Texas trial court.
- Remote access to every document.
- Access to sealed, expunged or confidential information.
- That the electronic result is the certified official record.
Search appellate cases, opinions and mandates
Search Court of Criminal Appeals opinions
Supreme Court Building
201 W. 14th Street, Room 106
Austin, TX 78701
Phone: 512-463-1551
Record requests: ccarecordrequests@txcourts.gov
Monday–Friday, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Know when a DPS name search is more useful than one court docket
Use a court search when you need
- The docket for one cause.
- The charging document.
- Bond or hearing history.
- A dismissal, judgment or sentence.
- A certified disposition.
Use Texas DPS when you need
- A broader public Texas criminal-history search.
- Conviction and deferred-adjudication information reported to DPS.
- To review a possible multi-county history.
- A personal fingerprint-based review for accuracy.
- To identify missing or incorrect disposition reporting.
Use PACER when the prosecution is United States v. Defendant
Monday–Friday, 7:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. Central
Email: pacer@psc.uscourts.gov
Not every court document is available to every online user
The case may appear online even when the document must be requested from the clerk or viewed at a courthouse terminal.
Personal identifiers, victim information, financial data and other protected material may be removed from public copies.
A portal may remove the result, restrict access or show no record after a valid court order.
Juvenile information follows separate confidentiality and access rules.
Grand-jury proceedings and related information are not generally open like an ordinary docket.
Evidence containing sensitive, explicit, medical or confidential material may have limited access.
Correct the source record before disputing every copy of it
Obtain the complete disposition before testing eligibility
Expunction
An eligible expunction can require covered arrest records to be destroyed or removed. Eligibility is narrower and commonly depends on dismissal, acquittal, pardon, identity theft, waiting periods or another statutory basis.
Open current Texas expunction guidanceOrder of nondisclosure
An eligible nondisclosure order restricts public disclosure of specified criminal-history information but does not erase every government record or block every legally authorised agency.
Open official nondisclosure formsDocuments to collect before starting
Find legal help connected to the correct county and court
The case may already list retained or court-appointed counsel. Save the attorney name, court and next setting.
Each Texas county submits local procedures explaining indigence decisions and appointment of counsel.
Browse county indigent-defense plansVerify a lawyer’s Texas licence and request a written fee agreement.
Open State Bar LRISMonday–Friday, 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Central
Texas criminal court record contacts and search services
Find district, county, justice, municipal and appellate courts and personnel.
Search the live directorySupplemental statewide electronic court-record access.
Open Re:SearchTXSearch appellate cases and documents by case number, party, attorney, county or trial cause.
Search appellate casesAustin, TX 78701
Public conviction and deferred-adjudication name searches.
Open DPS searchAccount, search-credit and public search assistance.
error.resolution@dps.texas.gov
Use certified court documents to support corrections.
Austin, TX 78701
Referral to a lawyer or another legal resource.
Texas court-search problems you can avoid
The warrant or criminal filing may belong to another county.
Misdemeanors and Class C cases may be held elsewhere.
Compare the date of birth, cause number, county and offense.
Find the judgment, dismissal, acquittal or discharge order.
Ask the clerk to search archived and non-digitized records.
Order a certified disposition from the court of record.
They answer different questions and may update at different times.
Traffic and Class C matters may never appear in the county portal.
PACER contains federal court records, not ordinary Texas state prosecutions.
Texas criminal court record questions answered
Is there one statewide website for all Texas criminal court records?
No. The Texas Judicial Branch states that it does not provide one complete statewide portal for trial-court case searches. Felony records are usually maintained by the district clerk in the county where the case was filed. Class A and Class B misdemeanor records are generally maintained by the county clerk or, in some counties, the district clerk. Justice and municipal court records must be requested from the individual court. Re:SearchTX can be a useful supplemental search, but the clerk of the court remains the source for the official record.
Where do I search for a Texas felony court case?
Texas district courts generally handle felony criminal cases. Identify the county where the charge was filed, then search that county’s district clerk criminal-record portal. Search by the exact cause number when possible. If the case is not online, contact the district clerk and provide the defendant’s full name, date of birth, approximate filing date and offense.
Where do I search for Class A or Class B misdemeanor cases in Texas?
Class A and Class B misdemeanors are generally handled by constitutional county courts or statutory county courts at law. The county clerk commonly maintains those records, although some counties route criminal records through the district clerk. Use the Texas Judicial Directory or the county’s official website to confirm the correct clerk before submitting a request.
How do I find a Texas Class C misdemeanor or ticket case?
Class C misdemeanors may be filed in a justice of the peace court or municipal court. Search the justice court for the precinct where the case was filed or the municipal court for the city that issued the citation. A county district-clerk or county-clerk search may not include these cases.
Is Re:SearchTX a complete Texas criminal court database?
No. Re:SearchTX provides statewide electronic access to participating Texas court records, but availability, document coverage and public access can differ by court and case. A missing result does not prove that no case exists. Verify important information with the clerk of the court and obtain certified documents directly from that clerk.
What is the difference between a Texas court record and a DPS criminal-history search?
A court record follows one case in one court and may contain the charging instrument, docket, orders, plea, judgment, sentence and disposition. The Texas DPS criminal-history database compiles criminal-history information submitted by Texas criminal-justice agencies. DPS public name searches focus on public conviction and deferred-adjudication information and are not a substitute for reviewing every county and court where a case may have been filed.
How do I get a certified Texas criminal court disposition?
Contact the district clerk, county clerk, justice court or municipal court that maintains the case. Provide the cause number, defendant’s full name, date of birth, court number and approximate filing date. Ask specifically for a certified judgment, dismissal order, order of deferred adjudication, discharge order or other document showing the final disposition. Fees and delivery options vary by court.
Why can I not find a Texas criminal court case online?
The case may be in a different county or court level, may not have been formally filed, may be too old for the online system, may be listed under another name, may be pending data entry or may be confidential, juvenile, sealed or expunged. Search the arresting county, alleged-offense county, municipal court and justice court when appropriate, then ask the clerk to check archived or non-digitized records.
How do I search Texas criminal appeals?
Use the Texas appellate case-search system for cases in the First through Fourteenth Courts of Appeals and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Search by appellate case number, party name, attorney, trial-court cause number, county or filing date. Appellate search data is refreshed nightly rather than in real time, so contact the appellate clerk for current or certified information.
Can a Texas criminal court record be expunged or sealed?
Some records qualify for expunction, while others may qualify for an order of nondisclosure. Expunction can remove eligible arrest records, while nondisclosure generally restricts public access without erasing every government record. Eligibility depends on the charge, disposition, waiting period, prior history, probation, deferred adjudication and related offenses. Obtain the complete certified disposition before using current Texas forms or seeking legal advice.