Search Vanderburgh County Court Records
The main online path for Vanderburgh County court records is Indiana MyCase. The Indiana Judicial Branch says MyCase provides public, non-confidential case information and many documents from Odyssey courts. Vanderburgh County is included in that statewide system, and the Indiana Judicial Branch Vanderburgh County page links users to case search and e-filing. MyCase is useful for civil, criminal, family, probate, infraction, ordinance, and small claims records when the case is public.
MyCase is not the official court record. Official and certified copies come from the court or the Vanderburgh County Clerk of the Courts. If a document is not online, if the case is older, or if a certified copy is needed for filing, benefits, title work, licensing, or another formal use, the request should go through the Clerk. The Clerk also has separate channels for marriage licenses, divorce decrees, traffic payments, and written public-records requests.
- Open MyCase and choose the search type that matches what is known, such as party name, case number, attorney, or citation.
- Narrow results to Vanderburgh County, then use case type or filing date when a name is common.
- Open the matching result and compare the case number, court, party names, filing date, and case status.
- Read the chronological case summary for hearings, filings, orders, dispositions, financial entries, and document links.
- Contact the Clerk of the Courts when an official copy, certified copy, archive file, or non-online document is needed.
The Indiana MyCase help page explains the public portal and its limits. The Odyssey courts list is also useful when checking whether a court uses the statewide case-management system.
The manifest capture for the Indiana Judicial Branch county landing page shows the official state entry point for Vanderburgh County court contacts and case search links.
That state page matters because it points record users toward MyCase for public case lookup and back to local court offices for documents not available online.
Vanderburgh County Court System
Indiana has appellate courts and trial courts. The state appellate courts are the Supreme Court of Indiana, the Court of Appeals of Indiana, and the Indiana Tax Court. Trial courts include circuit courts, superior courts, and local city or town courts. Vanderburgh County uses both Vanderburgh Circuit Court and Vanderburgh Superior Court, and both sit within the local trial-court system rather than a separate district-court structure.
Vanderburgh Superior Court was established by the General Assembly in 1877. The county research shows it is a general jurisdiction court with seven elected judges, five magistrates, and more than 70 employees. Vanderburgh Circuit Court is also a principal trial court. The Circuit Court page identifies Judge Ryan D. Hatfield for the term beginning in 2025 and lists magistrates Celia M. Pauli, Ryan C. Reed, and Joshua G. Orem.
Case flow: city, town, traffic, or small claims matter › Vanderburgh Circuit Court / Superior Court › Court of Appeals of Indiana › Supreme Court of Indiana if transfer is accepted.
| Court or office | Role in records | Typical records |
|---|---|---|
| Vanderburgh Circuit Court | Trial court at the Civic Center Courts Building | Civil, criminal, family, probate, and other case records by assignment |
| Vanderburgh Superior Court | General jurisdiction trial court | Criminal, civil, traffic, small claims, family, and juvenile divisions |
| Clerk of the Courts | Record keeper and fee office | Case files, certified copies, traffic payments, marriage and divorce copy requests |
| City and town courts | Lower local courts where used | Local ordinance, traffic, and limited matters if assigned there |
Where Vanderburgh Court Records Are Kept
Current court work is centered in the Civic Center Complex in downtown Evansville. The practical courthouse address for trial-court courtrooms is the Civic Center Courts Building at 825 Sycamore Street, Evansville, Indiana 47708. Several Clerk functions are also in the City-County Administration Building at 1 NW Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The Clerk's public-records request address is Vanderburgh County Clerk's Office, 825 Sycamore Street, Evansville, IN 47708, with P.O. Box 3356, Evansville, IN 47732, phone 812-435-5160, and fax 812-435-5849.
That office split is important. Court case documents, certified court copies, marriage records, divorce decrees, traffic payments, and filing fees route to the Clerk or court offices downtown. Jail custody, booking records, warrants, incident reports, accident reports, incarceration records, and sheriff public-records requests route to the Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Office and jail campus on North Harlan Avenue.
Vanderburgh County Court Record Types
Vanderburgh County court records are not one file type. A civil collection case, a felony prosecution, a divorce, an estate, a traffic infraction, and a small claims case can all produce different docket entries and copy rules. MyCase is the starting point for public case lookup, but the Clerk and sheriff channels matter when the record is a certified copy, a booking record, a crash report, or a non-court public record.
Criminal court records include charging information, hearings, pleas, dispositions, sentencing, probation, bond, and financial obligations when public. Civil records can include complaints, summons, returns of service, motions, orders, judgments, garnishments, and satisfaction entries. Family records include divorce, legal separation, custody, support, paternity, and parenting-time matters, though child and financial information may be restricted.
- Civil and small claims records: complaints, service, hearings, judgments, garnishment, and payment records.
- Criminal records: filed charges, pleas, dispositions, sentencing, probation, bond, and public docket events.
- Family and divorce records: domestic relations case entries plus decree copy requests through the Clerk.
- Probate records: estates, guardianships, trusts, wills, inventories, notices, and orders.
- Traffic records: citations, payments, deferral entries, failure-to-appear activity, and BMV reporting.
What Vanderburgh Court Records Show
A public Vanderburgh County court record usually starts with a cause number, court, county, case type, filing date, status, and caption. The chronological case summary is the event list. It may show a complaint filed, summons issued, hearing set, motion filed, order entered, continuance, plea, judgment, sentencing, release, payment, warrant, or service event. Public documents may be linked online, but certified copies come from the Clerk.
| Field | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Cause number | The Indiana case identifier assigned to the court file. |
| Case type | Criminal, civil, small claims, domestic relations, probate, infraction, ordinance, or another public category. |
| Parties | State, plaintiff, defendant, petitioner, respondent, estate, guardian, protected person, or attorney names when public. |
| Chronological case summary | Docket entries for filings, hearings, orders, judgments, payments, and case events. |
| Disposition | The result of a charge, claim, motion, or case event. |
| Financials | Filing fees, fines, court costs, restitution, bond, deferral fees, or payment events when public. |
- Cause number
- The case number used by Indiana courts.
- Disposition
- The outcome of a charge, claim, or case.
- Chronological case summary
- The docket or event list showing case activity.
- Bond
- Money or conditions used to secure release and return to court.
Public Access to Vanderburgh Court Records
Indiana public access starts with the rule that court records are generally available unless a rule, statute, or court order excludes them. County agencies also operate under the Indiana Access to Public Records Act. In practical terms, public case information goes through MyCase, official court copies go through the Clerk, and sheriff records go through the Sheriff's Office public-records process.
Key Statutes and Rules:
IC 5-14-3 requires public agencies to permit access to public records unless an exception applies.
Indiana Access to Court Records Rule 4 states the general public-access rule for court records.
Access to Court Records Rule 5 lists records and information excluded from public access.
Access to Court Records Rule 9 provides a process to ask for access to a record otherwise excluded from public access.
The Clerk's public-records page says written requests receive a status response within seven days. The sheriff public-records page says in-person APRA requests receive a response within 24 hours, while mailed or faxed requests receive a response within seven calendar days. A response can be a status update and does not always mean the record is produced that same day.
The Vanderburgh County Sheriff's public-records menu shows the sheriff access channel for accident, incident, incarceration, administrative, medical, and limited criminal-history requests.
That sheriff channel should be used for law-enforcement records that do not belong in the court case file or the Clerk's copy process.
Restricted Vanderburgh Court Records
Restricted records include juvenile case records, adoption records, sealed or expunged criminal records, mental-health proceedings, and filings that contain protected personal information. Redactions may remove Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, protected addresses, victim or witness contact information, minor names, medical records, and other information excluded by court rule. The Indiana Office of Court Services maintains a list of excluded court records and documents.
Juvenile records are not treated like adult criminal records. Indiana juvenile-record law under IC Title 31 limits public access except where a statute permits release. Expungement and sealing under IC Title 35 can also restrict public release of eligible arrest, charge, and conviction records. A Rule 9 request may ask for access to an excluded record, but the record remains confidential unless the court grants access.
Vanderburgh Sheriff and Jail Records
The Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Office is headquartered at 3500 N. Harlan Avenue in Evansville. The same campus includes the sheriff headquarters, operations center, county jail, and community corrections. The jail phone is 812-421-6200, the headquarters phone is 812-421-6203, and the operations center phone is 812-421-6201. Sheriff records include current custody, recent bookings, warrants, accident reports, incident reports, incarceration requests, and some administrative requests.
The jail facility page says the jail has 156,722 square feet of floor space and can house up to 600 inmates. It receives people arrested in Vanderburgh County, with cases ranging from public intoxication and theft to more serious felony allegations. The sheriff's old mobile app is no longer operational or supported; the official 2021 notice directs users to the current website, so no app-only search should be used for Vanderburgh County inmate or warrant records.
The sheriff notice about the former mobile app appears on the website and app update page.
That update is useful because it keeps record users on the current sheriff website instead of an unsupported Android or iOS app.
Vanderburgh Inmate Record Channels
Current custody is searched through the sheriff inmate lookup and recent booking tools, not through MyCase. The public inmate profile can show a booking photo, full name, city and state, gender, age, booking time, charges, bond amount, and bond type. If a charge has no bond, the total may display as no bond. For state-sentenced inmates after transfer, the Indiana Department of Correction locator is the right channel instead of the county jail roster.
The jail's communication and support rules are very local. Inmate mail is addressed to Vanderburgh County Detention Center, C/O the inmate name, PO Box 76550, Highland Heights, KY 41076, not to the Harlan Avenue jail. Phone accounts are handled by CPC through InmateSales.com, the jail kiosk, or 1-877-998-5678. Commissary deposits may be made at the jail kiosk or online through JailFunds.
The inmate communication page gives the mail address and legal-mail instruction for attorneys.
The Kentucky mail address is a common source of errors, so it should be checked before sending letters.
The inmate phone account page explains CPC deposits, monitored calls, and pin debit versus prepaid accounts.
Phone-account records and payments are separate from court records, even when the call relates to a pending case.
Vanderburgh Jail Medical and Release Records
Jail medical and property information also sits outside the court record. The sheriff research says full-time medical staff are on site 24 hours a day, and sick-call slips are picked up daily with clinic visits scheduled within 48 hours unless the condition is emergent. Keys and money may be signed out at any hour one time during incarceration. General property is signed out Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Release dates for sentenced jail inmates can be obtained by calling 812-421-6200. The sheriff release-date page says release occurs at 5:30 a.m. from the main jail entrance on the release date. That release note is not a court docket event, but it often matters to people who are reading court entries, bond information, or custody records together.
The jail medical care page describes the sheriff's sick-call process and 24-hour medical staffing.
Medical-care details are handled by the jail and are not ordinary public court-case documents.
The inmate property page explains property pickup, DOC transfer property, and approved drop-off details.
Property release rules help separate jail operations from what appears in a court docket.
The release-date page gives the phone instruction and early morning release time for sentenced inmates.
Release timing should be confirmed with the jail because custody status can change faster than online case entries.
Vanderburgh Marriage Divorce Probate
Marriage records are handled by the Vanderburgh County Clerk. The marriage desk is in Room S240 at 1 NW MLK Jr. Boulevard, with phones 812-435-5161 and 812-435-5160. The Clerk's marriage information says a signed license must be returned for recording, and callers may use 812-435-5188 to verify receipt and ask that certified copies be prepared for pickup. Certified copies are $4 each at the marriage desk.
Divorce records are court records. Divorce decrees can be requested through the Clerk's Official Records Online page, while the underlying domestic relations docket can be searched in MyCase when public. Probate is handled through the local trial courts and Clerk, not through a separate probate court. Probate estate, guardianship, and trust cases are listed at $177 on the county fee page, and older probate files should be requested with names, dates, case number, and court if known.
- Testator
- A person who made a will.
- Personal representative
- The person appointed to administer an estate.
- Intestate
- A death without a valid will controlling the estate.
- Guardianship
- A court case appointing someone to act for a minor or protected person.
Vanderburgh County Court Fees
The county research provides several fee points that help decide the right request channel. Case filing fees are not the same as copy fees, and online document requests can add convenience or delivery charges. For marriage and divorce copies through Official Records Online, regular copies are $1 each and certified copies are $4 each, with a $10 transaction convenience fee. Traffic payments through the internet service must be for the exact full amount and include a convenience fee.
| Item | Fee or note |
|---|---|
| Small claims case | $97, or $125 with sheriff service |
| Standard civil case | $157, or $185 with sheriff service |
| Domestic relations case | $177, or $205 with sheriff service |
| Probate estate, guardianship, or trust | $177 |
| Regular marriage or divorce copy online | $1 each plus $10 transaction convenience fee |
| Certified marriage or divorce copy online | $4 each plus $10 transaction convenience fee |
| Sheriff crash report | $10 |
Vanderburgh Traffic Court Records
Traffic records can involve the court, Clerk, Indiana ePay, the prosecutor deferral program, and the Indiana BMV. The Clerk traffic page says payments may be made in person at the Misdemeanor Clerk's Office cashier window in Room S241. Cash, cashier's check, money order, Visa, Mastercard, and Discover are accepted in person, while personal checks are not accepted. Online payments must be for the exact full amount, including fines and costs.
The court traffic record is not the same as the BMV driver record. A court record shows citation, cause number, court date, plea or disposition, payment status, warrant activity, and deferral or dismissal. A BMV driver record shows license status, convictions reported to BMV, points, suspensions, and certified driver-history information. The BMV page says a viewable driver record is free and an official driver record costs $4.
The Indiana Department of Correction page is not a traffic portal, but it is part of the broader state records ecosystem linked from county record searches.
State custody and registry tools should be kept distinct from county traffic records and local court payment records.
Vanderburgh County Court History
Vanderburgh County was formed in 1818 and named for Henry Vanderburgh. STATS Indiana identifies Evansville as the county seat and largest city. Local court history is strongly tied to the Old Vanderburgh County Courthouse, which the Old Courthouse history site describes as a major nineteenth-century governmental building designed by Henry Wolters of Louisville, Kentucky, with Beaux Arts influence.
Current records are not filed at the Old Courthouse as the ordinary active case counter. Active Vanderburgh County court records route to MyCase, the Clerk of the Courts, the Civic Center Courts Building, and the City-County Administration Building. The history is still useful because it explains why Indiana county court names often reflect local custom and why Vanderburgh has both Circuit and Superior Courts.
Vanderburgh Court Records FAQ
Where do I search Vanderburgh County court records?
Use Indiana MyCase for public, non-confidential Vanderburgh County trial-court case information. Use the Clerk of the Courts for certified copies, older files, documents not online, and written public-records requests.
Are MyCase documents official court records?
No. MyCase is a public access portal. Official and certified records come from the court or Clerk that maintains the case file.
Where are Vanderburgh County warrants searched?
The Sheriff's Office publishes an active warrant search and lists warrants phone 812-421-6200 plus a warrant tip line at 812-421-6276.
Where do I request a divorce decree?
Divorce decrees can be requested through the Clerk's Official Records Online page or through the Clerk office. The domestic relations docket may also appear in MyCase when public.
Are juvenile court records public?
Public access is narrow. Juvenile records are restricted under Indiana law and court access rules unless a statute or court order allows access.