Indiana Court Records

What is Included in Indiana Public Court Records

Criminal Court Cases

Assault & Battery, Domestic Violence, Parole Violation, Probation Violation, Sexual Assault, Robbery, Manslaughter, Murder, Drug Offenses, And More...

Civil Court Cases

Bankruptcies, Legal Judgments, Lawsuits, Tax & Property Liens, Contract Disputes, Probates, Family Law, Small Claims, Evictions, And More...

Traffic Court Cases

Driving Under Influence, Driving While Intoxicated, Speeding Tickets, Traffic Citations, Reckless Driving, Driving Without a License, License Suspensions, Criminal Driving Violations, Accidents, And More...

Indiana Court Record Lookup

Requesting Indiana IN court records from Indiana city, circuit, or superior courts is a matter of finding the right court location. Court records are public documents that are available to anyone by performing an Indiana court records search online with some restrictions. Find out IN criminal records, civil cases, warrants and more info through Recordsfinder.com's online Indiana Court Record Lookup tool.

Courts of Limited Jurisdiction

Indiana has many municipal courts that handle violations of local ordinances, misdemeanors, and other small issues. There are 22 town courts and 43 city courts throughout the state.

In addition to the municipal courts, the state has a tax court that hears appeals of tax determinations made by state agencies. Individuals can also appeal inheritance tax levies made by probate courts. These Indiana court records online can be found via Indiana court case lookup.

Trial Courts

Both superior and circuit courts exist in most counties across Indiana, and both are general trial courts with jurisdiction over civil matters, such as Indiana child support and custody cases, and criminal cases, juvenile, family, small claims matters, and appeals of decisions from municipal courts. Differences between the two trial courts vary by county. The state is making family courts its own division due to demand; these Indiana courthouses handle custody, divorce, child support, delinquency, and related issues.

Records are available online via Indiana court record lookup, but access to some records may be restricted for confidentiality reasons, including juvenile cases that involve minors and the names of crime victims.

Trial courts statewide saw about 280,000 criminal cases, 70,000 juvenile cases, and nearly 195,000 small claims cases in a recent year.

Appeals Courts

When someone involved in a trial disputes the judge or jury’s decision, he may appeal it to the intermediate court of appeals. At this level, judges hear the facts of cases and decide if the lower court applied the law correctly. These judges also hear appeals of some state agencies such as the Worker’s Compensation Board, Department of Workplace Development, and Utilities Regulatory Board.

At the top of the state judiciary is the supreme court, which hears selected cases from lower courts as well as automatic appeals of death sentences. The supreme court may also oversee the state bar and advise the state legislature on the constitutionality of laws.

Federal Courts

When individuals join a class action lawsuit or file for bankruptcy, those cases are handled by federal courts. These records can be accessed by conducting Indiana court records search. There is at least one federal court in each state, which also has jurisdiction over violations of federal law. 

Indiana Notable Court Cases

A man serving a 70-year sentence for dealing cocaine got his sentence modified when he represented himself before the state appeals court panel. The 61-year-old man had spent more than 15 years in jail without any behavioral infractions, using the time to earn an associate's degree and a paralegal certificate. A lower court judge modified the sentence to send the habitual offender to a community correctional facility for the duration of his sentence but he appealed, saying the judge abused his discretion in modifying but not reducing the sentence. The appeals court did not agree completely, remanding the case to the trial court for rehearing.

Indiana Civil Case Statistics

Civil Caseload
Civil Caseload 386,255
Caseloads per 100.000 Population
Caseloads per 100.000 Population 5,823
Clearance Rate
Clearance Rate 97%
Small Claims Caseload
Small Claims Caseload 210,210

Civil Caseloads for Indiana, the sum of all civil cases reported by the state, account for 2,062,275 total cases at the year end of 2016, which makes it 5,823 cases per 100.000 population.

The clearance rate for the state is about 97% which makes up by dividing the outgoing to incoming civil cases and expressing the result in a percentage.

Civil Court Incoming & Outgoing Cases 2012-2016

The number of civil court caseloads in 2016 has decreased since 2012, being 386,255 vs. 447,351, which is by 13.7 % lower than 5 years ago. The same picture is seen with clearance rates, it’s lower compared to 2012, by 10.0% being 375,700 compared to 417,355.

State Small Claims & Rates Timeline

Year: Small Claims Max. Limit Small Claims Caseload per 100.000 Population Percent of Total Civil Caseload
2012$6000256,1283,91857%
2013$6000253,6143,86060%
2014$6000236,8333,59058%
2015$8000231,3993,49658%
2016$8000210,2103,16954%

The caseload for small claims has decreased since 2012, going from 256,128 cases a year to 210,210 of 2016. The maximum limit of small claim charges has also seen a change and has reached $8,000 in 2016 compared to the $6,000 that was registered 5 years ago.

Accordingly the small claims rate has decreased- 3,169 cases per 100 000 population compared to the 3,918 of 2012. The total percentage of civil caseloads accounts 30.0% for the state of Indiana for 2016.

Criminal Caseloads by Type

Criminal Caseloads for Indiana sum in 280,813 cases at the year end of 2016 which has a share of 53% of misdemeanor and 25% of felony charges. Total criminal cases have decreased in Indiana compared to the criminal caseload of 2012 - 299,134 cases. Felonies and misdemeanors have changed since 2012 by +11% and +10% accordingly.

The Proportion of Felony and Misdemeanor Caseloads

Criminal Incoming Court Cases by type 2012-2016

Criminal Caseloads Timeline

Domestic Relations Caseloads & Clearance Rates

The state’s domestic relations caseload has counted 97,578 cases which is 1,471 court cases per 100.000 population. It has decreased since 2012, the difference in caseloads is 8,780 for the last 5 years, being 106,358 in 2012.

State Court Holidays

Holiday: Date:
New Year's Day Monday, January 1, 2018
Martin Luther King Jr. DayMonday, January 15, 2018
Good FridayFriday, March 30, 2018
Primary Election DayTuesday, May 8, 2018
Memorial DayMonday, May 28, 2018
Independence DayWednesday, July 4, 2018
Labor Day Monday, September 3, 2018
Columbus DayMonday, October 8, 2018
General Election DayTuesday, November 6, 2018
Veterans DayMonday, November 12, 2018
Thanksgiving DayThursday November 22, 2018
Lincoln's BirthdayFriday, November 23, 2018
Washington's BirthdayMonday, December 24, 2018
Christmas DayTuesday, December 25, 2018

Supreme Court Caseloads & Clearance Rates

Court of Appeals Caseloads