Douglas County
Douglas County is located along the eastern border of Nebraska. It was incorporated in 1854 and is part of one of the United States' major metropolitan areas along the Missouri River. The largest city in the county is Omaha, which also doubles as the county seat. Douglas County covers about 326.5 square miles of land area and is home to over 580,000 residents.
The court structure in Douglas County is made up of juvenile, county, and district courts, all located in the City of Omaha. The juvenile court maintains jurisdiction covering all juvenile matters and may handle some domestic relations matters concerning the care, custody, and support of minor children. The county court has separate divisions: probate, civil and small claims division, and criminal and traffic division. The probate section manages cases that involve the county court and personal representatives as well as valuables of the mentioned deceased, protects creditors of the deceased, guards heirs against issues with embezzlements and fraud, and protects both state and federal government agencies to guarantee taxes get paid fully by the estate. The civil division of the county court handles private citizen disputes handles private citizen disputes as well as issues with, governmental bodies, corporations, as well as additional organizations. The county court manages civil action cases if the amount involved is worth $57,000 or less. The hearings for small claims court are handled by a county judge. The money claimed or damages that may be sought in a viable small claims case must not surpass $6,000 in value. The traffic and criminal division of the county court manages all the misdemeanor cases, like violations of municipal ordinances and traffic issues.
The district court may hear civil and criminal cases of all types. The court functions in an appellate capacity in deciding appeals from administrative agencies and from most county court cases. The Douglas County district court hears domestic relations cases, paternity cases, and felony criminal, equity, and civil cases where the amount in dispute involves more than $57,000.
The Douglas County clerk of the district court maintains court records. However, the public does not have direct access to any official court records. Any electronic court records may be requested for free by directing an email to cdcoffice@douglascounty-ne.gov. You must provide the name of your party, case number, the documents being requested, and the year the case was filed.
Alternatively, you may use the Nebraska Justice court case search system to access criminal, civil, traffic, juvenile, and probate cases filed in Douglas County. The online system is provided by the Nebraska Judicial Branch.
