Chautauqua County
Located in the southwestern part of New York State, Chautauqua County was created in 1821 and named after the largest lake in the county, Lake Chautauqua. It has a land area of 1,065 square miles, and its population as of the 2020 US census was 127,657. Chautauqua County has two cities, 27 towns, and 15 villages. Its county seat is Mayville, and its largest city is Jamestown. The county has six lakes and 440 square miles of water bodies.
The Chautauqua County court system comprises the supreme, county, family, surrogates, and municipality courts. The Chautauqua County Supreme Court typically hears cases beyond the jurisdiction of other courts in the county. It handles felonies, civil cases with more than $25,000 claims, divorces, annulments, and legal separations. The Chautauqua County Court hears most criminal cases, civil cases with claims under $25,000, conservatorships, evictions, foreclosures, and real estate matters.
The Chautauqua County Family Court handles family law matters except those that relate to the dissolution of marriages. It also hears juvenile matters, including delinquency, truancy, and juvenile dependencies. The Chautauqua County Surrogate's Court hears probate matters, such as admission of wills, appointment of guardianships, adoptions, and administration of estates.
There are two city courts (Jamestown and Dunkirk), 26 town courts, and five village courts in Chautauqua County. These courts are also called Justice Courts, and they hear misdemeanors, municipal ordinance violations, civil cases with claims under $3,000, traffic infractions, and landlord/tenant relations.
Public court records in Chautauqua County are court documents and files that can be examined and copied by anyone. These records include writs, warrants, court filings, court proceedings, depositions, and judgments from the county courts. The Chautauqua County Clerk maintains records originating from the Supreme and County Courts, while the clerks of the other courts maintain their records.
Unless a court seals them, Chautauqua County makes the following kinds of court records publicly accessible:
- Criminal Records
- Probate Records
- Family Law Records
- Civil Records
- Traffic Records
The clerk of the court or the county clerk for supreme and county court records must receive requests for public court documents in Chautauqua County. To see or obtain copies of some public court records, people can go to the courts. As an alternative, they can use the New York State Unified Court System portal to look up public court records from the Supreme, County, and Family courts.
