Roanoke County
Roanoke County's system is composed of district, juvenile, and courts. The county's highest court is the Roanoke County 23rd Judicial Circuit Court. It usually handles each of the cases that fall outside the purview of the county's other courts. It hears cases involving felonies, misdemeanors resulting from grand jury indictments, and other offenses that have similar circumstances as felonies. In addition, it hears matters involving emergency protection orders, adoptions, divorces, and probates. It also may hear civil disputes with claims greater than $4,500, but it has exclusive authority over claims that exceed $25,000.
The Roanoke County 23rd Judicial District Court handles preliminary hearings for felonies, traffic violations, misdemeanors, and municipal code violations. It has exclusive jurisdiction over civil matters with claims below $4,500 but shares jurisdiction with the Circuit Court over civil cases with claims between $4,500 and $25,000. Lastly, nearly all domestic relations issues, juvenile cases, as well as select criminal cases that include harm to a child or family member fall under the jurisdiction of the Roanoke County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.
Public court records in Roanoke County are court records that can be viewed and copied by the public, and they include depositions, court schedules, court transcripts, court filings, dockets, judgments, warrants, and orders. The clerk of each court is responsible for maintaining their records.
The following types of court records are available to the public in Roanoke County unless sealed by court orders:
- Criminal Case Records
- Civil Case Records
- Family Law Records
- Probate Records
- Traffic Records
Non-confidential court records are available for the public to access at the court clerks' offices. They also look up public court records from the Roanoke County 23rd Judicial General District Court on the General District Court Online Case Information System information portal, and those from the Roanoke County 23rd Judicial Circuit Court are available on the Virginia Courts Case Information (Circuit) portal.
