Texas Court Docket Search

Per the Texas Public Information Act (PIA), interested members of the public have the right of access to specific records that are maintained by the state government. As such, they may request to inspect and copy them at will without having to provide reasons for their request. A Texas court docket search is a means of accessing court docket information through the concerned custodians.

Court dockets are one of the most efficient means of accessing Texas court records because they contain important details about pending and decided court cases. These include information about briefs, pleadings, orders, motions, exhibits, judgments, etc. In addition to basic case information, dockets contain information about the arrestees, attorneys, and judge's names, as well as the case number. These details are useful to members of the Texas Judicial Branch, lawyers, researchers, and anyone wishing to track legal proceedings. Individuals may get docket information from the custodian of records of the court where the case is/was heard.

What is a Court Docket in Texas?

A court docket in Texas refers to records of filings and proceedings about the subject of a court case within the state's legal boundaries. In other words, a Texas court docket compiles records of the actions that take place in a lawsuit or criminal case in a Texas court of law. It can also be described as a list of cases a Texas court judge will take action on.

Generally, there are two types of court dockets in Texas: the criminal and civil court dockets. Regardless of the type, a Texas court docket is generated when the authorized court official assigns a unique docket number to each party in a filed case. The docket number is one of the first entries in a docket sheet. As the case progresses and court documents are filed, the docket will contain more entries that summarize the court proceedings in chronological order.

What is the Purpose of a Court Docket in Texas?

In Texas, the primary purpose of a court docket is to facilitate the easy tracking of information about court proceedings in the state. Since dockets contain essential details of a court case, the judges handling the case as well as the attorneys and parties involved use them to monitor or confirm the actions that have been taken in the case at various stages.

Texas court case dockets may also serve as useful tools for recovering court documents like motions, opinions and rulings. They help to keep individuals abreast of the latest developments in cases of interest.

Finally, legal practitioners may use court docket information for research purposes and policymakers may look to court dockets information for decision-making.

Are Court Dockets Public Records in Texas?

Texas Judicial Branch operates an open record policy. By virtue of the Texas Public Information Act and Federal Freedom of Information Act, court dockets, as part of court records, are publicly accessible in the state. As such, the courts are the custodians of such records and their agents are mandated to release them to requesters without inquiring the reasons for their search.

It is important to note, however, that court dockets in Texas will not contain information that as been classified confidential by a judicial decision or any law applicable in the state. A good example of a court record that will be inaccessible to the general public is a juvenile offender record. Only select persons like the prosecutors, police, education agencies, human services entities, parties in the case, attorneys, probation officers, etc., will be able to access the court dockets of such a case. Again, government agencies have discretionary rights to withhold certain records from public access.

What Do Court Dockets Contain in Texas?

Texas court case dockets contain a wide range of information about the details and events in a court proceeding. Generally, they include but are not limited to the following details:

Case details
Parties/participant details
Fee information
Judgment details
Case timelines
Case status

The information in a Texas court docket may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and depend on whether it is a criminal court, or civil court docket. For example, a criminal docket in League City, Texas, for the crime of drug possession will contain the following information:

Citation information (offense description, citation number, docket number, violation number, docket number, citation date, filed date, defendant age at cite date, violation location, officer agency, officer name, jurisdiction, PD case number, reviewing prosecutor)
Miscellaneous (accident, school zone, construction)
Vehicle information
Case status (warrant type, active warrant, status, court location, conviction date, type of trial)
Judgment details among other information about the case

A criminal court docket search in Potter County will produce these details among others:

Defendant name
Citation and violation number
Docket type
Offense
Attorney details
Docket date and time

Meanwhile, a civil court case docket in Harris County will contain the following details:

List of case documents and events (event date, event description, comments)
Case number
Court details
File date
Status
Type description
Subtype
Style
Party and attorney details including role, names, addresses, phone numbers, fax details, etc

Where to Find a Court Docket in Texas

The first place to search for a court docket in Texas is by visiting the custodian of records in the court where the case is heard or was filed. Generally, this is the clerk of the courthouse in question who may be the city clerk, county clerk, or district clerk, depending on the court. Note that copying court records in Texas courthouses may attract fees.

Some counties in Texas maintain online databases that allow the public to search court docket information remotely. This is particularly useful for out-of-state searchers who cannot conduct in-person searches at the appropriate courthouses. They may find these online search features by visiting the court or county clerk's official website.

Note that many third-party aggregate sites offer court docket search services to members of the public. Individuals may look up court dockets on their online repositories for a fee.

Interested parties can also contact the Texas State Library for information on where to find a Texas court docket.

How to Conduct a Texas Court Docket Search

Interested parties who wish to conduct a Texas court docket search have various options to consider. However, the best way to get the most accurate and comprehensive docket information is by visiting the custodian of records of the appropriate courthouse.

As such, individuals may begin their in-person court docket search by visiting the trial, appellate, or supreme court where the case is heard or filed during business hours. Next, they should locate the court clerk's office and request to conduct a Texas court docket search. Note that requesters may need to provide some information about the case like docket number, names of parties and attorneys, and other required details to facilitate a court docket search to look up at the courthouses. This method is the best option for members of the public who need to get official court dockets in print copies.

Individuals may also conduct a Texas court docket search by visiting the relevant court's website to verify that they offer access to court dockets online. If they do, users or interested parties may conduct a court docket lookup by utilizing the docket search tool. Like with in-person searches, individuals will be required to provide certain case information like docket number, etc. For example, individuals may conduct a criminal court docket search in Travis County by case/court number, arrestee's name, judge's name, and attorney's name.

What is a Court Docket Number in Texas?

A Texas court docket number is a series of unique alpha-numeric characters used to track or identify a case that has been filed in a Texas court. Once a case is filed, it is assigned a docket number by the court clerk. Such a docket number must appear in all the filed documents pertaining to the case. Each letter or character in a docket number represents a distinct case information.

The docket format and numbering system for Texas may vary from court to court. For example, Rule 12.2 of Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure stipulates that each filed case in the Court of Appeals must have a docket number comprising of the following four parts:

The Court of Appeals District number
The year the case was filed represented by the last two digits
The number allocated to the case (case number)
CV or CR to distinguish civil lawsuits from criminal cases.

The rule also mandates that the docket numbers be separated by hyphens. As such, a docket number in a Texas Court of Appeals case will be arranged in this format: 05-21-00001-CR.

05 means that the case was filed in the Court of Appeals Fifth District
21 is the last two digits of the year the case was filed (2021)
00001 is the case number and suggests that this is the first case that was filed in the district in that year
CR shows that the case in question
Is a criminal matter

Note however, that the docket numbers for other Texas courts may contain similar information but may not follow this format. For example, a case in a Texas trial court in Galveston County can read TR1002976. Meanwhile, docket numbers in Harris County may contain a two letter prefix followed by a 12-character long case number.

How to Conduct a Court Docket Number Lookup in Texas

Interested parties may conduct a court docket number search by requesting the same at the clerk's office of the court where the case was filed. They may also leverage Texas court, country or municipality websites with online case search options to lookup court docket numbers.

For example, individuals looking for criminal court docket numbers for cases in Wylie, Texas, can do so by visiting the city's online record search site. They may then conduct a case search by name which will produce a series of information that includes the citation/case/docket number.