Access Dubois County Court Records

How to Get Dubois County Court Records

Start with Indiana MyCase. Pull up the case and copy the full case number plus its court code. Then read the Chronological Case Summary, the spine of the docket. When a document link appears, open it. When it does not, do not panic. A missing link only means the image is not online; the filed paper still exists in the court record.

For the official file, call the Dubois County Clerk of the Courts at 812-481-7035. The counter sits at One Courthouse Square, Jasper, Indiana 47546. Hours run 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, and 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. The county page also lists clerk@duboiscountyin.org. The county publishes no web request form, payment list, or turnaround promise, so confirm the written process with the clerk before sending any funds.

1. Locate the case and record its number, court, event date, and document title.
2. Check MyCase for a public document link.
3. Call the clerk to confirm custody, copy type, cost, and delivery method.
4. Visit the counter or use the written route the clerk confirms.
5. Ask the reporter for a transcript, or the Records Library for older holdings.

The Indiana public-record request guidance draws one bright line. Trial-file requests go to the local clerk. Transcript requests go to the court reporter. Keep that custody split in mind before you call anyone.

Dubois County Clerk Record Layers

One clerk, two courts. The Clerk of the Courts keeps trial-court records for 19C01 Dubois Circuit Court and 19D01 Dubois Superior Court alike, and three distinct layers serve different needs. The CCS is a dated list of events. A filed document supplies the actual text behind a short entry. A certified copy carries the clerk's own authentication. Printing a MyCase screen creates none of that.

Mandatory e-filing began locally on August 25, 2017, through the Indiana Electronic Filing System and Odyssey. Filing this way builds the court record. Even so, IEFS is not a public upload or search portal.

Types of Dubois County Court Records

What sits in a Dubois County court file? Civil complaints and motions, criminal filings and orders, probate papers, juvenile material subject to access limits, small-claims records, traffic matters, family cases, and public judgments. The split between courts matters here. Circuit Court handles probate and juvenile matters exclusively. Superior Court handles traffic and small claims alone. Both can hear other civil work, and criminal assignment follows the local rules.

A file may also hold exhibits where maintained, notices, financial entries, and public documents tied to the CCS. A court record is not a transcript, though. Court reporters, not the clerk, prepare the verbatim record of a hearing. Ask for the exact item you need. A request for "the whole file" can sweep in duplicative material, papers unavailable remotely, or pages excluded from public access.

Dubois County Records Library Boundary

Down in the courthouse basement sits the Records Library, a separate channel for historical material. Its holdings include civil, probate and estate, criminal, will, marriage, deed, survey, plat, land-transfer, commissioners-book, and genealogy records. The date ranges are broad. Deeds run from 1839 through 1968, and miscellaneous records from 1857 through 1942. Land transfers run from 1869 through 2009. Those ranges describe what the library holds, not a promise that every item is digitized or indexed.

One fire explains a lot. Almost all records predating the August 1839 courthouse fire were destroyed. That loss is often why a family or land search simply stops. Call the Records Library at 812-481-7091. Have names, dates, record type, and any book or case reference ready.

For the fuller story, read the official Dubois County history. It recounts the fire and the county's early record losses.

That courthouse-fire account gives researchers a sound reason for the cutoff. The gap has an explanation, not an archive accident to chase.

What a Dubois County Court Record Contains

The CCS and the case file overlap, but they are not the same thing. Take enough detail from the docket to name the paper you want. Watch the dates, too. An event date and an entry date can differ. The caption names the public style of the matter yet proves no fault or liability. A status label describes procedure, never the whole result.

Precision pays when requesting records. An "order entered on May 1" gives the clerk a sharp target. A plea for every paper ever filed gives none.

Documents Behind the Dubois County CCS

A CCS line can say a motion was filed without showing the motion itself. It can note a judgment without carrying all its terms. Sometimes no public link exists. Then give the clerk the case number, court, event date, entry date, and title. The Dubois County case search walks through collecting those fields before a record request.

Older paper and modern electronic records often need different paths. The clerk holds the trial file. The Records Library keeps the older books and indexes. The assigned reporter handles any hearing transcript. Treat each office as a separate desk. These are not three doors to the same room.

Dubois County Certified Copies and Fees

The county clerk page posted the fee table on August 31, 2022. Check it again before ordering, since fees change. The county sets out no separate case-search fee, electronic-document charge, or certified-docket fee. Do not read one into the copy lines.

Copies come in three grades in Dubois County. A plain copy just reproduces the page. A certified copy adds the clerk's stamp of authentication. Exemplification is the strongest form the county lists. Check with the receiving office first, since paying for more authentication than needed wastes money. The PACER pricing page explains what that federal system charges:

Those PACER fees apply only to federal records, never to copies ordered from the Dubois County Clerk.

Dubois County Transcript Custody

A transcript is the word-for-word record of a hearing, typed up by a court reporter. That makes it different from a CCS printout. An order copy or a clerk certification is different too. Dubois County court pages list separate reporters. One covers Circuit, one Superior, and one small claims. So know your court and hearing date before you call. Indiana guidance sends transcript requests to the reporter responsible for that hearing.

Local rule LR19-AR15-2 caps transcript rates at $3.50 per page. Appeal-related work runs $4.00 per page. Binding an appeal transcript or exhibit binder may add possible labor. Those reporter rates are separate from the clerk's plain-copy fee. Ask up front which rate and terms apply to your request.

Dubois County Public Access and Sealed Records

Court files here run under the Indiana Rules on Access to Court Records. Rule 4 opens the door with a presumption of access. Rule 5 closes certain records and fields. The closures protect sensitive material. Rules 9 and 10 handle procedures and excluded categories. The Indiana Access to Public Records Act, IC 5-14-3, adds state public-record context. The judiciary rules still control court files.

The Indiana excluded-records guidance is shown in the assigned capture:

That framework explains why an event shows up on the docket while a protected document or field stays sealed.

Dubois County Clerk Records Office

The Dubois County Clerk of the Courts is elected. That one official keeps the records for both Circuit and Superior matters. The office handles official balances, plain or certified copies, and custody of the file. For scheduling questions, call Circuit Court at 812-481-7020 or Superior Court at 812-481-7070. Neither court line replaces the clerk as keeper of the case file. The docket lives with the clerk.

Note: Call ahead before a special trip. The office posts no separate public-terminal schedule, copy turnaround time, or complete list of payment methods.