Finding a Case
Virginia's two online case information systems, what you need to search them, what the status and disposition entries mean, and how to read a docket.
5 guides
Virginia does not have one case search. The Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia maintains the online case information systems, and the circuit court records and the district court records are searched separately, each entered by that court's own clerk — so a search of one will never show a case from the other. A traffic summons or a misdemeanor charge begins in the general district court; a felony, a civil suit over $100 and an appeal from the district court belong to the circuit court (§§ 16.1-123.1 and 17.1-513).
These pages explain how to search the Commonwealth's own systems, how to read what comes back, and what to do when the case is not there. This site holds no case data of its own: §§ 17.1-208 and 16.1-69.54:1 of the Code of Virginia forbid reports of aggregated, non-confidential case data from those systems being sold, posted on any other website or redistributed to a third party, so every search here sends you to the courts' own pages.
All guides
- Virginia Circuit Court Case Information: How to Search It
Virginia circuit court case information sits in its own system, separate from district court cases. How to search it, read it and get the file from the clerk.
- Virginia Cases: Which Court Has Yours, and What Happens Next
Virginia cases begin in one of three trial courts. Which court hears yours, how a case moves from summons to disposition, and what each stage records.
- What Virginia Court Case Status and Information Actually Tells You
VA court case status information uses court shorthand. What each field and disposition means, what it does not prove, and where the rest of the record is.
- Virginia Court Dockets: How to Read One and Find Your Case
A VA docket is the court's list of cases set for a day, not a case record. How a docket, a docket sheet and the case search differ, and where each one lives.
- How to Find a Virginia Case Number and Search With It
A Virginia case number search cannot return the wrong person. Where the number is printed, what its parts mean, and what to do if you do not have it.