Court Records Blog

Child support isn’t always an easy subject for divorced parents. Information about how the process works can help ease some of the pain of paying, and of collecting. Every state has an agency that sets up and manages the child support process, but many local courts and county attorneys are part of that process. The obvious role of the court is in setting the amount of child support payments (although in many jurisdictions this is accomplished by alternative disupte resolution without going before a judge). But many local agencies, courts, and county attorneys (or district attorneys, depending on the jurisdiction) are involved in enforcing collection of child support, and they are also sources of information about the process.

Let’s look at some examples from south to north – Alabama to Minnesota. The Child Support Enforcement Division of Alabama Department of Human Resources is a typical state agency that manages the details of child support. It collects and distributes child support payments; enforces payment by means of income withholding, reporting to credit bureaus and the IRS, filing liens, and other means; helps establish paternity by a variety of means including genetic testing; tracks down non-custodial parents; reviews support orders on a periodic basis, and maintains on online payment inquiry system that allows both parties to check the payment status and history.

The Division also provides information about the withholding process for both employers and employees, detailed state guidelines, a downloadable Guide to Child Support Services, and an explanation of parties’ rights. Since application for the agency’s services is done at local offices, the agency provides contact information for each county office.

Court clerks in some Alabama counties also provide child support services and information. The Morgan County Circuit Clerk provides information about address changes, visitation schedules, and links to the state Central Disbursement Division and to applicable forms. The Shelby County Circuit Clerk provides contact information for state agencies, a description of the child support process, and links to forms and guidelines.

All of these Alabama resources can be found at CourtReference’s Guide to Alabama Courts – Self Help and Legal Research. The link to the state agency’s Child Support Information and Services is near the top of the the list, in the Statewide category. Scroll down to individual county information for the Morgan and Shelby County links.

Also check out Court Reference’s Guide to Minnesota Courts – Self Help and Legal Research. In the Statewide category you’ll find the link to Minnesota Child Support Services. The Child Support Enforcement Division of the Minnesota Department of Human Services provides information about the state program, the connection between its oversight of the program and local offices’ administration of the program, and privacy policies.

The Division has detailed instructions for applying for services; types of services available including locating parents, establishing paternity, requesting court orders, enforcing orders via contempt proceedings and other means, modification of orders, working with other states, and payment processing; contact information for local agencies by county, information about income withholding for employers, a glossary, guidelines, information about the centralized collection and disbursement of payments, and downloadable publications and forms.

Minnesota county agencies directly administer the program, so scroll down the Guide to Minnesota Courts – Self Help and Legal Research page to your county and look for Child Support links. The Aitkin County Child Support Unit provides a description of its services. In Anoka County, the Child Support Office offers information about paternity, court orders to establish support, and enforcement. In addition, the Anoka County Attorney’s Office offers information about its services and the court process.

Scroll down the Minnesota page to find child support links for many other Minnesota counties. Check CourtReference’s information for any other state north, south, east, and west for similar links to state and local child support agencies, their services and information.

Depending on location, the government officer responsible for prosecuting criminals may be known as the District Attorney, Prosecutor, or County Attorney. Regardless of title, this officer may sound like someone the average citizen would prefer to avoid. Doesn’t the D.A. just prosecute criminals?

In many states, District and County Attorneys also help citizens enforce their rights. Kentucky County Attorneys are a good example.

Have you ever been stuck with a bad check? If so, how do you try to collect? Hire a lawyer? File a criminal complaint and wait for the check-writer’s trial to find out if you’ll see any of that money? Many of Kentucky’s County Attorney’s Offices have special programs to help you collect on that bad check – or “cold check” as it’s called in Kentucky. For example, check out the bad check programs in Clark, Fayette, and Jefferson Counties.

The County Attorney can help collect child support too. Several counties have programs, including Clark, Fayette, and Jefferson.

If you are you a victim of domestic violence, the County Attorney may have resources to help you. For example, Clark County provides information on warning signs and how to help; McCracken County adds information about how to get a protective order.

If you’ve been a victim of crime and need to file a criminal complaint, the County Attorney can guide you through that process too. Clark and Fayette Counties have web pages; Hopkins County has a downloadable brochure.

Some County Attorney’s offices provide helpful information about court procedures. Most often, that information is to help citizens understand the procedures in criminal cases, but the Jefferson County Attorney’s Office provides information about Family Court procedures and agencies that help with family law issues.

Kentucky is not alone. Some Kansas District Attorneys and County Attorneys have similar programs. For example, see the bad check programs in Haskell and Stevens Counties. The Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office has information about consumer fraud.

Wherever you live, the D.A., Prosecutor, or County Attorney isn’t just the person who puts the “bad guys” in jail; he or she can also be your friend in a variety of legal situations. You can find the resources available in your county at CourtReference; just select your state, then choose the Self Help and Legal Research category.

In any given state, you could typically expect to find maybe one or two statewide court records databases online. Utah is unusual in offering five different means to search court records online. This means easier, faster access to various trial court records, and CourtReference offers links to all of them from its Utah Court Case Records Search page.

Although in other states you may be able to search court records through a particular county’s resource, statewide resources offer the advantage of being able to search for cases even if you do not know the county where the case was heard. Imagine if you wanted to look up court records for someone, but did not know which county to look in – do you really want to search every county’s database? Utah has 29 counties – that’s a lot of time saved by being able to look in one statewide database. (It could be worse, though – Texas has 254 counties!)

Free Services
Some of the resources Utah offers are free and others require payment. The state judiciary offers free access to case filings and court orders in High Profile Cases, including such notable recent cases as State of Utah v. Warren Steed Jeffs.

The state judiciary also offers free access to Weekly District Court Filing Reports, which offer a chance to review basic information on all cases filed, disposed of, or on which judgment was entered in Utah District Courts within a particular week. Using this service, you can view the case number, location where the case was filed, and names of the parties.

Users can also search Justice Court DUI misdemeanor convictions by party name and court name. This service does not hold records for every Justice Court in the state, but does provide access to over 30 courts for free. Records go at least three years back, with the records for some Justice Courts going back 15 years. The DUI database is a private website operated by the Salt Lake Tribune newspaper.

The Salt Lake Tribune also offers free access to District Court charge information from 1997 through present. This database is searchable by party name and provides information such as disposition, attorney, and case number, as well as related charges.

Paid Services
All District Court and some Justice Court records are available through a state-contracted private company called XChange. How far back records go in this service depends on the court where the case was heard. Most district court records are available at least from 1998-present, but some District Courts may not go quite that far back. With the justice courts, it is different for each court.

Historical Records
Looking for court records from the 19th or early 20th centuries? The Division of Archives offers free access to archived court records. Although the records themselves are not available online, an online index of records available provides the reel number and location of particular records, including probate, divorce and district court records, so that they are easy to track down.

In addition to the resources above, Salt Lake City offers online access to its Justice Court records. Still looking for information? Contact your local court clerk. CourtReference’s Utah Courts directory can help you find contact information.