How to search Arkansas court records

Arkansas runs a single statewide case-lookup system, so one search — with the name spelled correctly — reaches courts across the entire state. There's no charge and no account required — results are visible to anyone who searches.

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Open the official Arkansas portal →

What's actually there

Search ARCourts (which replaced Public CourtConnect) gives free statewide access to circuit court cases; only some district courts are included.

Other official lookups for Arkansas

• Dept. of Corrections inmate search

How Arkansas's courts are organized

Arkansas has two trial-court levels. Arkansas's circuit courts handle general trial work. Since Amendment 80 took effect in 2001, Arkansas no longer has separate law and equity courts, and each circuit court is split into five subject-matter divisions: criminal, civil, probate, domestic relations, and juvenile. Circuits are numbered and often cover several counties, and each county has its own circuit clerk who keeps the files for cases filed there.

District courts are the limited-jurisdiction courts. They hear traffic violations, misdemeanors, violations of state law and city or county ordinances, and preliminary matters in felony cases. Their civil side covers contract and personal-property disputes up to $25,000, and each has a small claims division for claims up to $5,000. The Arkansas Judiciary reports 41 district court judicial districts and 70 full-time district judges as of January 1, 2025. Above the trial courts sit the Court of Appeals and the Arkansas Supreme Court.

The official online search, Search ARCourts, replaced the older Public CourtConnect system. Every circuit court reports at least case statistics to it under Administrative Order 8, and most circuit courts show full case details because they use the state's Contexte case management system. Only some district courts appear, so a missing traffic or misdemeanor case does not mean no case exists.

Using Search ARCourts

Search ARCourts is free to use and needs no account. You can search by a person's name, an organization name, a case description, a case number, or a citation number, and an Advanced Search button plus filter options let you narrow results by court and other details.

A case record shows the parties, the judge, the filings (docket entries), charges and dispositions, upcoming hearing dates, and judgments. For some cases the site also links to the filed documents themselves, so you can read the actual papers. Coverage of documents varies by court.

• Not everything is online. The court site says some information is not public under Arkansas Supreme Court Administrative Order 19 and will not appear on the internet. Court training material on Order 19 lists items such as Social Security numbers (beyond the last four digits), adoption records, grand jury material, and medical and drug-test records.
• District court coverage is partial. If a city or county district court does not use Contexte, check with that court's clerk directly.
• Questions about the website go to the Administrative Office of the Courts at (501) 410-1900, option 1, or (866) 823-5778. Questions about a particular case go to the court where it was filed.

Getting copies or certified copies

For a circuit court case, contact the circuit clerk in the county where the case was filed. The Arkansas Judiciary keeps a statewide circuit clerk directory with each clerk's address, phone, fax, and judicial circuit. For a district court case, contact that district court's clerk; the judiciary also publishes a district court directory.

Copy and certification charges are set by statute and collected by the local clerk, and the state site does not post one statewide price list, so ask the clerk for the current fee before you send payment. Supreme Court and Court of Appeals records are handled by the Supreme Court's Clerk of the Courts office.

Records that are not public, and record sealing

Arkansas uses the term sealing rather than expungement for most adult records. The Comprehensive Criminal Record Sealing Act, Act 1460 of 2013, is codified at Arkansas Code section 16-90-1401 and following sections. It sets up uniform petition and order forms for felonies, misdemeanors, arrests without conviction, dismissals and nolle prosequi, pardoned offenses, and several special programs, including first-offender, drug court, and veterans treatment court cases.

The petition and order are filed with the court where the person was sentenced. Once a judge signs the order, the clerk sends it to the Arkansas Crime Information Center (ACIC), which by state law has 30 days to process it. ACIC posts the official forms but says it cannot tell anyone which form fits their case. This is a general description, not legal advice: talk to a lawyer, call Arkansas Legal Aid at 1-800-952-9243, or use the self-help resources the Arkansas Judiciary links from its public information page.

Arkansas tip: name the right court

Search ARCourts lists cases by court, so a common name can return results from many counties. Use the court filter to limit results to the county where you think the case was filed. Appeals carry their own docket numbers in the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, usually a case-type prefix plus year and number such as CR-21-195, which is different from the number the case had in circuit court. If a district court case is missing, the district court directory on arcourts.gov lists the clerk to call.

Sources

• Arkansas Judiciary — Search ARCourts overview
• Search ARCourts case search
• Search ARCourts navigation tips
• Arkansas Judiciary — Circuit Courts
• Arkansas Judiciary — District Courts
• Arkansas Judiciary — Circuit Clerks directory
• Arkansas Judiciary — Administrative Order 19 training summary (PDF)
• Arkansas Crime Information Center — Criminal history and sealing forms
• Arkansas Legislature — Act 1460 of 2013 (PDF)
• Arkansas Judiciary — Information for the Public (self-help)

Checked against the official sources above in October 2026. Court rules and fees change; the court's own site is the final word. This is general information, not legal advice.

Federal cases filed in Arkansas

State portals don't cover federal court. If the case you're looking for might be a federal criminal prosecution, civil suit, or bankruptcy, use CourtRecordsFree's live federal search — it queries CourtListener/RECAP directly and isn't limited to any one state.

Search tips

• Try both "Last, First" and "First Last" — courts index names inconsistently.
• Middle initials and suffixes (Jr., III) often matter for common names.
• A date of birth or case number is the only reliable way to confirm you found the right person.
• An arrest or charge shown in a docket is not a conviction — read the disposition.

Frequently asked questions

Is it free to search Arkansas court records online?

Yes. Arkansas's statewide search is free to use, with no account or subscription required.

Does this include criminal records?

Yes. Arkansas's portal includes criminal case records alongside civil cases, though sealed and expunged cases are not shown.

Does one search cover the whole state?

Arkansas runs one statewide system, so a single search covers the whole state.

Links move. If the Arkansas portal link above is dead, tell us on the corrections page.