How to search Indiana court records

Indiana 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.

statewide free criminal data

Open the official Indiana portal →

What's actually there

MyCase gives free statewide access to most trial-court cases including criminal.

Other official lookups for Indiana

IDOC offender search

How Indiana's courts are organized

Indiana has three kinds of trial courts. Every county has a circuit court, most counties also have one or more superior courts, and some cities and towns run city or town courts that handle misdemeanors, traffic offenses and local ordinance violations. Circuit and superior courts hear both civil and criminal cases. The 92 counties make up 91 judicial circuits because Ohio and Dearborn counties share one.

Above the trial courts are the Court of Appeals, the Tax Court, which hears original tax appeals, and the Indiana Supreme Court.

Indiana's free online search, MyCase, draws from courts that use the state's Odyssey case management system, which the Judicial Branch says is most courts in the state. The Judicial Branch publishes a list of which courts and counties are on Odyssey, so check it before assuming a court is covered.

Searching MyCase

MyCase is free and open to anyone for non-confidential case information. You can search by party name, case number or attorney, and the search tips page explains wildcard searches. A captcha may appear, especially after many searches in a row.

Each case shows a chronological case summary. Some documents appear as links without signing in, such as orders in many civil cases, non-confidential documents in miscellaneous criminal cases, final criminal judgments and appellate opinions. A missing document is not necessarily non-public; it may simply not be online, and older cases may have fewer documents. Parties can create an account and link their own case with an access code, and Indiana attorneys see more through the Courts Portal.

Protection orders are not in MyCase; they have a separate Protection Order Search.
Granted expungements may be removed, depending on the type; pending or denied expungement cases may still appear.
Juvenile paternity cases filed before July 1, 2014 stay confidential.
Courts not on Odyssey keep their records outside MyCase, so contact that county's clerk.
The Judicial Branch says MyCase is not the official record and may contain errors.

Getting copies and certified copies

For copies of public records, contact the clerk of the circuit court in the county handling the case. The Judicial Branch publishes a statewide court directory with clerk contact details.

Indiana Code 33-37-5-1 sets the clerk's copy fee at $1 per page, and the state's Public Access Counselor has said clerks cannot charge more than that for the copy itself. Certification is an added charge that varies by county, so confirm it with the clerk before ordering certified copies.

Expunged and sealed records

Indiana's expungement law is Indiana Code 35-38-9. Despite the name, it restricts and seals records rather than destroying them. Arrests and charges that did not end in a conviction can be expunged after one year, and the statute now orders automatic expungement in some cases, such as when all charges are dismissed or the person is acquitted. No filing fee is charged for those non-conviction petitions.

Convictions go through sections 2 through 5 of the statute. Misdemeanors wait five years from conviction; Level 6 or Class D felonies without bodily injury wait eight years; other eligible felonies wait eight years from conviction or three after the sentence ends; the most serious eligible felonies wait ten years from conviction or eight after the sentence ends, unless the prosecutor agrees to a shorter wait. A person can file a conviction expungement petition only once in a lifetime, and a civil filing fee applies unless waived for indigency. Expungement cases are filed under their own XP case type, and the file is public until an order granting expungement is issued. Court staff cannot give legal advice. Talk to a lawyer or use Indiana Legal Help, the self-help site run by the Indiana Coalition for Court Access.

Tip: check the Odyssey court list first

If a name search in MyCase turns up nothing, the case may be in a city or town court, or a court that is not on Odyssey, rather than not existing. Look up the county on the Judicial Branch's Odyssey courts list. If the court is missing from the list, call the clerk of that county's circuit court. Protection orders need the separate Protection Order Search, not MyCase.

Sources

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 Indiana

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 Indiana court records online?

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

Does this include criminal records?

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

Does one search cover the whole state?

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

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