How to Find Arkansas Court Records (2026)

Arkansas court records at a glance
Statewide case search	Search ARCourts (formerly Public CourtConnect)
Criminal history check	Arkansas State Police Online Criminal Background Check System
Appellate opinions	Arkansas Judiciary — Supreme Court & Court of Appeals Opinions and Case Search
Federal cases	PACER (2 districts)
Plain copy fee	$0.25 per page at most circuit clerks (set locally; e.g., Saline and Lonoke counties post $0.25)
Certified copy fee	$5.00 per document for the clerk's certificate and seal (Ark. Code Ann. § 21-6-402), plus the per-page copy charge
Who keeps trial records	Clerk of the Arkansas Supreme Court and Court of Appeals; Circuit Clerk of the county

Arkansas keeps its trial-court records with the circuit clerk of the county where the case was filed. Arkansas's 28 judicial circuits combine one or more counties, but each county still has its own circuit clerk, courthouse, fees, and hours. In most counties the circuit clerk's office also keeps the probate division of circuit court, while the separate county clerk handles county-level business (elections, vital records, and recorded probate instruments such as wills). A handful of counties, including Pulaski, elect one person to serve as both circuit clerk and county clerk.

Arkansas has a statewide case-search tool: Search ARCourts (successor to the older "Public CourtConnect" brand, still reachable at caseinfo.arcourts.gov), which shows case information for courts using the state's Contexte case management system. Coverage varies by court — most circuit courts participate, but participation and document availability differ by county and case type. For a statewide name-based criminal history, the Arkansas State Police Online Criminal Background Check System searches convictions reported to the state for $22 per name.

The most common mistake is assuming one search covers everything. Search ARCourts only shows what a given court has entered into Contexte; municipal ordinance and city traffic tickets are handled by city-run district courts, which mostly are not searchable online and must be contacted directly. Sealed and confidential cases (juvenile, some sealed criminal records) never appear in any public search, online or in person.

How Arkansas courts are organized

Which court heard a case decides who keeps the file. Use this table to pick the right clerk before you search, and see the guides to criminal, civil, family, and probate records for what each court's file contains.

Court	Handles	Who holds the records
Supreme Court of Arkansas	Discretionary and mandatory appeals of statewide importance Death-penalty and life-sentence appeals Attorney discipline and bar admission Rules of court procedure	Clerk of the Arkansas Supreme Court and Court of Appeals The Supreme Court and Court of Appeals share one clerk's office.
Court of Appeals	Civil and criminal appeals from circuit court not retained by the Supreme Court Domestic relations and juvenile appeals Workers' compensation appeals	Clerk of the Arkansas Supreme Court and Court of Appeals Most appeals start here; the Supreme Court can certify a case up from the Court of Appeals or take it directly.
Circuit Courts (28 judicial circuits)	Felony criminal cases Civil cases above the district-court limit Divorce, custody, and other domestic-relations cases Probate, guardianship, and estate matters Juvenile dependency and delinquency cases	Circuit Clerk of the county Since 2002 every circuit court has five subject-matter divisions (criminal, civil, probate, domestic relations, juvenile), but one circuit clerk's office keeps the files for all of them in that county.
District Courts (state and local)	Misdemeanor criminal cases Traffic violations and city ordinance violations Preliminary felony hearings (first appearance and bond) Civil cases and small claims up to $25,000	Clerk of the individual district court District courts are organized by city or by county; a single county can have several district courts (for example, one per city), each with its own clerk, and most do not share an online search.
City Courts	Legacy municipal-court matters in cities that have not converted to district court	Clerk of the individual city court Most cities have converted to the district court system; contact the city directly if unsure.

Search Arkansas court records online

Statewide case search

Search ARCourts (formerly Public CourtConnect)

Official Free search

Cost: Free to search
Coverage: Case information for circuit courts (and some district courts) that use the state's Contexte case management system; coverage and document availability vary by court
Records: Civil, Criminal, Family, Probate

Run by the Administrative Office of the Courts. An empty result does not mean no case exists — the county's court may not participate, or the record may be excluded under Administrative Order 19. Call (501) 410-1900, option 1, with questions.

Criminal history (convictions)

Arkansas State Police Online Criminal Background Check System

Official Paid Account required

Cost: $22 per name-based state search ($11 for volunteers); $13 for a fingerprint-based national/FBI check ($11 for volunteers); mail-in requests are $25
Coverage: Arkansas criminal history reported to the Arkansas State Police; a name-based search only returns Arkansas records, not other states
Records: Criminal

Requires creating an account with the state's background-check vendor (Tyler Arkansas) to search online. Sealed records under the Comprehensive Criminal Record Sealing Act are excluded from results.

Appellate courts

Arkansas Judiciary — Supreme Court & Court of Appeals Opinions and Case Search

Official Free search

Cost: Free
Coverage: Opinions of the Arkansas Supreme Court and Court of Appeals (opinions.arcourts.gov), plus appellate case/docket search through Search ARCourts
Records: Appeals

Opinions are posted each Thursday at 10 a.m. during the court term. Use the "Court Record Search" link on this page for appellate docket information.

Federal court records in Arkansas

Federal cases (bankruptcy, federal crimes, lawsuits under federal law) are not in state portals. They live in PACER, organized by district. Arkansas has 2 federal judicial districts.

District	Main courthouse	Court website
Eastern District of Arkansas	Little Rock	www.are.uscourts.gov
Western District of Arkansas	Fort Smith	www.arwd.uscourts.gov

Read our PACER guide for registration, the per-page fee, and the quarterly fee waiver.

Arkansas county court records

Trial-court records are kept by the clerk in the county where the case was filed. These are the largest counties in Arkansas; each guide covers the circuit clerk and other court offices, their addresses, and what is searchable online.

Request records in person or by mail

In person. Go to the circuit clerk of the county where the case was filed for felonies, civil suits, family-law cases, and probate; go to the specific district or city court for misdemeanors, traffic tickets, and city ordinance violations. Bring the case number if you have it, or the party names and an approximate filing year. Most circuit clerks have a public terminal or counter staff who can pull the index at no charge; copies are paid at the counter.

By mail. Write to the circuit clerk (or district court clerk) with:

the case number, or the full names of the parties and the year filed;
exactly which documents you need;
whether you need plain or certified copies; and
a check or money order for the fee, or a request for a fee quote.

Call first to confirm the current fee, since circuit clerks set filing and copy fees under a statutory schedule that can change. Turnaround is typically one to a few weeks depending on the county and whether the file must be retrieved from storage.

Online. Search ARCourts is free and shows case information — and, for many circuit courts, document images — for courts that participate. It does not replace the clerk: not every county publishes every case type, and district-court records mostly are not online at all. For a statewide criminal history, use the Arkansas State Police Online Criminal Background Check System.

Records older than the online index. Digitized coverage on Search ARCourts and county recorder systems is strongest from the 2000s forward. Older paper files may require an in-person or mail request and, in some counties, a search fee to locate.

Fees

Item	Typical cost
Plain copy	$0.25 per page at most circuit clerks (set locally; e.g., Saline and Lonoke counties post $0.25)
Certified copy	$5.00 per document for the clerk's certificate and seal (Ark. Code Ann. § 21-6-402), plus the per-page copy charge

Ark. Code Ann. § 21-6-402 fixes the circuit clerk's certificate-and-seal fee at $5.00, an authentication certificate at $5.00, and certifying costs at $2.50, but leaves the plain per-page copy charge to each clerk; the large-county schedules we checked (Saline, Lonoke) charge $0.25 per page. Uniform filing fees are in § 21-6-403. Confirm with the clerk before mailing payment, since some counties add a technology fee or charge more for oversized or archived files.

Need a copy an agency will accept? See how to get certified copies of court records.

Sealed, expunged, and restricted records

Arkansas court records are presumed open, but several categories are not available in any public search:

Sealed records under the Comprehensive Criminal Record Sealing Act of 2013. Ark. Code Ann. § 16-90-1401 et seq. lets a court seal eligible criminal records; once sealed, the record is "protected" and treated as if it never happened for most purposes, though § 16-90-1416 allows release to specified agencies (for example, licensing boards and criminal-justice agencies) under limited circumstances.
Juvenile cases. Delinquency and dependency-neglect cases in circuit court's juvenile division are confidential, with narrow statutory exceptions.
Cases and documents restricted under Administrative Order No. 19. The Arkansas Supreme Court's rule on access to court records excludes certain categories (Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, and specific case types) from public and online access even when the underlying case is public.
Adoption records. Adoption case files are confidential by statute.
Some domestic-relations and protective-order details. Personal identifying information in these cases is restricted even though the case itself may be public.

Access to court records generally is governed by Arkansas Supreme Court Administrative Order No. 19, not the state Freedom of Information Act, which applies to executive-branch records rather than the judiciary. Requests to seal or expunge a record are made to the circuit court that handled the case, not to the clerk directly.

To remove your own record from public view, read how to expunge or seal a criminal record.

Frequently asked questions

Are Arkansas court records public?

Yes, in general. Arkansas court records are presumed open under Arkansas Supreme Court Administrative Order No. 19, with exceptions for juvenile cases, adoptions, sealed records under the Comprehensive Criminal Record Sealing Act, and specific restricted document types.

Is there a free statewide court records search for Arkansas?

Search ARCourts (caseinfo.arcourts.gov), the successor to Public CourtConnect, is free to search and covers most circuit courts that use the state's Contexte case management system. Coverage and document availability vary by county, and most city-run district courts are not included.

How do I run a criminal background check in Arkansas?

Use the Arkansas State Police Online Criminal Background Check System at cbc.ark.org, which costs $22 for a name-based state search. It only returns Arkansas records, so out-of-state history requires a separate check or an FBI fingerprint-based search.

Which office has my divorce or custody case?

The circuit clerk in the county where the case was filed. Domestic-relations cases are heard in the domestic relations division of circuit court, and the circuit clerk keeps the file.

Who keeps probate records in Arkansas?

Probate is a division of circuit court, so the circuit clerk keeps the case file in most counties. The separate county clerk also records certain probate-related instruments (such as wills admitted to record) and issues marriage licenses; in a few counties, one office serves as both circuit and county clerk.

Where do I find traffic ticket or misdemeanor records?

Those are usually in a city-run district court rather than circuit court. Contact the specific district court for the city where the ticket or charge was issued; most do not have a statewide online search.

Sources

Arkansas Judiciary — Circuit Courts — https://arcourts.gov/courts/circuit-courts
Arkansas Judiciary — District Courts — https://arcourts.gov/courts/district-courts
Arkansas Judiciary — Search ARCourts (CourtConnect) — https://arcourts.gov/administration/acap/courtconnect
Arkansas Judiciary — Supreme Court — https://arcourts.gov/courts/supreme-court
Arkansas Online Criminal Background Check System — https://cbc.ark.org/
Arkansas Code § 16-90-1416 — Release of Sealed Records — https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-16/subtitle-6/chapter-90/subchapter-14/section-16-90-1416/
Arkansas Code § 21-6-403 — Circuit Court Clerks, Uniform Filing Fees — https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-21/chapter-6/subchapter-4/section-21-6-403/
Arkansas Judiciary — Filing Fee Information — https://arcourts.gov/courts/clerk-of-the-courts/filing-information
Arkansas Code § 21-6-402 — Circuit Court Clerks, Miscellaneous Fees — https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-21/chapter-6/subchapter-4/section-21-6-402/
Saline County Circuit Clerk — Filing Fees — https://www.salinecounty.org/government/circuit_clerk/circuit_juvenile_court/filing_fees_efiling_lite.php
Lonoke County Circuit Clerk — Filing Fees — https://www.lonokecircuitclerk.com/filingfees.html
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Arkansas — https://www.are.uscourts.gov/
U.S. District Court, Western District of Arkansas — https://www.arwd.uscourts.gov/