How to Find Kansas Court Records (2026)

In person. Go to the Clerk of the District Court in the county where the case was filed. Public access computers are available at each courthouse for searching the case index at no charge. Copies are paid at the counter; check the clerk's website for accepted payment methods before you go.

By mail or email. Most clerks accept a written records request by mail, fax, or email, often with a standard request form. Include the case number if you have it, or the parties' names and the approximate year; state exactly which documents you need and whether you need certified copies. Several clerks require prepayment or a deposit before processing the request.

Online. Kansas CaseSearch (casesearch.kscourts.gov) lets you search case information statewide for free, and some documents are viewable once a court is fully on the Kansas eCourt system. It does not replace the clerk for certified copies or for cases and documents not yet online.

Records older than the online index. Kansas eCourt rolled out to courts on a district-by-district schedule, so how far back documents go online varies by county. Older files are on paper or microfilm at the clerk's office, and locating them may take longer or carry a search fee.

Kansas court records are open to the public by default, but several categories are not available online or in the courthouse index:

• Expunged records. Under K.S.A. 21-6614, a person can petition the court that handled the case to expunge eligible convictions, arrests, and diversion agreements after a waiting period (commonly three years for lower-level offenses and five years for more serious ones). Expungement seals the record from public view; it is not automatically destroyed, and certain agencies and employers can still see it. Convictions for offenses such as murder, most sex offenses, and crimes requiring offender registration generally cannot be expunged.
• Juvenile offender and child-in-need-of-care records. Confidential with narrow statutory exceptions.
• Adoption records. Sealed by statute.
• Domestic and protection-order case documents. Restricted from the public access portal even though case information may be visible.
• Records exempt under the Kansas Open Records Act. K.S.A. 45-221 lists categories such as attorney work product, privileged communications, and certain investigative records that agencies, including courts, may withhold.

The Kansas Open Records Act (K.S.A. 45-215 et seq.) governs public records generally, but access to case documents at the district and appellate courts is also shaped by Kansas Supreme Court rules on electronic access, which is why a record can be publicly available at a courthouse terminal but excluded from CaseSearch.