How to Find Kentucky Court Records (2026)

In person or by mail. The Administrative Office of the Courts does not hold case records itself — "all requests for copies of court case records ... start with the clerk of the court that heard the case or proceeding." That means the Circuit Court Clerk in the county where the case was filed, for both Circuit and District Court files. Use the county directory on the Kentucky Court of Justice website to find the correct clerk's office, address, and phone number, since each of the 120 offices sets its own hours and in-person procedure.

Online. The free KYeCourts guest login shows basic docket information without registration. A paid CourtNet 2.0 subscription (available to attorneys, media approved by the AOC, and other account holders) adds fuller case histories and, for many case types, filed-document images. Neither substitutes for a certified copy from the clerk.

Appellate records. Court of Appeals and Supreme Court case information is searched through C-Track Public Access rather than CourtNet. For paper copies of opinions or briefs, contact the Clerk of the Court of Appeals or the Clerk of the Supreme Court directly.

Older records. Circuit Court Clerks generally keep records for about 15 years before transferring them to the State Records Center in Frankfort (state.records@ky.gov, 502-564-3617); records older than about 35 years move to the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives. The clerk's office can provide the file-locator information needed to request a record from either facility.

Statewide criminal history. For a single name-based report covering all 120 counties, use the AOC's $25 criminal record report rather than contacting every county individually.

Kentucky court records are generally open to the public, but several categories are removed from public search:

• Expungement. KRS 431.076 lets a person acquitted of a charge, or whose charge was dismissed with prejudice or never indicted, petition the court that heard the case to expunge the arrest and case record. KRS 431.073 provides a separate process to vacate and expunge certain low-level felony convictions once eligibility requirements are met. Once granted, the record is treated as if the event did not occur and will not appear in CourtNet, the AOC criminal record report, or a clerk's index search.
• Juvenile records. Kentucky juvenile court proceedings and records are confidential under the Kentucky Unified Juvenile Code, with narrow statutory exceptions for law enforcement and certain agencies.
• Family and mental-health matters. Some domestic-violence, mental-health commitment, and adoption records are restricted by statute or sealed by court order rather than published in the general index.
• Documents excluded from CourtNet. The AOC excludes certain filings — for example preliminary and final disclosure statements in family cases — from public view in CourtNet 2.0 even when the case itself is otherwise a public record.

Kentucky's Open Records Act (KRS 61.870–61.884) applies to executive-branch agencies, not to the judiciary; access to court case records is governed by the Rules of the Kentucky Supreme Court and by request to the clerk of the court that heard the case, not by an open-records request to the AOC.