FAQs
- What is iDocket.com?
- How does it work?
- Who can view the court case information on iDocket.com?
- What type of the court case information is available in iDocket.com?
- Which counties/courts can I view on the iDocket.com web site?
- Can I view court documents on the iDocket.com web site?
- Do I have to pay a fee to use iDocket.com?
- Which information on the iDocket.com web site is free?
- Which information on the iDocket.com web site is not free?
- Why does iDocket.com charge a fee? Isn't the court information "public information?"
- Can I still obtain court case information directly from the courthouse if I wish?
- When will information from all courts be available on iDocket.com?
- Can computer hackers use iDocket.com to destroy information located on the court's computers?
Q. What is iDocket.com?
A. In short, iDocket.com is an Internet database of court case information. Clerks of Court maintain court case information in state and county courthouses throughout the United States. Much of this information is available for personal inspection at the clerk's office where the records are stored. Now, for selected courts, iDocket.com brings the courthouse to you by making court case information available on the Internet.
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Q. How does it work?
A. iDocket.com offers convenient Internet access to public court case information.
It is an on-line database that can be used to track court cases filed in various counties. iDocket.com gives desk top access to court records that users would normally be required to request by mail or retrieve in person from the courthouse. Information for iDocket.com is extracted from the court clerk's database daily and loaded onto the iDocket.com Internet website so that users may do a "virtual inspection" of court cases by viewing the equivalent of the clerk's file docket.
iDocket.com provides the following information:
· Case number
· Names of the parties
· Court costs, fines, fees, and payments
· Listing of all documents filed with the court clerk
· Listing of all notifications, subpoenas, etc., issued by the court clerk
· Filing date
· Disposition date
· Type of case
· Attorneys
· Bondsman
· Court
· Offense/type of case
iDocket.com also provides advanced capabilities to search court records by:
· Names of the parties
· Type of offense
· Cases filed during a date range
· Cases disposed during a date range
· Court
· Attorney
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Q. Who can view the court case information on iDocket.com?
A. Anyone with access to the Internet can browse the court case information that resides in the iDocket.com web site.
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Q. What type of the court case information is available in iDocket.com?
A. To see the type of court case information that resides on the iDocket.com website, close this window, click on the iDocket.com Courts button on the iDocket.com home page and—when the map identifying the counties currently participating in iDocket.com appears—rest the cursor on the county.
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Q. Which counties/courts can I view on the iDocket.com web site?
A. To determine which counties/courts are presently available on iDocket.com, go to the iDocket.com home page and click "iDocket Courts."
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Q. Can I view court documents on the iDocket.com web site?
A. Yes…and no. The majority of our clerks have elected to have just their indexes available. However some do have images and are available through our website. Whether they do or don’t is a decision made by each clerk
and we follow their lead. You can check our Texas map on our homepage to verify that we have the county document images.
Once search for your case and in the index part you can click “View Document Images”.
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Q. Do I have to pay a fee to use iDocket.com?
A. Most court information stored on the iDocket.com web site is available at no charge. However, in order to perform certain types of research and take advantage of certain premium services, we require a subscription or a "per use" fee to defray the costs of placing the court information on the world wide web. (You may retrieve the information about iDocket.com Subscription Plans by closing this window and clicking the Services button on the iDocket.com home page and then the iDocket.com Subscription Plans link on the Services page.)
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Q. Which information on the iDocket.com web site is free?
A. You may search court cases by litigant name to determine a "case number;" view court case numbers, case types, case styles, case filing and disposition dates and case dispositions; and determine the courts names, court locations and bondsmen. You may also view the names of all parties involved with a case as well as the name of each attorney representing each party.
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Q. Which information on the iDocket.com web site is not free?
A. Subscribers to iDocket.com may access all "free" information listed above. In addition, iDocket.com subscribers, for a monthly fee, may perform sophisticated case searches, i.e., searches for cases by case category, case type, name of any attorney identified in a case, name of the court in which the case resides and the case filing and/or disposition date. In addition, subscribers may view case history, i.e., a log of all motions, orders, citations, answers, actions, costs, payments and ledger.
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Q. Why does iDocket.com charge a fee? Isn't the court information "public information?"
A. iDocket.com provides services as well as information. iDocket.com begins its service by consolidating, on its web site, information from many courthouses. Then iDocket.com makes this information available day and night, seven days per week to Internet users statewide, nationwide and worldwide. In addition, because iDocket.com stores information from multiple courts, iDocket.com provides a means for its users (1) to move virtually from courthouse to courthouse in minutes and (2) to broadcast litigant or attorney name searches over multiple courts or counties. iDocket.com users, rather than hitting the road, merely click a mouse in order to travel county to county, courthouse to courthouse and case to case.
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Q. Can I still obtain court case information directly from the courthouse if I wish?
A. Court case information remains available from the courthouse. (Courthouse fees for searching, copying, faxing mailing, etc.—whether established by local rules or state statutes—may be determined by contacting the court directly.)
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Q. When will information from all courts be available on iDocket.com?
A. iDocket.com is attempting to bring additional courts onto iDocket.com web site as soon as possible. Many courts are ready and eager to use the latest technology to better serve the public—these courts are merely waiting for iDocket.com to bring them onto the Internet as soon as possible. Other courts wish to continue their current over-the-counter, telephone/fax services for the public. To see which counties and courts are available on iDocket.com, please go to www.idocket.com and click on iDocket.com Courts button.
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Q. Can computer hackers use iDocket.com to destroy information located on the court's computers?
A. No. The computers at the iDocket.com web site are not connected to the courts' computers. Rather, the courts send court case information to iDocket.com then iDocket.com places the case information on its world wide web computers. iDocket.com neither requires nor expects the courts computers to be on the Internet.
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