The Wisconsin Circuit Courts were established as trial-based courts to resolve disputes, criminal violations, and traffic matters in the state of Wisconsin. These courts are considered to be the originating court of jurisdiction.
Wisconsin Circuit Courts are divided into 9 judicial districts. There are a total of 249 Wisconsin circuit court judges assigned to cover the 72 counties in the state. A large number of these judges oversee the Milwaukee County Circuit Court.
Obtain Wisconsin Circuit Court Documents
The Wisconsin Circuit courts use a consolidated court access program to allow individuals to view and obtain court case records and documents. There is a web portal that provides remote access to the documents as long as you have an internet connection.
These documents can be viewed and printed directly from the portal without visiting a county courthouse. There are public terminals available in the courthouses for the general public to access the portal. This is reserved for individuals that lack internet access.
Wisconsin circuit courts web portal contains information for all court cases filed in the state of Wisconsin. The user-friendly interface allows you to research court cases by name, citation, and/or the court case number. You have the option to narrow down your search results if they are too broad.
Information that is displayed on the portal is the same information that you will find in the courthouse. The only exception is cases that exceed the display period, family court cases, juvenile cases, and cases that are sealed. More information regarding the types of cases that are found on the portal is available in the online tutorial guide. This guide discusses how to search for court records and how to read court documents.
Information Retrieved From Wisconsin Circuit Courts
As mentioned previously, you have the option to print the court records directly from the portal.
The information that you can obtain from the portal include the following:
- Case information including the case number, charges, and disposition
- The date the case was filed and the status of the case
- The location where the case was filed along with the judicial officer overseeing the case
- Case notes, documents, events, and hearings that are entered in the consolidated access program
Any information that is not found on the portal can be requested from the county clerk’s office. The instructions for requesting court records is located on the portal.
Contacting Wisconsin Circuit Courts
Every county in Wisconsin has elected officials known as the clerks of the court that are responsible for the daily administrative operations of the courts. Questions about specific cases are referred to the county clerk’s office where the case was filed. This information can be found on the County Clerk’s directory on the web portal. The directory is broken down by judicial districts and each county clerk’s office has a website containing information for that county.
The county clerk’s offices for the circuit courts are maintained and regulated by the Wisconsin Supreme court. The courts consider the record custodians for court documents and must adhere to the Wisconsin state statute.