Start With Daviess County Court Records
Official Daviess County court records access starts with Kentucky Court of Justice systems and the Daviess County Circuit Court Clerk. The Kentucky Court of Justice Daviess County page lists the Holbrook Judicial Center, Circuit Court Clerk Jennifer Hardesty Besecker, division phone numbers, court hours, payment methods, parking notes, and local court divisions. That page is the best first check when a user needs the right division before calling or visiting.
For online public case information, use the KYeCourts guest public records gateway. It is a statewide Kentucky Court of Justice tool, not a county-run database. It requires a reCAPTCHA step before public case search. Full result fields were not available in the research without passing the captcha, so Daviess County court records should not be treated as a complete online document library. For the wider county case overview, the main Daviess County court dockets page is useful when the immediate need is a hearing date rather than a full case file.
- Open the KYeCourts guest gateway and choose the public-records guest path after the reCAPTCHA prompt.
- Search by case number when available, since case numbers reduce false matches in Daviess County court records.
- Use party search only when the first name, last name, and date of birth are known and can be entered consistently.
- Use citation search for traffic or citation-linked cases, including the citation year and control number when known.
- Call or visit the Daviess County Circuit Court Clerk for official copies, certified copies, older files, or file review.
The AOC criminal record report system is separate from the case-search portal. It is designed for statewide criminal-record reports, has its own fee, and does not replace the local clerk's court file when the user needs pleadings, orders, docket activity, or certified Daviess County court records.
For the AOC criminal-record access channel, review the Kentucky AOC background-check information.
AOC reports can help confirm Kentucky criminal-history data, but Daviess County court records for motions, orders, hearings, and certified copies still run through the court clerk.
Daviess County Court Records Search Fields
The visible KYeCourts field inventory shows several search paths. Some fields are part of the guest gateway and some are referenced by official scripts used after the captcha step. The important limit is practical: a public user can prepare the right search data, but the accessible research did not confirm every post-captcha result column or attachment option. Daviess County court records found online should be verified with the clerk when a legal use depends on the record.
| Search Mode | Field Label | Type | Required | Notes / Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guest gateway | reCAPTCHA checkbox | Captcha | Yes | Required before the Continue button opens the guest path. |
| Case search | SearchCriteria_CaseNumber | Text | Likely yes for case search | Best used when a Daviess case number is already known. |
| Case search | SearchCriteria_County | Dropdown | Unspecified | County dropdown is reset by the official clear function. |
| Citation search | citationYear | Text or numeric | Yes | Year is required and non-digits are stripped by script. |
| Citation search | SearchCriteria_ControlNumber | Text | Yes | Control number and year are both required for citation search. |
| Party search | SearchCriteria_FirstName | Text | Yes | Used with last name and date of birth validation. |
| Party search | SearchCriteria_LastName | Text | Yes | Spelling and name changes may affect Daviess County court records matches. |
| Party search | DOB | Date or text | Yes | Date of birth is required by validation for party lookup. |
When Daviess County Court Records Need the Clerk
The Daviess County Circuit Court Clerk is the local court-record custodian for Circuit, Family, District, traffic, criminal, probate, small claims, and civil case records. KCOJ says the Administrative Office of the Courts does not maintain local case records for copy requests. Requests for review of case records and copies start with the clerk of the court that heard the case. In Daviess County, that means the Office of Circuit Court Clerk at the Holbrook Judicial Center.
Older Daviess County court records may be in the clerk's office, at a records facility, or destroyed under retention schedules. If a public record is stored at the State Records Center, the requester needs case and file locator numbers from the clerk before a records-center request can move forward. The State Records Center cannot search those files by name or Social Security number. That makes the clerk's case-number and file-location role important even when the desired record is not physically at the courthouse.
Daviess County Circuit Court Clerk
Holbrook Judicial Center
100 E. 2nd St., P.O. Box 277
Owensboro, KY 42302-0277
270-687-7333
Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
Types of Daviess County Court Records
Daviess County court records are split by Kentucky court jurisdiction. Circuit Court handles felonies, capital offenses, civil matters over $5,000, divorces, adoptions, termination of parental rights, real-property title disputes, contested probate, injunctions, writs, and appeals from District Court. Family Court is a Circuit Court division in Daviess County and handles divorce, custody, support, paternity, adoption, dependency and neglect, domestic violence, runaway, truancy, and termination-of-parental-rights matters.
District Court handles misdemeanors, violations, traffic offenses, city and county ordinances, felony arraignments, probable-cause hearings, juvenile matters, mental-health commitments, probate of wills, small claims, civil cases of $5,000 or less, and domestic violence or abuse matters. The District Traffic/Criminal division, Small Claims/Civil division, and Probate division each have direct phone paths listed by KCOJ for Daviess County court records questions.
- Civil files can include complaints, answers, motions, summonses, service returns, orders, judgments, settlements, garnishments, executions, and appeals.
- Criminal files can include charges, amended charges, bond data, motions, pleas, dispositions, sentencing, probation terms, fines, costs, and appeals.
- Family files can include divorce, custody, support, paternity, adoption, domestic violence, dependency, neglect, abuse, and termination-of-parental-rights records.
- Probate files can include petitions, wills, orders appointing a fiduciary, inventories, settlements, waivers, and orders dispensing with administration.
- Traffic files can include citations, court dates, payment status, dispositions, and costs, separate from KYTC driver history records.
What Daviess County Court Records Show
Many Daviess County court records share a core set of fields, even though the details differ by case type. A traffic matter may use a T-type case number such as the ePay example format `23-T-00006`. AOC criminal reports distinguish T, M, F, and CR case types. Civil, family, probate, and small claims records use their own case labels and filing details. The court record usually ties the case to a county, court division, judge, parties, filing date, events, orders, and final status.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Case number | The Daviess County court records identifier used by the clerk, online tools, and payment systems. |
| Court and division | Whether the case is in Circuit, Family, District, traffic/criminal, probate, small claims, or another local division. |
| Parties | Names such as plaintiff, defendant, petitioner, respondent, attorneys, or business parties. |
| Dates | Filing date, charge date, offense date, citation year, disposition date, or hearing date. |
| Docket events | Filings, motions, hearings, orders, continuances, notices, pleas, sentencing, payments, or bond events. |
| Financial data | Fines, costs, restitution, bond amounts, bond type, payment plan, ePay balance, or partial-payment status. |
| Disposition | The outcome, such as dismissed, convicted, amended, appealed, transferred, disposed, sealed, or expunged. |
The Kentucky legal forms library is one official source for forms tied to probate, divorce, and other court processes that may later become part of Daviess County court records.
Forms do not prove that a case exists, but they show the fields and court actions that often shape the final Daviess County court record.
Daviess County Court Records Fees
Copy and certification fees come from Kentucky court fee research and statewide fee orders. As of June 30, 2026, some civil and probate fee changes become effective July 1, 2026, so timing matters when filing or requesting paid court services. Daviess County court records copy requests should be checked with the clerk before payment, especially if the file is older, stored offsite, unusually large, or requires certification.
| Item | Amount / Rule | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Circuit/District copy fee | $0.25 per page | Plain copies from court records. |
| Certification | $5 | Certified copy for legal or official use. |
| AOC criminal record report | $25 | Statewide criminal-record report, not a full case file. |
| Circuit civil filing fee effective July 1, 2026 | $188 | Circuit civil filings under Supreme Court Order 2026-15. |
| District civil base filing fee effective July 1, 2026 | $94 | District civil filings under Supreme Court Order 2026-15. |
| Certified mail service effective July 1, 2026 | $35 | Service by certified mail under Supreme Court Order 2026-18. |
Holbrook Judicial Center payment options listed by KCOJ include cash, money order, personal check from Daviess County residents, certified check, cashier's check, credit or debit cards with a fee, and online ePay. Those payment methods matter for copies, fines, costs, traffic matters, probate fees, and bookkeeping questions.
Public Access to Daviess County Court Records
Kentucky's public-records law gives Kentucky residents a path to inspect public records unless an exception applies. KRS 61.872 allows written requests by hand delivery, mail, fax, or email. KRS 61.878 allows agencies to withhold exempt material, including privacy-sensitive, confidential, investigatory, and security-sensitive records, while separating nonexempt material where possible.
For Daviess County court records, the public-access path remains clerk-centered. KYeCourts can show public online case information where available. The Daviess County Circuit Court Clerk remains the official source for file review, copies, certified copies, older court records, storage status, and case-file locator numbers. The Daviess County Clerk is a separate county office for marriage licenses, land records, elections, vehicles, passports, tax sale, and county clerk indexed records through eCCLIX, not the primary court case file.
Note: Online case information helps locate Daviess County court records, but official copies and certified records come from the clerk.
Restricted Daviess County Court Records
Not all Daviess County court records are public in the same way. KRS 610.340 makes juvenile court records confidential except for authorized people and court orders. Adoption, dependency, neglect, abuse, and termination-of-parental-rights records are Family Court matters and should not be treated as ordinary public civil records. Mental-health commitment records are also sensitive and should be checked with the clerk before any public-access assumption is made.
Sealed and expunged criminal records are another limit. KRS 431.076 covers certain acquittals, dismissals, and felony charges not resulting in indictment or information. KRS 431.078 covers eligible misdemeanor, violation, and traffic-infraction convictions. KRS 431.073 covers certain felony conviction expungements. AOC criminal reports do not include expunged or purged cases.
Personal identifiers can also be redacted. Sensitive fields may include Social Security numbers, addresses, some dates of birth, medical information, confidential family material, and security-related data. When a Daviess County court record has both public and exempt material, the public portion may be available while the restricted portion is withheld.
County Clerk Records vs Court Records
Daviess County has a useful but important split. The Daviess County Circuit Court Clerk keeps court case records for Circuit, Family, District, traffic, criminal, probate, small claims, and related case activity. The Daviess County Clerk at 212 Saint Ann Street handles non-case county records such as marriage licenses, land records, elections, vehicles, passports, forms, and county clerk indexed records. Mixing those offices can slow a Daviess County court records request.
The Daviess eCCLIX records lookup is for county clerk indexed records. It can help with land, title, estate-settlement, appraisal, and other county clerk records. It is not the Circuit, District, or Family Court case portal. Use eCCLIX when the research target is a County Clerk record. Use KYeCourts, docket lookup, or the Circuit Court Clerk when the research target is a Daviess County court record.