Search Daviess County Court Records
Daviess County court records are searched through Kentucky Court of Justice tools and the Daviess Circuit Court Clerk. KYeCourts provides a guest path for public case information after reCAPTCHA, while the statewide docket lookup shows scheduled court matters by county, division, date, courtroom, and subdivision. The clerk remains the official source for court case copies, case-file review, certified records, older files, and records that have moved to a records facility.
The KYeCourts guest public-records gateway is one of the main online entry points for Daviess County court records and ePay access.
The gateway is useful for public case lookup, but captcha limits mean the clerk should still be used when a certified copy or complete file review is needed.
- Open the Kentucky public case gateway and complete the required captcha.
- Choose the search mode that matches the information available, such as case number, citation details, or party name.
- Use Daviess County as the county filter when the tool provides a county dropdown.
- Check the separate docket lookup for a court date, then verify hearing details with the clerk before relying on them.
- Request certified copies or older records through the Daviess Circuit Court Clerk if online information is not enough.
Daviess County Court Search Fields
KYeCourts exposes several Daviess County court records search paths. The accessible research captured the guest gateway controls and official script references, not a full post-captcha sample result. That matters because result columns, attachments, and docket-entry details should not be assumed from the public entry screen alone.
| Search Mode | Field Label | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guest gateway | reCAPTCHA checkbox | Captcha | Yes | Required before continuing to public records. |
| Case search | SearchCriteria_CaseNumber | Text | Likely if used | Case number field referenced in official script. |
| Case search | SearchCriteria_County | Dropdown | Unspecified | County dropdown is reset by the clear function. |
| Citation search | citationYear | Number | Yes | Year is required and strips non-digits. |
| Citation search | SearchCriteria_ControlNumber | Text | Yes | Control number and year are required. |
| Party search | First name, last name, DOB | Text/date | Yes | Validation requires all three party fields. |
Where Daviess Court Records Are Kept
Daviess County court records are not kept by the Daviess County Clerk as ordinary county records. The elected Circuit Court Clerk, Jennifer Hardesty Besecker, is the trial-court record custodian for Circuit, Family, District, traffic, probate, criminal, civil, and small claims case files. The Daviess County Clerk handles other county functions, including marriage licenses, land records, elections, vehicles, passports, and eCCLIX indexed county records.
The Kentucky Court of Justice court-record request instructions direct case-copy requests to the clerk of the court that heard the case.
That distinction is important for Daviess County users because eCCLIX may help with county clerk indexed records, but it is not the Circuit, District, or Family Court case portal.
The Kentucky Court of Justice Daviess County court page lists the local clerk, judges, division phones, parking, accessibility, and payment options.
Use that county court page to match a Daviess County court record question with the correct Circuit, Family, District, traffic, probate, civil, or bookkeeping division.
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.
Daviess County Courthouse
212 St. Ann Street
Owensboro, KY 42303
County Clerk 270-685-8434
Sheriff 270-685-8444
Daviess County Court Structure
Kentucky has a unified court system. Daviess County sits in the 6th Judicial Circuit and 6th Judicial District. Circuit Court is the general-jurisdiction trial court. District Court is limited jurisdiction. Family Court is a Circuit Court division in Daviess County, and appeals from District Court go to Circuit Court before state appellate review where allowed.
The Kentucky court-system overview places Circuit Court and District Court below the Kentucky Court of Appeals and Supreme Court of Kentucky.
That state structure explains why Daviess County court records move through Kentucky Court of Justice systems rather than a county-run court database.
| Court | Daviess County Role | Common Records |
|---|---|---|
| Circuit Court | General jurisdiction trial court | Felonies, civil over $5,000, divorce, adoption, real-property title, contested probate, appeals from District Court. |
| Family Court | Circuit Court division | Divorce, custody, child support, paternity, adoption, domestic violence, dependency, neglect, abuse, termination of parental rights. |
| District Court | Limited jurisdiction trial court | Misdemeanors, traffic, ordinances, small claims, civil up to $5,000, probate of wills, felony arraignments, juvenile matters. |
Case flow: District Court matters may move to Circuit Court on appeal; Circuit and Family Court appeals generally move to the Kentucky Court of Appeals.
Daviess County Court Records Types
Daviess County court records include civil filings, criminal cases, court charges after arrest, traffic cases, family matters, probate files, small claims, juvenile matters, and protective-order records. Civil files can include complaints, answers, motions, summonses, service returns, judgments, settlements, garnishments, and executions. Criminal records can include charges, amendments, docket entries, bond events, motions, pleas, dispositions, sentence terms, probation conditions, fines, court costs, and appeals.
The Kentucky Circuit Court jurisdiction page describes the court level that handles Daviess County felony, high-value civil, divorce, adoption, and contested probate matters.
Circuit Court records should be separated from District Court records because the level of court often affects the case number, clerk division, appeal route, and type of copy request.
The Kentucky District Court jurisdiction page explains the Daviess County District Court role in misdemeanors, traffic, small claims, probate of wills, and felony first appearances.
District Court is the practical starting point for many Daviess traffic and misdemeanor records, even when a felony case later moves to Circuit Court.
Daviess County Docket Records
Court dockets are different from full Daviess County court records. A docket lookup shows scheduled court activity, while the case file is the official record maintained by the clerk. The Kentucky docket search uses county, division, date, courtroom, and subdivision fields. Daviess appears as a county option, and users choose Circuit or District division before submitting the search.
The Kentucky public docket lookup displays scheduled matters but warns that results are not an official docket and are subject to change.
Docket records are best treated as scheduling aids. Call the Daviess Circuit Court Clerk division tied to the case type before appearing, paying, or assuming a hearing has not changed.
Daviess County Court Record Fields
A Daviess County court record may show a case number, court, county, division, party names, attorneys, filing date, charge date, offense date, citation year, disposition date, case status, docket events, bond data, payment status, judgment terms, and hearing information. Public records may redact Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, medical data, juvenile information, and other sensitive fields.
Common terms:
- Docket
- A chronological list of case events or scheduled court matters.
- Disposition
- The outcome of a case or charge, such as dismissal, conviction, judgment, or other final action.
- Bond
- Money or release conditions used to secure a person's return to court.
- Expungement
- A statutory process that removes or seals eligible records from public access.
Daviess County Public Access Laws
Kentucky public-record law and court-specific rules shape Daviess County court records access. Online tools may show public case information, but the Daviess Circuit Court Clerk remains the official copy source. Some records are public in part, some are redacted, and some are confidential by statute or court order.
Key Kentucky statutes:
KRS 61.872 allows Kentucky residents to inspect public records unless an exception applies.
KRS 61.878 identifies exemptions for privacy-sensitive, confidential, investigatory, and security-sensitive material.
KRS 431.078 covers eligible misdemeanor, violation, and traffic-infraction conviction expungement.
KRS 610.340 makes juvenile court records confidential except for authorized access.
Note: Certified copies, older files, and stored records should be confirmed through the clerk before use in court or official filings.
Restricted Daviess County Court Records
Restricted Daviess County court records include juvenile files, sealed cases, expunged cases, adoption records, dependency and neglect records, mental-health proceedings, and some domestic or family materials. Kentucky law also supports redaction of personal identifiers and other sensitive data. After expungement, AOC criminal reports do not include expunged or purged cases.
The Kentucky Court Personnel Directory can help confirm current Daviess clerk, judge, and program contacts before making a restricted-record inquiry.
Directory contact details are useful when a case type is sensitive and the correct division matters more than a broad online search.
Daviess County Specialty Courts
Kentucky Specialty Courts include Drug Court, Mental Health Court, and Veterans Treatment Court programs. KCOJ lists Daviess County among certified Drug Court counties, but the research did not locate a Daviess-specific Drug Court location row in the Court Personnel Directory. The safe wording is that Daviess is listed as a certified Drug Court county, while local staffing, phone, participant counts, and program length require confirmation through official court contacts.
The Kentucky Specialty Courts program page describes treatment-court support, supervision, case management, testing, and recovery-focused services.
Specialty Court referrals can create court-record entries, but eligibility and acceptance are handled through the court team, counsel, and the assigned judge.
Daviess County Sheriff and Jail Records
The Daviess County Sheriff's Office is at 212 Saint Ann Street, and Sheriff Bradley R. "Brad" Youngman is the current sheriff. The office handles law-enforcement services, civil process, accident-report access, tax functions, and judicial security. The official Sheriff app is available for Apple and Google Play and advertises communication, crime reporting, tip submission, interactive features, and public safety news, but the research did not confirm an app-only warrant or inmate search.
Daviess County Detention Center is at 3337 Hwy 144 and uses a linked JailTracker/Public Safety Cloud roster for current housed inmates. DCDC says public inmate information can include name, age, arrest date, charges, bond information, and past-inmate release dates. It does not publicly release court dates, current-inmate release dates, cell locations, medical records, PREA information, Social Security numbers, transports, and inactive records. For current jail lookup details, use the Daviess County inmate records page.
Daviess Marriage Divorce and Probate Records
Marriage records start with the Daviess County Clerk's Recording Department at 212 Saint Ann Street, Room 104. Both parties apply together in person with valid photo identification, and the local fee is $60. The license has no waiting period, is valid for 30 days including the issue date, and may be used anywhere in Kentucky. Certified copies after marriage are commonly used for name-change steps.
Divorce records are different. Daviess divorce decrees and case files are Circuit or Family Court records, not County Clerk records. CHFS Office of Vital Statistics has Kentucky marriage and divorce certificates from June 1958 forward, while older divorce decrees are handled through the circuit court clerk where the divorce was granted. Probate records are handled through Daviess District Court probate jurisdiction and the Circuit Court Clerk; probate can include wills, estates, guardianships, curatorships, name changes, and some trusts.
Daviess County Court Records Fees
Fee amounts vary by record type and case task. Because today is June 30, 2026, the researched Kentucky court-fee changes that take effect July 1, 2026 are treated as effective-date figures rather than current fees for June 30. Copy and certification charges are separate from filing fees, payment processing costs, and certified-mail service.
| Item | Amount / Rule |
|---|---|
| AOC criminal record report | $25 |
| Circuit civil filing fee effective July 1, 2026 | $188 |
| District civil base filing fee effective July 1, 2026 | $94 |
| Probate of estate effective July 1, 2026 | $50 |
| Small claims not over $2,500 effective July 1, 2026 | $38 |
| Court copy fee | $0.25 per page |
| Certification | $5 |
| Certified mail service effective July 1, 2026 | $35 |
Daviess County Legal Offices
The Commonwealth's Attorney for the 6th Judicial Circuit prosecutes felony-level Daviess Circuit Court cases. John Michael Van Meter was appointed Commonwealth's Attorney on January 5, 2024. The Daviess County Attorney, John Burlew, prosecutes adult and juvenile District Court matters, accepts misdemeanor restitution, prepares restitution orders, handles criminal complaint forms, and works with guardianship and medical warrants. The Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy Owensboro Trial Office serves Daviess, Hancock, and Ohio Counties.
These offices are part of the local case path, but they are not the main place to request Daviess County court records. Copies, certification, and case-file access still begin with the Circuit Court Clerk or the court that handled the case.
Daviess County Court History
Daviess County formed in 1815 from Ohio County, with Owensboro as the county seat. The county has had five courthouses. The third courthouse, built in 1858-1859, burned after Confederate guerrillas attacked on January 4, 1865. The fourth courthouse served from July 6, 1868 through March 31, 1964, and the current Daviess County Courthouse opened April 1, 1964.
The Morton J. Holbrook Judicial Center was built in 1991 to house judicial courtrooms. Kentucky's unified court system, created by the 1975 Judicial Article and implemented January 1, 1976, explains the modern record structure: Daviess court case records are maintained through the elected Circuit Court Clerk and Kentucky Court of Justice systems.
The Kentucky Family Court jurisdiction page describes the Circuit Court division model used for Daviess divorce, custody, support, adoption, and connected family matters.
Family Court's "One Family, One Judge, One Court" model is why connected family matters may stay with the same judicial division where possible.
Daviess County Court Records FAQ
Are Daviess County court records searched through the County Clerk?
No. Court case files are handled by the Daviess Circuit Court Clerk. The County Clerk handles marriage licenses, land records, vehicles, elections, passports, and county clerk indexed records.
Can KYeCourts replace a certified copy?
No. KYeCourts can provide public case information where available, but certified copies and official file review come from the clerk tied to the court that heard the case.
Are Daviess County juvenile records public?
Generally no. KRS 610.340 treats juvenile court records as confidential except for authorized people and court-ordered access.