CaseNet MO: Search Missouri Court Cases Online

CaseNet is Missouri’s free public search system for court cases. It is run by the Office of State Courts Administrator. Before CaseNet existed, if you wanted to look up a court case, you had to call or visit the courthouse in the right county. That meant phone calls during office hours, driving across the state, and sometimes paying for copies.

CaseNet changed that. Now you can search court cases from all 114 Missouri counties through one website. You can do it at 2 a.m. from your couch. You do not need an account. You do not need a lawyer. You just need a web browser.

Here is what CaseNet lets you do:

• Search court cases across the entire state in one place
• See who is involved in a case and which attorneys represent them
• Read the docket — a step-by-step log of everything that happened in the case
• Check when the next hearing is scheduled and which courtroom
• Look at judgments, charges, and case outcomes
• Sign up for email or text alerts when something new happens in a case
• Pay traffic tickets and court fines through the Pay By Web feature

You might be surprised who searches CaseNet every day. It is not just lawyers. Here are the most common people who use it and why.

If you fit into any of these groups, CaseNet was built for you. The system is free to use and does not require permission from anyone.

This is the part most people get wrong. CaseNet does not show everything. Knowing what is visible and what is hidden will save you a lot of frustration.

What You CAN find on CaseNet

• Most circuit court cases (felonies, big civil lawsuits, divorces, custody)
• Associate court cases (misdemeanors, small claims, traffic)
• Probate cases (wills, estates, guardianships)
• Municipal cases — but only in cities that participate (not all do)
• Case status, parties, attorneys, hearings, and judgments
• Court costs, fines owed, and payment status

What You CANNOT find on CaseNet

• Juvenile cases. Missouri law keeps these private. Only the people directly involved can see them.
• Sealed or expunged records. Once a record is legally erased or sealed, it disappears from CaseNet too.
• Federal cases. Anything in U.S. District Court, federal bankruptcy, or federal criminal court is on a different system called PACER.
• Adoption and mental health records. These are confidential by law.
• Older cases. Many counties did not digitize records before the 1990s. Old cases may only exist on paper at the courthouse.
• The actual filed documents. CaseNet shows you a summary that says “Motion to Dismiss Filed.” It does not let you read the 12-page motion itself. For that, you go to the clerk’s office.

Every Missouri court case has a unique number. Once you understand the pattern, you can read any case number in seconds and know what year it was filed, which county it is in, and what type of case it is.

Here is the basic format:

Common case type codes

The most common county codes

Missouri has 114 counties, but most cases come from a small number of them. These ten codes cover more than half of all cases in the state.

This is the fastest way to find a case — usually under 30 seconds. Use this when you already have the case number from a court paper, ticket, or earlier search.

When this method works best

• You received a court summons or notice with the case number on it
• You got a traffic ticket with a number printed at the top
• Your attorney gave you the case number
• You found the case once before and saved the number

Step-by-step

1. Go to courts.mo.gov/casenet and click “Case Number” in the search menu.
2. Type the full case number exactly as it appears on your paper. Do not leave out the dashes or letters.
3. Click “Find” and wait a few seconds.
4. The case summary will open. From there you can see all the details, the docket, the parties, and any upcoming hearings.

This is the search method most people use. You do not need a case number — just a name. It is slower than case number search because you often have to filter through several results.

The right way to enter a name

CaseNet is picky about how you type the name. The system reads names literally, so a small mistake will return zero results.

The four-filter strategy

Common names return huge lists of results. A search for “JOHNSON, MICHAEL” in Jackson County can easily return 600 cases. To narrow it down quickly, apply these four filters in order.

1. Enter the full name with middle initial if you have it. Going from “JOHNSON, MICHAEL” to “JOHNSON, MICHAEL R” can cut the list by 70 percent in one step.
2. Pick the right county. If you know where the person lives or where the incident happened, choose that county from the dropdown. Statewide searches return too much noise.
3. Choose the case type. If you only want criminal cases, do not leave the filter on “All.” Select “Criminal” and the list shrinks.
4. Narrow the date range. If you know roughly when the case happened, set a date range like 2020 to 2024. This removes decades of older cases with the same name.

What to do when too many people share the same name

“John Smith” is a real problem in any state. If you are looking at a list of fifty John Smiths, here is how to find the right one.

• Check the date of birth column. For criminal and traffic cases, CaseNet shows the DOB. Scan for the birth year you know.
• Look at the city listed. Some records show the city of residence. If you know the person lives in Springfield, ignore the Kansas City results.
• Cross-reference the attorney name. If you know who represented the person, scan the attorney column.
• Use the case type as a clue. If it is a divorce, ignore criminal cases. If it is a DUI, focus on traffic.

1 Open the Missouri Courts case search page

2 Choose Litigant Name Search

3 Select the case type

4 Enter the person’s name

5 Choose a jurisdiction or search statewide

6 Review the results

This one is less common but very useful in specific situations. Filing Date Search lets you see all cases filed during a 7-day window. You select a court location and a starting date, and CaseNet returns every case opened in that period.

When you would use this

• You are a journalist looking at all new lawsuits filed in a particular county last week
• You witnessed an incident and want to see if charges were filed afterward
• You are tracking new filings related to a specific event or person
• You know roughly when a case was opened but not the name or number

Step-by-step

1. Open the Filing Date Search page on courts.mo.gov.
2. Select the court location where the case was filed.
3. Enter the filing start date — the search will pull cases from that date and the following 6 days.
4. Pick a case type from the dropdown if you want to narrow the results (Criminal, Civil, Probate, Traffic, or Infraction).
5. Click “Find” and review the chronological list of cases.

This search only shows hearings or trials that are coming up in the future. If a hearing already happened or was canceled, it will not appear here. There are two ways to run this search.

Option A: Search by Judge or Commissioner

Use this when you know which judge is hearing the case but not the case number.

1. Open the Scheduled Hearings page on courts.mo.gov.
2. Select the circuit court where the case was filed.
3. Pick a start date — it must be today or later.
4. Choose how long the search window should be: one day or up to seven days.
5. Select “Search by Judge/Commissioner” from the dropdown.
6. Pick the judge’s name from the list and click “Find.”

Option B: Search by Attorney

Use this when you know the lawyer’s name. You will need the attorney’s MOBAR number — every Missouri-licensed attorney has one. You can usually find it on their law firm website or by searching the Missouri Bar directory.

1. Open the Scheduled Hearings page on courts.mo.gov.
2. Select the circuit court and date range.
3. Choose “Search by Attorney” from the dropdown.
4. Enter the attorney’s MOBAR number.
5. Select the county and click “Find.”

After the search, each result will be a clickable link that takes you to the case file.

A judgment is the court’s final decision in a case — usually that someone owes money to someone else. The Judgment Index lets you look up everyone who has had a judgment entered against them in Missouri.

This is the search method used by collections agencies, banks deciding whether to give a loan, and people checking if a business partner has been sued before.

How to run a Judgment Index search

1. Open the Judgment Index Search page on courts.mo.gov.
2. Select the court location. If you do not know it, leave “All Participating Courts” selected.
3. Type the person’s or business’s last name in the Last Name field.
4. If you think they may have an alias or maiden name, check the “Include Alias Information” box.
5. Click “Find.”
6. The results page will show a list of cases with judgments. Click any case number for case details, or click the judgment type for the judgment details.

If there is a link in the “Additional Info” column — such as Vacate/Set Aside, Revival of Judgment, or Bankruptcy Discharge — click it to see the current status of the judgment. Sometimes judgments are vacated later, or get wiped out by bankruptcy.

After you run a search, CaseNet shows you a list of matches. You can choose how many results to show per page — 10, 25, 50, or 100. For common names, switch to 100 per page so you do not have to keep clicking through.

Each row in the results list shows:

• Case number — click this to open the full case file
• Style — the case title, such as “State of Missouri vs. John Smith”
• File date — when the case was opened
• Case type — criminal, civil, traffic, etc.
• Status — open, closed, pending
• Court location — the county and division

For criminal and traffic cases, you will also see the defendant’s date of birth, which helps when there are several people with the same name.

When you click a case number, the full case page opens. It has several tabs, and each one shows different information. Here is what each tab actually contains.

The docket is the most useful tab in any case file. But it is written in short codes that look like another language. Here is a reference table of the codes you will see most often, along with what they actually mean.

If you owe court costs, a traffic fine, or some other fee on your case, you can usually pay it online instead of going to the courthouse. The system is called Pay By Web. It is built into the official Missouri Courts website.

What you can pay online

• Traffic tickets and fines
• Court costs from civil and criminal cases
• Restitution in some cases (depends on the court)
• Probation fees

What you cannot pay online

• Bail or bond — these must be paid in person at the court or jail
• Attorney fees — pay these directly to your lawyer, not through the court
• Private judgments — these are paid directly to the creditor

Payment methods accepted

Step-by-step

1. Open the Pay By Web page on courts.mo.gov.
2. Select the court from the dropdown, or leave it on “All Participating Courts.”
3. Enter your case number.
4. The system will find your case and show what you owe.
5. Pick your payment method and enter your card or bank info.
6. Click “Pay.” Save the confirmation receipt — you will need it if there is any dispute later.

If you do not want to keep manually checking CaseNet every day, you can set up email or text alerts. This is called “Track This Case” and it is a free feature inside CaseNet.

What gets sent to your email

• New filings — any time someone submits a document to the court
• New hearings — when a date is scheduled or changed
• Docket updates — any new entry in the case timeline
• Judgments — when a final decision is entered

How to set it up

1. Open the case you want to follow.
2. Look for the “Track This Case” link or footprint icon at the top of the page.
3. Click it and enter your email address. Some courts also allow a phone number for text alerts.
4. Verify the email by clicking the confirmation link CaseNet sends you.
5. You are now subscribed. You can unsubscribe any time from the same page.

Things do not always work the first time. Here are the most common issues people run into and how to fix each one.

Problem 1: “No cases found” — but you know the case exists

• The name may be misspelled in the court records. Try variations — Smyth vs Smith, McDonald vs MacDonald.
• Wrong county. If the search is set to one county, switch to “All Counties” or try neighboring counties.
• Too recent. If the case was filed in the last 24-48 hours, it might not be in the system yet.
• Sealed or expunged. If the case was sealed by court order, it will not appear in any public search.
• Federal case. CaseNet does not show federal cases. Use PACER instead.
• Municipal court that does not participate. Not all city courts upload to CaseNet. Call the city court directly.

Problem 2: Too many results — 500+ hits for a common name

This happens often. Here is the order to narrow it down.

1. Add the middle initial or middle name if you know it.
2. Tighten the date range to the past 5 years.
3. Filter by case type — only criminal, only traffic, only civil.
4. Use the date of birth column to spot the right person.
5. If you know the case style or the other party’s name, search by that instead.

Problem 3: Your hearing date changed but you were not notified

This is one of the most common complaints. The “Track This Case” email system is helpful but it is not perfect. If you are a party in the case, you are legally responsible for showing up.

• Check CaseNet manually at least once a week.
• Keep your address up to date with the court — when you move, send the court a written notice.
• If you miss a hearing, call the clerk immediately. You may need to file a Motion to Set Aside Default.

Problem 4: The case shows “Closed” but the matter is not actually resolved

Three possibilities here.

• It was appealed. The trial court case is closed, but the case is now in the Court of Appeals. Search appellate records separately on courts.mo.gov.
• It was transferred. Look at the docket for a Transfer Order — the case may now be in a different court.
• Judgment was entered but collection continues. The case itself is closed even though the winner is still trying to collect money.

Problem 5: The docket shows a hearing happened but does not say what the judge decided

Look at the entry that comes right after the hearing entry. Sometimes the judge’s order is filed the same day, sometimes a few days later. If a week has passed and there is still no follow-up entry, call the clerk and ask if a minute entry or order has been filed.

Here are four common situations where people use CaseNet, along with the exact steps to follow in each one. These should cover most everyday needs.

After spending months working with CaseNet and talking with court clerks, paralegals, and people who use the system every day, here are the small tricks that save real time.

Tip 1: Search on Monday mornings

Most courts upload Friday’s docket entries either late Friday afternoon or Monday morning. Searching on Monday gives you the freshest data. Searching on Friday morning sometimes misses an entire week of activity.

Tip 2: Use the browser’s print-to-PDF function

Before you leave a case page, hit Ctrl+P (or Cmd+P on Mac) and save the page as a PDF. This gives you a timestamped, permanent copy. CaseNet pages can change overnight as new entries are added, and sometimes pages go offline for maintenance.

Tip 3: “Dismissed” does not always mean “innocent”

A criminal case can be dismissed for many reasons that have nothing to do with the person being innocent. The prosecutor might have declined to file, a witness might be unavailable, the case might have been resolved through a diversion program, or the evidence might have been weak. Dismissal is different from acquittal.

Tip 4: Search both case search AND litigant search

Sometimes a case shows up in one but not the other due to how the data was entered. If your first search returns nothing, try the other one. It takes thirty extra seconds and often finds what you missed.

Tip 5: Write down your case number

If you are involved in a court case, write your case number on something you will not lose — a notebook, a saved note on your phone, anywhere. Every time you talk to the court, your lawyer, or your bondsman, they will ask for this number. Losing it causes real delays.

Tip 6: When in doubt, call the clerk

Court clerks are usually helpful and answer the phone. If something on CaseNet does not make sense, calling the circuit clerk’s office is faster than guessing. They cannot give legal advice, but they can clarify what an entry means or whether a document has been filed.

CaseNet is powerful but it does not have everything. If your search comes up empty or you need more information, here is where to go next.

Older cases from before the 1990s

Many counties did not digitize records before the mid-1990s. If you need a case from 1985, do not waste time on CaseNet. Call the circuit clerk in the county where it was filed and ask if they can pull microfiche or paper records. Expect to pay $1 to $5 per page.

Getting the actual filed documents

CaseNet tells you a motion was filed. It does not let you read the motion. To get the document itself, you have four options.

• Visit the courthouse. Go to the circuit clerk’s office in the county where the case is. Bring the case number. Most documents are public and can be copied for 25 to 50 cents per page.
• Mail a request. Write to the clerk with your case number, what documents you want, a check for the copying fee, and a self-addressed stamped envelope.
• Use the eFiling portal (attorneys only). Licensed Missouri attorneys can access full documents through the eFiling system. The public cannot.
• Hire a record retrieval service. Costs $50 to $200 depending on volume. Useful if you are out of state.

Federal cases (PACER)

If the case is in U.S. District Court, federal bankruptcy court, or any other federal court, it is on PACER (pacer.gov), not CaseNet. PACER charges 10 cents per page after a small free quota.

Criminal history (RAP sheet)

The Missouri State Highway Patrol maintains the official statewide criminal record system. CaseNet shows you court cases, but it does not show fingerprint-based criminal history. For that, request a check from the MSHP for $14 per request.

Property records

If you are checking for liens, deeds, or property ownership, CaseNet does not have this. Each Missouri county has its own Recorder of Deeds office — search “[county name] recorder of deeds Missouri” to find the right one.

Free legal help

If you need a lawyer but cannot afford one, two organizations cover most of the state. Legal Services of Eastern Missouri (lsem.org) handles the St. Louis region. Legal Aid of Western Missouri (lawmo.org) covers Kansas City and western counties. Both have income eligibility requirements.

Missouri Courts has officially warned the public about fake websites that pretend to be CaseNet or charge for things that are actually free. These sites look real and use similar names, but they are not connected to the actual court system.

How to spot a fake CaseNet site

• The domain. The only official CaseNet domain is courts.mo.gov/casenet. Any other domain — no matter how official it looks — is not the real CaseNet.
• Payment requests. CaseNet is completely free to search. If a site asks you to pay before searching or before showing results, it is not legitimate.
• Account creation requirements. The real CaseNet does not require you to create an account just to search.
• Asking for personal information. A legitimate court search system does not need your Social Security number, your full address, or your date of birth just to let you look up a case.

To be clear about our own site: casenet-mo.us is an independent guide, not the official CaseNet. We do not collect case information from you, we do not process payments, and we do not store any data about your searches. We exist to help people understand how to use the real CaseNet at courts.mo.gov.

Every fact, code, and procedure on this page is based on the official Missouri Courts system and verified through hands-on use. Here are the primary sources we referenced.