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Using the CourtView Database

Cautions: Important! General Navigation Information:
General Index Searching: Other Information:

Cautions: Important!

Currency of Information | Verify Identity | Felony Convictions | Types of Cases Included | Dates Included | Temporary Transfers | Cases from Courts not using CourtView

Currency of Information

Information appears on-line as soon as it is entered into the case management system. The clerks try to keep the system up-to-date, but some information may not be entered until several days after the event occurred.

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Verify Identity

Do not assume that a person listed in this database is the person you are looking for without at least confirming that the date of birth is the same. The court system cautions employers, credit agencies, and others to verify identity before taking any adverse action against a person whose name appears in this database. Additional identifying information may be available in the case file. To request a copy of documents from the case file, contact the court in which the matter was filed.

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Felony Convictions

Do not assume that a defendant was convicted of a felony based on the case type that appears on the Case Summary screen. The case type only reflects the charges that appeared in the original charging document. If the original charging document included any felony charges, the case will be listed as a felony (either “District Court Felony” or “Superior Court Felony”), even if all the charges were eventually reduced to misdemeanors or dismissed.

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Types of Cases Included

Information about confidential cases is not available on-line. For information about a confidential case, contact the court where the case was filed. Confidential case types include: Delinquency, CINA (Child in Need of Aid), Adoption, Mental Commitment, Alcohol Commitment, Emancipation, Medical Emergency, and Minor Settlement.

Information about cases that have been appealed to the Alaska Supreme Court or the Alaska Court of Appeals is available on the Appellate Courts Case Management System website.

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Dates Included / Historical Cases

There is no comprehensive case information available for any trial court location before 1990. Some courts enter older case information into the database on an ongoing basis, so your search results may include matters from the 1980s and 1970s, but you should not assume that all the cases from those years are included in the Index. Contact each court for complete information about cases before 1990.

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Temporary Transfers

The CourtView database includes information on cases temporarily transferred to one of the CourtView courts from a court that is not yet on the CourtView system. The information on these cases is limited to the activity that occurs at the CourtView court. You must contact the home court for full case information.

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Cases from Courts not using CourtView

See the Name Index for case information about cases filed in courts that are not yet using CourtView. Also see section on Temporary Transfers.

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General Index Searching

Searching for Companies | Searching for Party Names | Searching by Case Number

Searching for Companies

To find all public cases about a company, you need to do three separate searches:

  1. Enter the first word of the company name in the Company Name field. Then click the SEARCH button. (If the result set is too large, try again with the first two words of the company name.)
  2. To perform the second search, delete the key word from the Company Name field. Enter the same word in the Last Name field. Then click the SEARCH button.
  3. To perform the third search, delete the key word from the Last Name field. Enter the same word in the First Name field. Then click the SEARCH button.
  4. To narrow a search to Fairbanks cases, enter 4FA in the case number field.

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Searching for Party Names

To find all public cases about an individual:

  1. Search for multiple spellings.
  2. Suggest you use first initial. Search by common nicknames (for example, Bob for Robert).
  3. If you are not sure about the entire spelling of a last name, search on the first part of the name. For example: You can search on “Christ” for Christensen, Christiansen, Christianson etc.
  4. To narrow a search to Fairbanks cases, enter 4FA in the case number field.

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Searching by Case Number

To find all public cases about an individual:

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General Navigation Information

Understanding Case Information | Docket Screen | Case Disposition vs. Charge Disposition | Case Status | Cost, Due Dates and "Adjusted" Amounts

Understanding Case Information

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Dockets Screen

The docket is a permanent, cumulative record of all proceedings in a case. Not all dockets represent documents in the case. Some dockets are descriptions of events entered in CourtView. For example: If a hearing is scheduled in CourtView, a docket is automatically created to reflect the scheduled event even though there is no document for that event.

Note: Dockets include limited information about filings and hearings that occurred before CourtView was installed in the court.

Some examples of what you may find in the docket include:

Search Options: The docket will automatically display all dockets in the case. However, you can enter criteria and search:

Limitations: A maximum of 100 dockets will display at one time. If there are more than 100 dockets, a message will be displayed directly above the docket list indicating “First 100 of result set displayed. Please limit search criteria.”

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Case Disposition vs. Charge Disposition

Case disposition generally reflects how the case was closed. However, it’s important to remember...

In criminal cases:

In civil and small claims cases:

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Case Status

In CourtView, there are three case statuses:

Open: Case has been initiated and has never been closed or reopened.

Closed: Generally, a case is closed when a final disposition on the case is entered. However, there are some exceptions as explained in the case status exception section below.

Reopened: Generally, a case is reopened for the following post-judgment activity. However, there are some exceptions as explained in the exception section below.

Case Status Exceptions: In CourtView, there are some functions that result in a case being closed and reopened besides the general rules listed above. These exceptions are:

  1. Judicial Reassignments. In CourtView, when a case is reassigned to another judge, the case is closed and automatically reopened. The case disposition will reflect a reassignment of a judge.

    Note: Many cases are opened without being assigned to a specific judge. When the case is assigned to a specific judge, the “case disposition” will reflect “Initial Judicial Assignment”. Thereafter, reassignments will reflect a disposition of preempt, recusal or administrative reassignment.
  2. Jurisdiction Change: If a case has been transferred from district court to superior court jurisdiction or vice versa, the case will be closed with a disposition showing the change in jurisdiction. The case will then be immediately reopened in the new jurisdiction.

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Cost, Due Dates and "Adjusted" Amounts

Costs include such things as:

The cost screen shows a summary of the costs in the case, the amounts that have been adjusted and the balance due to the court.

The term “adjusted” means that the cost is no longer due to be paid to the court. In CourtView, in order to remove a cost as an outstanding cost to the court, it is “adjusted”. However, if a cost has been "adjusted" there may still be a balance due payable to the state or city collections office.

After reviewing a case record:

  1. To return to the General Index Search Criteria screen to enter new search criteria, just click the link New Search... (on the right side of the screen, above the tabs)
  2. To return to the list of cases from your original search criteria, do one of the following:

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Other Information

Deciphering Case Numbers | Court Location Prefixes | Case File Suffixes | Case Types | Historical Cases | Requesting Copies of Court Records | Reporting Errors to Records | Reporting Technical Difficulties

Deciphering Case Numbers

A case number is made up of four parts:

3PA - 98 - 01234CI
/       |        \        \
1         2       3          4

  1. The prefix tells you the judicial district and court.
    Alaska has four judicial districts. A map of the judicial districts is available on the court's website.
    In this example, 3PA stands for Third Judicial District, Palmer. A complete list of court location prefixes is provided below.

  2. This number is the year the case was filed with the court.
    In the example above, the case was filed in 1998. Paper documents for some older criminal case numbers may also have a letter before the year (S,C,M, or B); however, the letter has been removed in all electronic court case records and should not be included when searching for a court case.

  3. This number is the next available number in the sequence of cases filed that year.
    In this example, this case was the 1234th case filed in 1998.

  4. The suffix tells you the general category of the case.
    In the above example, CI stands for Civil. A complete list of case suffixes is provided below. Case suffixes change over time. For example, domestic violence cases used to have a separate suffix of DV; today they are assigned a CI suffix. If you do not get a satisfactory result when searching for a domestic relations or domestic violence case number filed prior to 1995, try searching on the case number using the following suffixes: DV, DR, and CI.

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Court Location Prefixes

By Location Name
Click on the location name to get contact information
Anchorage 3AN Angoon 1AG Aniak 4AK Barrow 2BA
Bethel 4BE Buckland (closed) 2BU Chevak* 4CH Cold Bay (closed) 3CB
Cordova 3CO Craig 1CR Delta Junction 4DJ Dillingham 3DI
Emmonak* 4EM Fairbanks 4FA Fort Yukon 4FY Galena 4GA
Gambell (closed) 2GB Glennallen 3GL Haines 1HA Healy 4HE
Homer 3HO Hoonah 1HN Hooper Bay* (closed) 4HB Juneau 1JU
Kake 1KA Kasigluk (closed) 4KS Kenai 3KN Ketchikan 1KE
Kiana (closed) 2KI Kodiak 3KO Kotzebue 2KB McGrath (closed) 4MC
Mekoryuk* (closed) 4ME Mt. Village* (closed) 4MV Naknek 3NA Nenana 4NE
Nome 2NO Noorvik (closed) 2NR Palmer 3PA Pelican (closed) 1PL
Petersburg 1PE Point Hope (closed) 2PH Quinhagak (closed) 4QU Rampart (closed) 4RA
Sand Point (closed) 3SP Savoonga (closed) 2SA Scammon Bay* (closed) 4SB Selawik (closed) 2SE
Seldovia (closed) 3SL Seward 3SW Shungnak (closed) 2SH Sitka 1SI
Skagway 1SK St. Mary's* 4SM St. Paul Island (closed) 3ST Tanana (closed) 4TA
Tok 4TO Tununak (closed) 4TU Unalakleet 2UT Unalaska 3UN
Valdez 3VA Wales (closed) 2WL Whittier (closed) 3WH Wrangell 1WR
Yakutat 1YA
* These locations were changed from the Second to the Fourth Judicial District in 2002. Cases filed in these locations before 2002 will have a "2" instead of a "4" in their prefix.

By Judicial District
First District
1AG Angoon 1CR Craig 1HA Haines 1HN Hoonah
1JU Juneau 1KA Kake 1KE Ketchikan 1PL Pelican (closed)
1PE Petersburg 1SI Sitka 1SK Skagway 1WR Wrangell
1YA Yakutat
Second District
2BA Barrow 2BU Buckland (closed) 2CH Chevak* 2EM Emmonak*
2GB Gambell (closed) 2HB Hooper Bay* (closed) 2KI Kiana (closed) 2KB Kotzebue
2MV Mt. Village* (closed) 2NO Nome 2NR Noorvik (closed) 2PH Point Hope (closed)
2SA Savoonga (closed) 2SB Scammon Bay* (closed) 2SE Selawik (closed) 2SH Shungnak (closed)
2SM St. Marys* 2UT Unalakleet 2WL Wales (closed)
* These locations were changed from the Second to the Fourth Judicial District in 2002. Cases filed in these locations after 2002 will have a "4" instead of a "2" in their prefix.
Third District
3AN Anchorage 3CB Cold Bay (closed) 3CO Cordova 3DI Dillingham
3GL Glennallen 3HO Homer 3KN Kenai 3KO Kodiak
3NA Naknek 3PA Palmer 3ST St. Paul Island (closed) 3SP Sand Point (closed)
3SL Seldovia (closed) 3SW Seward 3TG Togiak (closed) 3UN Unalaska
3VA Valdez 3WH Whittier (closed)
Fourth District
4AK Aniak 4BE Bethel 4CH Chevak* 4DJ Delta Junction
4EM Emmonak* 4FA Fairbanks 4FY Fort Yukon 4GA Galena
4HE Healy 4HB Hooper Bay* (closed) 4KS Kasigluk (closed) 4MC McGrath (closed)
4ME Mekoryuk (closed) 4MV Mt. Village* (closed) 4NE Nenana 4QU Quinhagak (closed)
4RA Rampart (closed) 4SB Scammon Bay* (closed) 4SM St. Marys* 4TA Tanana (closed)
4TO Tok 4TU Tununak (closed)
* These locations were changed from the Second to the Fourth Judicial District in 2002. Cases filed in these locations before 2002 will have a "2" instead of a "4" in their prefix.

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Case File Suffixes

Suffix Case Type Example
CI Civil 2BA-98-01234CI
CO Coroner
(Pre-1996 cases only)
3DI-98-01234CO
CR Criminal
(May also include minor consuming alcohol and repeat minor consuming alcohol cases, which are not crimes)
1WR-98-01234CR
DR Domestic Relations - Divorce and Dissolution
(After January 1, 1995 DR cases carry the CI suffix)
4FA-98-01234DR
DV Domestic Violence
(After January 1, 1995 DV cases carry the CI suffix)
2EM-98-01234DV
PR Probate 3KN-98-01234PR
SC Small Claims 4BE-98-01234SC
TR Registration of Trusts 1PL-98-01234TR
WI Deposit of Wills 2SE-98-01234WI

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Case Types

Case type refers to the breakdown of different kinds of cases. For example, traffic, civil, divorces, dissolutions, probate, small claims and criminal etc. Confidential cases are not available through web access. Parties to a confidential case may only access file information at the courthouse and may be required to produce identification in order to view the file.

Examples of confidential cases include:

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Requesting Copies of Court Records

Requests for copies of case files should be submitted in writing to the records department or clerk of court where the case was filed. A complete list of Alaska Court System contact information is available on our website. Email requests for copies are not accepted.

Your written request for copies should include:

  • the names of the parties
  • the case number
  • the case type (for example: civil, criminal, probate, small claims)
  • your name
  • your address
  • your phone number
  • Most court records are available for public inspection. Copies are 25¢ per page. A certified copy of a document is $5.00. There is a $15.00 per hour research fee. A deposit may be required on some copy requests.

    Records in some proceedings, such as juvenile matters, are confidential and only parties to the case are allowed access to the file.

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    Reporting Errors to Records

    If you believe a record in the database contains a factual error, please contact the clerk of court where the matter was filed.

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    Reporting Technical Difficulties

    If you are experiencing technical difficulties with CourtView, contact:

    Alaska Court System
    IS Help Desk
    907-264-8212

    8:00 am - 4:30 pm *
    Monday - Friday

    The Helpdesk can not provide information about case records.

    *Alaska is one hour behind the west coast.

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    Rev. 23 February 2009
    © Alaska Court System

    www.state.ak.us/courts
    webmaster@courts.state.ak.us

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