Search Hancock County Court Records
The main online starting point is KYeCourts Public Court Records, the Kentucky Court of Justice guest access path for public case information. The portal can lead to case results and ePay, while the official case file remains with the clerk of the court that heard the matter. For Hancock County Circuit, Family, and District Court records, that local custodian is Circuit Court Clerk Michael T. Boling at the judicial center in Hawesville.
The KYeCourts guest login is shown in the captured source image below. Public case lookup is useful for names, case numbers, citation details, business names, and basic case status, but it does not replace a certified court record from the Hancock County Circuit Court Clerk.
When a portal result is incomplete, the fallback is direct contact with the Hancock County Circuit Court Clerk, older-record locator guidance through the clerk, or a certified-copy request at the court office.
- Open the KYeCourts guest login and pass the guest access check.
- Choose a party, case number, citation, or business search path.
- Narrow the county field to Hancock County when the local venue is known.
- Review the case number, case type, next event, parties, charges, and any warrant, summons, or failure-to-appear indicator.
- Contact the Hancock County Circuit Court Clerk for certified copies, complete files, exhibits, recordings, transcripts, or older stored records.
Hancock County Court Search Fields
CourtNet help materials describe several search combinations. A name search may need first name, last name, and birth date. A case-number search needs the county of origin and the exact case number. Citation searches use citation year, control number, and citation type. Business searches use a business name and county of origin, and the help notes that business matching works from the start of the name rather than as an exact match.
| Field | Use | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| First and last name | Party lookup | Birth date may be needed for a valid person search. |
| County | Venue filter | Use Hancock County when the local case is known. |
| Case number | Exact case lookup | Must be paired with county of origin. |
| Citation year and control number | Traffic or citation lookup | Used with citation type for citation searches. |
| Business name | Entity lookup | Uses a starts-with search logic. |
The Kentucky Court of Justice record request guidance also states that the Administrative Office of the Courts does not maintain court case records for copy requests. That is why Hancock County court records requests return to the local clerk once a user needs the official file.
Older files may require locator numbers from the clerk before the State Records Center can help, so a name-only request for a stored case may not be enough.
Hancock County Court System
Hancock County sits in Kentucky's 38th Judicial Circuit and 38th Judicial District. Circuit Court is the general-jurisdiction court. District Court handles limited-jurisdiction matters. Family Court is a division of Circuit Court rather than a separate court level. Appeals from District Court can go to Circuit Court, and most Circuit Court appeals go to the Kentucky Court of Appeals unless Kentucky law sends the appeal directly to the Supreme Court.
The Kentucky Court of Justice overview at kycourts.gov frames the statewide system that Hancock County uses. The local result is practical: one Circuit Court Clerk office in Hawesville keeps Circuit, Family, and District Court case records even though the cases are assigned to different court levels.
Case flow: District Court › Circuit Court › Kentucky Court of Appeals › Supreme Court of Kentucky.
| Court | Hancock County role | Common record types |
|---|---|---|
| Circuit Court | General jurisdiction and appeals from District Court | Felonies, civil cases over $5,000, divorces, adoptions, title disputes, contested probate |
| Family Court | Division of Circuit Court | Custody, support, paternity, domestic violence, dependency, adoption, termination cases |
| District Court | Limited jurisdiction | Misdemeanors, traffic, probate of wills, juvenile, small claims, civil cases up to $5,000 |
| County Clerk | Separate county office | Marriage licenses, land records, tax liens, wills recorded as instruments, county orders |
Hancock County Judicial Center
The official Hancock County page from the Kentucky Court of Justice lists the local court facility, judges, schedules, payment methods, and Circuit Court Clerk contacts. The same court address is used for Circuit Court, Family Court, District Court, the Circuit Court Clerk, trial court schedules, payments, ePay, and local court services.
The Kentucky Court of Justice Hancock County page is the official county court page used for court address and schedule details.
Hancock County Judicial Center
310 Hawesville School Drive
P.O. Box 250
Hawesville, KY 42348-0250
270-927-8144 or 270-927-8145
Hancock County Administration Building
225 Main Cross Street
P.O. Box 146
Hawesville, KY 42348
270-927-6117
Hancock County Court Dockets
The KCOJ docket portal is the statewide public hearing calendar tool. It searches by county, division, date, courtroom, and subdivision. For Hancock County, the county field appears as HANCOCK, and division choices include Circuit and District. The portal itself warns that the online display is not the official docket and may change.
The Kentucky docket portal image below shows the search panel used for court calendar lookups. It is useful for checking hearing days, but a court date should be confirmed with the Hancock County Circuit Court Clerk before travel or payment decisions.
| Local schedule | Published time | Record use |
|---|---|---|
| Circuit Court motion day | Fourth Friday, civil 9 a.m., criminal 10 a.m. | Felony, higher civil, appeals, and Circuit matters |
| Family Court | First and third Thursdays, civil/domestic 8:30 a.m. | Divorce, custody, support, paternity, adoption, and confidential matters |
| District Court | First and third Tuesday, civil 9 a.m., criminal 9:30 a.m. | Traffic, misdemeanors, probate, small claims, and limited civil matters |
Note: Confidential District and Family Court time blocks may appear without public detail because juvenile, adoption, and some family matters have access limits.
Hancock County Court Records
Hancock County court records include civil, criminal, family, divorce, probate, traffic, juvenile, judgment, and appeal materials. A civil case may show complaints, answers, motions, orders, judgments, garnishments, liens, settlements, or appeal notices. A criminal case may show a citation, complaint, indictment, bond order, plea, disposition, sentencing order, probation terms, fines, and court costs.
Family and divorce records are handled through Circuit Court or its Family Court division. Probate of wills is handled in District Court, while contested probate can move into Circuit Court. Traffic matters are District Court records, but a driver history record from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet is a separate state file. County Clerk land and marriage records overlap with court research for some users, yet they are not the same as a Circuit, Family, or District Court case file.
- Civil records: Circuit Court handles larger civil disputes and District Court handles smaller civil and small-claims cases.
- Criminal records: Circuit Court handles felonies, while District Court handles misdemeanors, violations, arraignments, and traffic-related criminal matters.
- Family records: Family Court covers divorce, custody, support, paternity, adoption, domestic violence, and dependency matters.
- Probate records: District Court handles probate of wills, with historical files also possible at Hancock County Archives.
- Traffic records: District Court handles citations, fines, dispositions, failure-to-appear issues, and related court orders.
What Hancock Court Records Show
Kentucky public case information commonly shows a case number, county, case type, case title, party names, party types, next court event, charges when applicable, scheduled events, and status indicators. The clerk's official case file can include more, such as pleadings, motions, orders, evidence references, reports, dockets, video recordings, transcripts, divorce decrees, probate filings, citations, and certified copies.
| Field | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Case number | The local identifier used by the court and clerk. |
| Party type | Plaintiff, defendant, petitioner, respondent, Commonwealth, executor, or another court role. |
| Case type | Criminal, civil, family, probate, traffic, small claims, domestic, juvenile, or mental health category. |
| Next event | The next scheduled hearing or court appearance when public. |
| Charges | Criminal or traffic counts, sometimes with statute or citation information. |
| Financial fields | Fines, fees, court costs, bond, restitution, or payment-plan balances when available. |
The CourtListener federal opinion and docket resource is not a Hancock County court portal, but it is useful for understanding why state and federal court records use different systems.
State Circuit, Family, and District Court records remain separate from federal dockets, bankruptcy files, and federal inmate records.
Hancock County Public Access Rules
Kentucky open-records law generally allows inspection by Kentucky residents unless another law restricts the record. Court case files have a special practical rule: KCOJ says AOC administrative-record staff do not provide case records, and the request goes to the clerk of the court that heard the case. In Hancock County, that means the Circuit Court Clerk for Circuit, Family, and District Court files.
Key Kentucky rules:
KRS 61.872 gives the basic inspection right for Kentucky public records unless an exception applies.
KRS 61.878 lists exemptions, including privacy, some law-enforcement records, preliminary drafts, and records made confidential by other law.
Supreme Court Order 2017-09 separates AOC administrative records from court case records.
KRS 610.340 makes juvenile court records confidential unless a specific exception allows access.
Restricted Hancock County records can include juvenile cases, adoption records, sealed cases, expunged cases, mental-health proceedings, protected addresses, financial account numbers, and Social Security numbers. A public search result can omit or redact details even when the case itself exists.
Hancock County Record Fees
Not every fee was published in the official sources reviewed. The County Clerk's open-records policy did publish copy costs for County Clerk records, and KYeCourts displayed a statewide civil filing fee notice effective July 1, 2026. For a current court-copy or certified-copy charge, the safest source is the Hancock County Circuit Court Clerk before ordering.
| Item | Amount or source note |
|---|---|
| County Clerk non-commercial document copy | $0.50 per copy |
| County Clerk non-commercial recording, disc, or tape | $5 per copy |
| Circuit civil filing fee effective July 1, 2026 | $188 under Supreme Court Order 2026-15, with exceptions and added fees |
| District civil filing fee effective July 1, 2026 | $94 under Supreme Court Order 2026-15, with exceptions and added fees |
| Small claims filing fee effective July 1, 2026 | $38 under Supreme Court Order 2026-15, with exceptions and added fees |
Hancock court payment methods listed by KCOJ include cash, money order, certified check, personal check from a local bank, and online ePay where eligible.
Hancock County Sheriff and Jail
Sheriff Dale Bozarth's office handles patrol, investigations, tax collection, legal judgments, and foreclosures. The sheriff's official contact line is 270-927-6247, and after-hours dispatch is 270-927-1311. That office is a law-enforcement contact, but it is not a complete court-record custodian for filed Circuit, Family, or District Court cases.
Hancock County does not operate its own county jail. Jailer Roger Estes handles transport, custody for court appearances, jail fees, home incarceration administration, and bailiff duties, while Hancock County contracts with Breckinridge County for incarceration. That makes the custody route different from the court case route, and it matters for bond, booking, charge, and inmate questions. Custody lookup details are covered in the Hancock County inmate records page.
Hancock County Clerk Records
County Clerk Trina Ogle works from the Hancock County Administration Building, not the Judicial Center. Her office handles land records, marriage licenses, motor vehicle licensing, voter registration, candidate filing, elections, notary bonds, delinquent real-estate tax records, county orders, plats, and related county records. A divorce decree is a court record through the Circuit Court Clerk, but a marriage license is a County Clerk record.
The Hancock County Clerk records page says public records and indices are available in the office free of charge, while online eCCLIX access requires an account, password, fees, and special software for images.
Historical court and loose case research may also route to the Hancock County Archives, which reports County, Circuit, and District court records dating back to 1829.
Hancock County Vital Probate Traffic
Marriage licenses are issued by the Hancock County Clerk. Kentucky marriage and divorce certificates from June 1958 forward are available through the Kentucky Office of Vital Statistics, while divorce case files and decrees remain court records through Family Court or Circuit Court and the Circuit Court Clerk. Probate of wills is a District Court function, with some contested matters reaching Circuit Court.
Traffic records are District Court records, but driver history records are held by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. The KYTC driver history page shown below is separate from a Hancock County traffic case file, so a ticket disposition and a driver point record may need different access channels.
For federal matters, Hancock County is in the Western District of Kentucky, Owensboro Division, which is separate from Hancock County Circuit and District Court.
Hancock County Federal Court
Federal records use federal systems. A federal civil case, federal criminal case, bankruptcy, or federal appeal is not filed with the Hancock County Circuit Court Clerk. Hancock County is assigned to the Owensboro Division of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, and federal dockets are generally searched through PACER or free opinion and docket tools when available.
The Western District of Kentucky jury page places Hancock County in the Owensboro Division with nearby counties.
The image confirms the federal venue context, but county court records, traffic cases, probate filings, and local criminal case files remain in Kentucky state court channels.
Hancock Court Record Terms
Case records use short labels that can change the meaning of a search result. A charge is not the same as a conviction. A docket is not the same as the full file. An expungement is a court process that can remove eligible records from ordinary public access.
- Docket
- The list of filings, hearings, and events in a case.
- Disposition
- The outcome of a charge or case.
- Indictment
- A grand-jury felony charging document.
- Order
- A judge's written ruling or directive.
- Expungement
- A legal process removing eligible records from public access.
Hancock County Court Records FAQ
Where are official Hancock County court records kept?
Official Circuit, Family, and District Court case files are kept by the Hancock County Circuit Court Clerk at the Judicial Center in Hawesville. KYeCourts can show public case information, but certified copies and complete case files come from the clerk.
Does Hancock County have its own jail roster?
No local Hancock jail roster was found because Hancock County does not operate its own jail. The official jailer page says Hancock contracts with Breckinridge County for incarceration, so custody lookup uses the Breckinridge detention site and JailTracker.
Are Hancock County dockets official online?
The KCOJ docket portal is useful, but it warns that online results are not an official docket and are subject to change. Confirm hearing dates with the Circuit Court Clerk before relying on them.
Who handles marriage licenses?
The Hancock County Clerk handles marriage licenses at the Administration Building. Divorce case files and decrees are different records and route through Family Court or Circuit Court and the Circuit Court Clerk.
How far back do historical court records go?
Hancock County Archives says it holds County, Circuit, and District court records dating back to 1829, plus loose case documents for marriage, divorce, lawsuits, deeds, murder cases, and other court-document types.