Alaska Court System Trial Courts

• Alaska Rules of Court: Rules of Administration - Rule 40(a): Index to Cases.
  The following cases will be removed from the public index that is available on the court system's website (also known as CourtView Public Access Website):
  • Cases designated as confidential or sealed by statute, court rule, or court order under Administrative Rule 37.6, unless the index to those cases is public under court rules. See Administrative Rule 40(a)(1);
  • Foreign domestic violence protective orders filed under AS 18.66.140. See Administrative Rule 40(a)(2);
  • Certain cases that are dismissed at the initial hearing for lack of evidence or because of an error in the charging document. See Administrative Rule 40(a)(3)-(8);
  • Certain civil protective order cases (domestic violence, stalking, or sexual assault) that are closed and in which no protective order was issued. See Administrative Rule 40(a)(9) and (10);
  • Certain criminal cases in which the defendant successfully completed a suspended imposition of sentence and the court set aside the conviction under AS 12.55.085 and all other charges in the case were dismissed, set aside, or the defendant was acquitted. See Administrative Rule 40(a)(13); and
  • Certain cases in which the defendant was under the age of 21 and charged with an alcohol-related offense under AS 04.16.049, 04.16.050, 28.35.280, 28.35.285, 28.35.290, or similar municipal ordinance, if the violation was charged separately and was not joined with any other minor offense or criminal charge at the time of filing. See Administrative Rule 40(a)(14).
  • Certain cases in which the defendant was convicted of possessing less than one ounce of marijuana under AS 11.71.060, or a prior version of that statute that criminalized the same conduct, or a municipal ordinance that criminalized that same conduct, if (A) the defendant was 21 years of age or older at the time of the offense, and (B) the defendant was not convicted of any other criminal charges in that same case. See Administrative Rule 40(a)(15).

  Cases qualifying for removal under Administrative Rule 40(a)(3)-(10), and (13)-(15), should be removed automatically from the public index on the court system's website (CourtView Public Access Website), but some cases may be missed. To report a case that should have been removed under the rule, please submit form TF-810 to the court where the case was filed.

• Alaska Statute 22.35.030: Records concerning criminal cases resulting in acquittal or dismissal.
  • "The Alaska Court System may not publish a court record of a criminal case on a publicly available website if 60 days has elapsed from the date of acquittal or dismissal and 1) the defendant was acquitted of all charges filed in the case; 2) all criminal charges against the defendant in the case have been dismissed and were not dismissed as part of a plea agreement in another criminal case under Rule 11, Alaska Rules of Criminal Procedure; 3) the defendant was acquitted of some of the criminal charges in the case and the remaining charges were dismissed; or 4) all criminal charges against the defendant in the case have been dismissed after a suspended entry of judgment under AS 12.55.078."

  Qualifying cases should be removed automatically from the public index on the court system's website (CourtView Public Access Website), but some cases may be missed. To report a case that should have been removed under this statute, please submit form TF-810 to the court where the case was filed.

• Alaska Statute 04.21.078: Court records of persons under 21 years of age.
  • For offenses charged on or after October 4, 2016, the Alaska Court System will not publish on a publicly available website the court records of a violation of AS 04.16.049 or 04.16.050, or a similar ordinance of a municipality, if the violation was charged separately and was not joined with any other minor offense or criminal charge at the time of filing. Offenses charged before October 4, 2016, will remain online.

  Qualifying cases should be removed automatically from the public index on the court system's website (CourtView Public Access Website), but some cases may be missed. To report a case that should have been removed under this statute, please submit form TF-810 to the court where the case was filed.

Historical Coroner Cases. Prior to September 1996, the Alaska Court System was responsible for providing coroner functions. District court judges, magistrates and public administrators were statutorily authorized to perform coroner’s duties. Coroners were responsible for inquiring into the cause and manner of death of any person who had either died unattended by a physician or who had died suspiciously. To find an historical coroner case, (1) search on the decedent’s name in CourtView, or (2) contact the court nearest to the place of death for a search of paper index cards and the electronic Historical Index. See Historical Cases Prior to 1990.

Current Coroner Cases. In September 1996, the position of coroner was abolished by statute, and many of the coroner duties formerly performed by judicial officers were transferred to the Office of the State Medical Examiner.

The remaining judicial duties are now filed and numbered in CourtView as follows:

On the Search Result screen, the Case Type entry of “Criminal” includes both misdemeanors and felonies. To learn what the person was charged with in the case, click on the case number and review the Party Charge Information in the case summary. That will tell you whether the charge was a misdemeanor or a felony, and will also tell you whether a charge was amended. Do not assume that the person was convicted of the original charges. Always review the Party Charge Disposition for information on how the charges were disposed, including whether the person was convicted or acquitted, whether the person entered a plea, whether the charge was dismissed, or whether the case ended in some other way.

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.

There is no comprehensive case information available for any trial court location before 1990. Prior to 1990, courts maintained an alphabetical index of parties on paper index cards. The information on the index cards was limited to the case number and the name of the party or parties.

If a case filed prior to 1990 becomes active again, the case will be entered into CourtView, so your CourtView 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 CourtView.

As time allows, courts are manually converting the paper index cards to a statewide electronic Historical Index. Because this index includes confidential cases, it is not available to the public for research. You must ask a clerk to search it for you. Until all index cards have been entered into the electronic Historical index, a search of both index cards and the electronic historical index must be done to identify cases filed prior to 1990 pertaining to an individual.

Contact each court for complete information about cases before 1990.

Also see Cases from Closed Courts

For a time in the 1980s, the case number suffix for domestic relations and domestic violence cases were:

For the most part, when these cases were converted to CourtView, the case number suffix was changed to "CI” to match the current practice.  However, there were a few cases where the suffix could not be changed because there was another "CI” case with that same number. When searching for a case number involving one of these case types during this period, it is recommended that you perform two searches: one using the suffix "CI” and one using the suffix "DR” or "DV”.

Note: Cases filed before 1990 may not be listed in CourtView.  For more information, see Historical Cases Prior to 1990. 

Minor offenses are defined in Minor Offense Rule 2. CourtView lists only non-confidential minor offenses filed with the court.

1. Minor Offenses Charged on Citations. In Alaska, not all minor offense citations are filed with the court. Administrative Bulletin 39 explains which minor offense citations must be filed with the court. Minor offense citations filed with the court are assigned a minor offense case number except as provided in #3 below.
2. Minor Offenses Charged on Complaints or Information. Minor offenses charged on a complaint or information are filed with the court system and assigned a minor offense case number except as provided in # 3 below. See Minor Offense Rule 4.
3. Minor Offenses Joined with Related Criminal Offenses. Minor offenses joined with related criminal offenses are assigned a criminal case number. See Minor Offense Rule 17.
4. Confidential Minor Offense Cases. Some minor offense cases may be made confidential under Administrative Rule 40(a). These cases are not available to the public.

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.

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.

There are three tabs for choosing the type of search.  Searching by case number is the default; choose another tab to search by name, or by ticket/citation number.

At the top of the search screen, you can select the Number of Results you want to display per page. Access to any additional pages is available at the bottom right corner of the screen.

The maximum number of records that will be returned for any given search is 500 cases. To view all cases involving a party with more than 500 cases, you must enter additional search parameters, such as searching by date ranges.

When entering a case number, you must use leading zeroes. The sequence number must be 5-digits. Dashes are required

For example: 3AN-12-00001CR

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.

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.

Use CourtView to search by name for wills deposited with any court in Alaska. Case numbers for wills end with a suffix of WI (example: 3AN-06-00001WI).

• Once you have entered the record of a case you will be on the "case detail screen”. There are two ways to navigate through case screens:
  • Scroll through the case detail screen. All information is on that screen.
  • To get to specific information, you can also click one of the tabs at the top to be taken to that section on the detail screen.
• Events: Only hearings that took place after CourtView was installed in the court are listed in the "Event” screen. Earlier hearings are listed in the docket.
• Party addresses and social security numbers are not displayed on web.

In criminal and minor offense cases, only charge disposition displays. Do NOT assume that the defendant was convicted on all charges. Check the disposition for each charge.

In civil and small claims cases:

• If all claims against all parties were dismissed, then case disposition will reflect that the case was dismissed.
• If one or more claims resulted in a judgment, then the case disposition will reflect that the case was disposed by a judgment.
  • Do not assume that a judgment was entered against all defendants and on behalf of all plaintiffs. For complete information on how multiple claims were disposed, check the docket or the case file.

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.

• All case types:
  • Order Vacating or Setting Aside Judgment
  • Order for New Trial (Either after motion or appeal)
  • Appeal Decision Other than Affirmed
• Criminal:
  • Petitions to revoke probation
  • Conviction is set aside
  • Motion to correct illegal sentence
• Domestic Relations:
  • Motion to modify custody, support or visitation
  • Motion to extend child support for 18-year old
• DV & Stalking:
  • Motion to modify or dissolve long term protective order
• Estates:
  • Petition for subsequent administration

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.

Costs include such things as:

• Filing fees
• Miscellaneous monies paid to the court for copies, etc.
• Bail
• Cash Bonds
• Fines
• Surcharges
• Restitution
• Other monetary judgment amounts entered in criminal cases (cost of imprisonment, cost of appointed counsel)
• Monies collected and released in civil and small claims cases.

Financial information for a case is available by clicking the Financial Dockets tab at the top of case detail screen. The Financial Dockets listing includes costs on a case, amounts that have been adjusted, the adjustment reason and the balance due to the court.

The term "adjusted” means that the cost is no longer due to be paid to the court. However, if a cost has been "adjusted" there may still be a balance due payable to the state or city collections office. The "adjusted reason” will reflect if a cost has been transferred for collection. To determine why a cost has been adjusted: (1) Click the Financial tab; (2) hover over the (i) icon next to the amount adjusted. The adjusted reason will display.

If the adjustment reason is "Transferred for Collections," contact the state or city collections office to make payments or for information.

STATE AND MUNICIPAL COLLECTION UNITS

The docket is a permanent, cumulative record of all proceedings in a case. Not all dockets represent documents in the case.

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

• Motions filed and the results of those motions
• Monies received for fines, restitution, bail, filing fees, and payments applied to judgments
• Judicial assignments and/or reassignments
• Documents filed in the case
• Civil judgment information

Some examples of what you will not find in the docket include:

• Event information (scheduled hearings and/or trial dates)
• Sentencing details
• Probation condition details
• Proof of compliance of any treatment program or community work service

NOTE:
Event information is listed online under the “Event” tab.
See the case file for sentencing information, probation condition details, and proof of compliance information.

If there are fines, bail, costs or other financial activity on a case, the "Financial" and "Financial Dockets" tabs will display at the top of the case record screen. Click these tabs to view financial activity on the case. These tabs do not display if there is no financial activity on a case.

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:

• All children’s proceedings (Delinquency and Child In Need of Aid cases)
• Adoptions
• Alcohol Commitments
• Mental Commitments
• Emancipation
• Most other probate cases types except estates and protective proceedings

Court Location Prefixes, Conversion Dates, and Cases from Closed Courts

A case number is made up of four parts:

3PA-98-01234CI

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. Complete list of court location prefixes.
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 01234th case filed in 1998.
4. The suffix tells you the general category of the case.
   In the above example, CI stands for Civil. Case number 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.A complete list of case number suffixes is provided above.

For questions about a case record, or if you believe a record in the database contains a factual error, please contact the court location where the matter was filed.

Outside Court Hours:

• Bail may be posted only at the JAIL where the defendant is being held.

During Court Hours:

• Bail may be posted at either the JAIL where defendant is located or at any COURT.

Form of Payment: Check with the jail or court to find out what form of payment is accepted (cash only, money orders only, credit card, etc.)