Search Union County Court Dockets

Union County Court Docket Searches

Start your Union County docket search at Search ARCourts. It is free, public, and it replaced the older Public CourtConnect route. You can look up a participant by name. An organization, a case description, or a case or citation number works too. A number works best when you have one. Advanced filters let you narrow results by filing dates, case type, docket code, Union County, and court location. Dropdown values can shift. So pick from the choices the screen shows you rather than guessing a code.

1. Choose Participants when a person or organization is known, or Cases when a case or citation number is known.
2. Enter at least one value. Use the exact number from a notice or citation when possible.
3. Open advanced filters and select Union County, the court location, date range, or case type that fits.
4. Review the case header, docket entries, charges or judgments, linked documents, and Future Events.
5. Call the proper Union County clerk if the case is missing or an official copy is needed.

A failed online search proves nothing. Some district courts feed less case information to the statewide system than others. A misspelled name, an old case number, a security rule, or a record still on paper can each explain an empty result in a Union County court docket search.

Search ARCourts Changed Union Dockets

The Administrative Office of the Courts announced Search ARCourts in 2024. It was announced as the new public search direction. Its landing page now tells users to retire Public CourtConnect. Old bookmarks and instructions may still point to the former product. So the change matters in Union County. The new system offers participant and case modes. It also offers advanced filters, sorted results, print tools, and CSV export.

Keep the public screen separate from the filing system. Authorized filers use Arkansas eFlex to send filings into court workflow. Search ARCourts is where the public reads what the state case system supplies. A login prompt may appear on eFlex. That does not mean you need an account for the public Union County docket search.

The official profile of Union County District Judge Jack Barker shows the court behind many lower-court matters.

That profile helps you confirm the current Union County District Court rather than an unverified city court listing.

Court Dockets: What They Show

Think of a Union County docket as a chronological index. It is not a transcript, and it does not always include every filing image. Through Search ARCourts you may see the case number, title, case type, filing date, court, location, judge, status, parties, entries, events, charges, pleas, dispositions, judgments, and some linked public documents. What appears varies by case and by court.

The newest entry can change how an older setting reads. A motion is only a request until an order addresses it. A charge remains an allegation until the docket records an outcome. Need the document behind a line? Ask the correct clerk for a plain, certified, or authenticated copy.

Three Union County Docket Keepers

Union County splits its court records among three offices. The Union County Circuit Clerk holds circuit criminal, civil, domestic-relations, and juvenile case records. The Union County Clerk doubles as Probate Clerk. It keeps probate, small-estate, guardianship, commitment, and adoption records. The Union County District Court Clerk keeps the lower-court docket. That docket covers traffic, misdemeanors, ordinance cases, preliminary felony work, limited civil matters, and small claims. Knowing which of the three keeps your case type saves a wasted trip.

For the current name, use the Arkansas circuit clerk directory.

Read together, the state listing and the county service page identify the office and explain what the clerk does.

Union County Courts and Their Dockets

The Thirteenth Judicial Circuit is Union County's general-jurisdiction court. Its divisions cover criminal, civil, probate, domestic relations, and juvenile work. Union County District Court sits below it as the limited-jurisdiction tier. That court hears traffic and misdemeanor matters. It also hears local and state ordinance violations, preliminary felony matters, civil contract or property disputes within its statutory limit, and small claims.

The current circuit judge directory shows the divisions and chambers.

Several judges keep chambers outside El Dorado. The assigned case and its docket control where a setting belongs.

Six Divisions, One Union Docket

The Thirteenth Judicial Circuit spans six counties and six judicial divisions. Union-based chambers include Divisions 2, 4, and 6 at the county courthouse. Other judges sit in Camden or Magnolia. That geography can confuse a caller. The AOC 2025 Annual Report supplies the official statewide court map and 2024 totals. It does not give Union-only filing counts. A Union County case stays tied to its filed court, assigned division, and case number even when the judge's main chambers sit in another county.

Start with the docket and the clerk, not chambers. The docket can identify the judge, court location, and next event. Chambers is not the copy counter. If you need a transcript, the assigned court reporter handles that distinct record rather than a clerk. Know the case division first. The current court directory is then the safe route to the right official.

The district court directory entry confirms the countywide lower-court destination.

The directory is also why an assumed city department should not stand in for the real Union County District Court.

Court Dates and Settings in Union County

Union County posts no standalone daily calendar. The online path runs through a case in Search ARCourts. Open the exact case and inspect Future Events, then compare the newest docket entries for a continuance, reset, or later order. An event may list a date and time, event type, sequence, court, county, location, case number, title, and judge, though not every record fills every field.

Confirm a circuit date with the Circuit Clerk. A lower-court date goes to District Court. A probate setting goes to the Probate Clerk. A later entry controls over an old printout. Do not assume a hearing is remote, cancelled, or moved for weather without direct court confirmation. The full process appears in the Union County Court Schedule.

Setting

A scheduled court event, such as a hearing, docket call, plea, or trial.

Continuance

An order moving a scheduled event to another date.

Future event

The upcoming event currently published in the case data, subject to later change.

Disposition

The recorded outcome of a charge or case, not merely the next hearing date.

Missing Union County Docket Results

A blank results screen can mean several things. Try a different spelling first. A typo in a name or case number will hide a Union County court docket that actually exists. Some district courts publish only partial information through Search ARCourts, and older Union County case records were never digitized at all. Administrative Order 19 keeps certain data out of public view. A sealing order can remove a case entirely. An empty screen proves nothing either way. Use other routes before giving up on a docket search.

The chief district clerk directory supplies a current official reference for the lower court.

The clerk's office can check further. Staff can confirm whether a lower-court citation or case has reached the Union County docket when the public portal shows no match.

Docket Access Under Arkansas Law

Administrative Order 19 governs access to Arkansas court records. It keeps confidential material off limits. Excluded items include records made confidential by law or court order, Social Security numbers, certain financial account and PIN data, sealed or expunged case information, deliberative court material, and protected addresses in qualifying cases. Filing something electronically never converts confidential content into public content.

Access is one thing; certification is another. A Search ARCourts printout even carries a warning that it is not an official court record. When official proof is required, ask the clerk for an authenticated copy.

Union County Docket Copy Choices

Keep three layers straight. The docket itself is just an index of case activity, while a filed document is the motion, pleading, order, or judgment behind any given entry. A certified copy is a separate clerk-authenticated record. Search ARCourts sometimes attaches a public filing image, but a missing PDF does not mean the document is unavailable from the clerk.

Union County has published no complete mail procedure for judicial copies and makes no turnaround promise. Call before sending anything. Give the case number, docket date, and document name, then ask about availability, page count, total cost, payment method, certification level, and delivery.

How the Clerk Keeps Docket Records

The Circuit Clerk keeps case records and prepares dockets. The office also maintains related financial records and helps people figure out when they must appear. Who holds the office? The state directory lists Cheryl Wilson, though the county page says Cheryl Cochran-Wilson. Treat the state directory as the better current identity source. The county page serves best for service detail.

The official Union County site identifies the courthouse and its local history.

Both the Circuit Clerk and the separate County/Probate Clerk work out of the Washington Street courthouse. The District Court sits elsewhere, on American Road.

Union County Drug Court Docket

Union County runs a Drug Court. It began in January 2002, according to the current Thirteenth Circuit plan. Sessions are generally held twice a month. They fall on the first and third Thursday at the Union County Criminal Justice Facility in El Dorado. Eligibility turns on treatment need, offense and history rules, and a prosecutor recommendation. The program uses both pre-adjudication and post-adjudication models.

The criminal case number stays the docket reference throughout. No public participant roster exists, and none should be inferred. A drug court setting is simply one event inside the criminal case record. That split protects private treatment information. A party can still track lawful public settings and orders through the ordinary Union County criminal docket and the Circuit Clerk. The Thirteenth Circuit administrative plan is the official source documenting the program.

Union Dockets From Stone to Screen

The Union County courthouse owes its look to the oil boom. That boom followed the January 1921 discovery. The county points to forty freestanding Ionic columns and a marble, two-story Art Deco atrium. The record system inside changed too. Arkansas launched its court automation project in 2001. It started case-management pilots in 2002 and expanded electronic filing. By 2023 it accepted electronic filings statewide on existing circuit cases.

Union County's clerk page dates local eFlex Lite acceptance to March 2021. That covers certain non-monetary filings. That statement is dated, so confirm current filing capability before relying on it. Search ARCourts serves as the public reading layer today. eFlex remains filing infrastructure for eligible users. Its training, account, and fee rules never apply to an ordinary public docket lookup. The official profile of Chief District Court Clerk April Bagley adds another current directory point.

Directory records close the loop. They connect local courthouse history to the officials and systems now handling Union County docket access.

City-by-City Court Dockets in Union County

The 2020 Census ranked El Dorado, Smackover, Norphlet, Junction City, and Huttig as the five largest incorporated places. That population spread does not create five separate court systems. The Arkansas Judiciary directory shows one countywide Union County District Court, the El Dorado Department. Start every city search with the court printed on the citation or notice. No separate city court may be listed. Then fall back on the countywide clerk for the case lookup.

Each city page stays at city level. It routes county criminal, larger civil, probate, and traffic matters to the verified office that holds those Union County court records.

Map and Directions to the Union County Courthouse

Circuit Court's criminal, civil, domestic-relations, probate, and juvenile files are kept at the Union County Courthouse, 101 North Washington Street, in downtown El Dorado, the county seat. Built during the 1920s oil boom, the courthouse has forty freestanding Ionic columns and a marble, two-story Art Deco atrium. The Circuit Clerk's counter is Suite 201, and the County/Probate Clerk keeps probate, guardianship, and adoption records in the same building at Suite 102. Traffic, misdemeanor, ordinance, and small-claims matters are handled separately at Union County District Court.

The courthouse closes for state and federal holidays except Columbus Day. Official sources do not publish a lobby terminal, parking arrangement, or security-screening policy for either building, so call the office you need before visiting.