Locate Carter County Circuit Court Records

Carter County Circuit Court Overview

Kentucky is a unified Court of Justice state. Carter County belongs to the 37th Judicial Circuit and the 37th Judicial District. Circuit Court is Kentucky's general-jurisdiction trial court, which means it may hear cases unless the General Assembly has assigned exclusive jurisdiction to another court. In Carter County, Circuit Court operates from the Carter County Justice Center in Grayson.

Circuit Court handles capital offenses and felonies, civil matters over the District Court limit, divorces, adoptions, termination of parental rights, title disputes, contested probate matters, injunctions, writs, and appeals from District Court or administrative agencies. Family Court is a division of Circuit Court where established, and Carter County's KCOJ page lists a 37th Judicial Circuit Division 2 Family Court judge.

Carter County Circuit Court List

The assigned research identifies the local state trial court structure rather than separate numbered county courts. Carter County Circuit, Family, and District Court share the Justice Center address, but their jurisdiction and phone lines differ.

Carter County Circuit Court Officials

The Kentucky Court of Justice Carter County page lists Rebecca K. Phillips as Chief Circuit Judge for the 37th Judicial Circuit, Division 1. It lists Jeniffer Barker Neice as Family Court Judge for the 37th Judicial Circuit, Division 2. For District Court, it lists H. Rupert Wilhoit III as Chief Regional District Judge for the 37th Judicial District. The local Circuit Court Clerk is Larry Thompson.

Appellate officials listed for Carter County include Robert B. Conley for the 7th Supreme Court District and Court of Appeals judges Larry E. Thompson and Sara Walter Combs for the 7th Appellate District. Those appellate courts do not replace local clerk access for Carter County Circuit Court records, but they show where appeals may go after a final trial-court order.

Carter County Circuit vs District Court

Circuit Court and District Court are state courts operating locally, not separate county-government courts. The distinction affects where a case starts, where it may move, and which phone line to call for questions.

For a broad record search path across case types, use Carter County court records with the Circuit Court Clerk as the local copy source.

Carter County Case Movement

Criminal cases may begin in District Court when a defendant first appears, especially for arraignment or felony probable-cause issues. If the matter is a felony, it can proceed to Circuit Court for indictment, arraignment, pretrial hearings, plea or trial, disposition, and sentencing. Misdemeanors, traffic, violations, and ordinance matters usually remain in District Court unless an appeal or related felony issue changes the path.

Felony flow: Arrest or charge › District Court first appearance or probable cause › grand jury or charging action › Circuit Court arraignment › pretrial › plea or trial › sentencing › appeal.

Civil flow: Complaint › service › answer › motions or discovery › hearing or trial › judgment › post-judgment activity › appeal when allowed.

Probate flow: Will or estate filing › District Court probate action › appointment or order › inventory, claims, settlement, or reports › Circuit Court contested probate if a dispute arises.

Access Carter County Circuit Court Records

The Circuit Court Clerk is the local records custodian for Circuit, Family, and District Court case records. Online public case information may be available through KYeCourts, and ePay may handle eligible fines, costs, fees, or citations. Copies, sealed-status questions, archived-file questions, and court-specific case file issues should be directed to the clerk.

• Use KYeCourts for public case information when available.
• Use ePay for eligible fines, costs, fees, and citation payments.
• Call Circuit Court at 606-474-5191 for Circuit and Family Court record questions.
• Call District Court at 606-474-6572 for District Court matters.
• Ask the clerk for locator numbers before contacting an archive or records facility.

Note: The county source lists an elevator in the east end of the Justice Center; call the clerk for accommodations beyond published elevator access.

Restricted Carter County Circuit Records

Not every Circuit Court or Family Court file is open in full. Divorce cases can include custody, child support, domestic violence, confidential financial, adoption, dependency, neglect, abuse, and termination of parental rights material. Criminal cases can include sealed or expunged entries. District Court juvenile and mental-health matters also have access limits, even when a public docket entry exists.

The clerk can identify whether a record is public, partly redacted, sealed by court order, or unavailable to nonparties. A requester should be ready to provide case details and explain whether a docket entry, final order, certified copy, or full case file is needed. That helps the office distinguish a public copy request from a party-only or court-order request.

Carter County Circuit Appeals

Appeals move through the Kentucky court hierarchy. A District Court appeal can go to Circuit Court. A Circuit Court or Family Court appeal generally goes to the Kentucky Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of Kentucky is the final state-law court for limited direct appeals, discretionary review, and statewide court administration. For record access, the local case file still starts with the Circuit Court Clerk unless the appeal has created a separate appellate record.

The Carter County page lists appellate district officials, but appellate listings do not change the local record request path. A requester looking for the trial pleadings, orders, exhibits, or certified judgment should start with the Carter County Circuit Court Clerk and ask whether any appellate record must be requested separately.