List of Court Record Types

Researching Court Records This article is part of a series.

Overview of Court Records

Court Procedures

Equity Cases

Probate

Divorce Actions

Types of Court Records

List of Court Record Types

Researching Court Records

Selected Proceedings and Courts

Justice of the Peace Courts

List of Useful Court References

Topics

This article originally appeared in "Court Records" by Sandra Hargreaves Luebking, FUGA, Loretto Dennis Szucs, FUGA, and Arlene H. Eakle, Ph.D. in The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy

Record	Type	Bound Volume	Filed Papers	Loose Papers	Case File
Indexes (alphabetical):	Plaintiff	•
	Defendant	•
	Reverse	•
	Every name	•
Dockets: calendar or waiting list of pending cases, in the order they will be considered by the court	Civil	•
	Criminal	•
	Equity	•
	Chancery	•
	Estate	•
	Orphans'šÃ„ô	•
	Guardian	•
	Probate	•
	Name change	•
	Claims	•
	Insolvents'šÃ„ô	•
	Bankruptcy	•
	Divorce	•
	Adoption	•
	Lunacy	•
	Reference	•
	Execution	•
	Appearance	•
	Appeals	•
	New actions	•
Minutes: descriptive entries of all actions taking place in the court process	Journals	•
	Register of actions	•
	Appeal briefs		•		•
Orders: official record of all orders of the judge(s)	Journals	•
	Writs		•		•
	Summons		•		•
	Warrants		•		•
	Subpoenae		•		•
	Actions	•
	Indictments				•
	Presentments				•
	Executions	•			•
	Stays (demurrers)	•			•
	Injunctions				•
	Foreclosures				•
	Attachments				•
	Distraints		•
	Jury lists
Judgments: final decisions, punishments, and awards made by the court	Satisfied	•
	Short	•
	Equity	•
	Decrees	•
	Fines	•
	Liens	•
	Verdicts	•
	Opinions	•
	Decisions	•
	Reports		•
	Appeals		•
	Bills of costs		•
Case files or packets: all original papers placed in the hands of the court during a court case	Civil				•
	Criminal				•
	Equity				•
	Estate				•
	Orphans'šÃ„ô				•
	Probate				•
	Chancery				•
	Divorce				•
	Adoption				•
	Claims				•
	Insolvents'šÃ„ô				•
	Lunacy				•
	Bankruptcy				•
	Appeals				•
				Bonds	•
				Depositions	•
				Testimony	•
				Declarations	•
				Inventories	•
				Documents	•
				Exhibits	•
				Receipts	•
				Petitions	•
				Affidavits	•
				Pleas	•
				Pleadings	•
				Allegations	•
				Complaints	•
				Inquisitions	•
				Examinations	•
				Promissory notes	•
				Letters	•
				Appraisals	•
				Arbitration reports	•