Search Mobile County Court Records
The Mobile County Thirteenth Judicial Circuit site is the main state-court starting point. It links Just One Look for on-demand Alabama trial records, the county 02 public docket, AlaFile for electronic filing, and AlaPay for eligible tickets and criminal balances. The public docket uses a setting date and optional last name. Its warning says some cases may not appear electronically, so a missing result should be checked with the clerk.
First identify the record holder. Ashleigh Long's Circuit Clerk office keeps Circuit and District records. Municipal Court maintains City of Mobile cases. Probate Court holds estates, wills, marriage, land, and historic files. Sheriff Paul Burch's office handles jail, warrant, civil-process, and sheriff records. Each source has its own search, payment, copy, and confidentiality rules.
- Read the court name on the notice, ticket, filing, bond paper, or prior record.
- Use the county 02 docket for a Circuit or District setting date.
- Open Just One Look when fuller state trial-court access is needed.
- Use the official city or probate page for those separate courts.
- Call the proper division for a certified copy, old file, or missing entry.
Do not use AlaFile as a public search. It is an account-based filing system. AlaPay is also task-specific: it accepts certain ticket and disposed-case payments but does not replace the court case file.
Mobile County Court Search Fields
The free Alacourt docket is intentionally narrow. A current setting date is required, while a last name is optional. Leaving the name blank returns the full docket for the selected date. Just One Look offers broader on-demand access but requires fees. These different access levels explain why a free date search may show less than a paid record or clerk copy.
| Field | Type | Required | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Setting Date | Date choice | Yes | Select from live dates shown by county 02. |
| Last Name | Text | No | Narrow the chosen docket; blank returns the full date. |
| Search | Control | Implied | Submit the date and optional name. |
For City of Mobile cases, the official municipal search and request page provides the city-supported route. Probate users start with the Probate Court records search page, which explains Landmark WEB registration, index access, image costs, and historical coverage.
Mobile County Court System
Mobile County forms Alabama's Thirteenth Judicial Circuit. Circuit Court is the general-jurisdiction trial court for felonies, major civil matters, domestic relations, and appeals from lower courts. District Court handles district criminal cases, traffic, lower-value civil suits, small claims, and unlawful detainers. Both use Circuit Clerk recordkeeping.
Probate Court is separate for wills, estates, guardianship, conservatorship, marriage, recording, land, election, and archive records. Municipal Court hears city-limit misdemeanors, ordinance violations, municipal traffic cases, bond hearings, and delinquency matters. Juvenile cases route through the Youth Center and are subject to strict confidentiality. Appeals may continue to Alabama's civil or criminal appellate courts and Supreme Court, based on case type.
| Court | Main Work | Record Custodian |
|---|---|---|
| Circuit Court | Felony, major civil, domestic, lower-court appeals | Mobile County Circuit Clerk |
| District Court | District criminal, traffic, civil, small claims, eviction | Mobile County Circuit Clerk |
| Municipal Court | City misdemeanors, ordinances, traffic, bonds | City of Mobile Municipal Court |
| Probate Court | Estates, wills, guardianship, marriage, land, archives | Mobile County Probate Court |
| Youth Center | Juvenile matters | Authorized juvenile court staff |
Typical case flow: Municipal or District matter › Circuit Court when an appeal or transfer applies › Alabama appellate court for an eligible further appeal.
Visit Mobile County Court
Government Plaza at 205 Government Street, Mobile, Alabama 36644-2913 houses the main state courts and City Municipal Court. The Thirteenth Judicial Circuit public office is in Suite 913, with phone (251) 574-8806 and hours from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays. Circuit Criminal is in Room C-927, North Tower. District Criminal is in Room 338, North Tower. Municipal Court is on the second floor of the North Tower.
The building has division counters, not one universal records desk. Criminal payment windows close at 4:30 p.m., though state offices remain open until 5:00 p.m. A courthouse rule effective June 10, 2024 prohibits cell phones. Print or write down the case number, room, receipt, and phone contact before arrival. Screening and court-day lines can add time.
Government Plaza
205 Government Street
Suite 913
Mobile, AL 36644-2913
(251) 574-8806
Monday-Friday
8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
Municipal documents are requested and paid for at the ground-floor Municipal Payment window. Probate Court uses separate functions and systems associated with 151 Government Street. Verify the division before entering the complex.
Mobile County Court Record Types
Civil files may contain complaints, answers, service returns, motions, orders, judgments, writs, garnishments, and execution papers. Criminal files can contain charges, pleas, hearing entries, orders, sentencing, financial balances, appeals, and postconviction filings. Domestic Relations records concern divorce, custody, and support, with personal details limited when required.
Traffic cases can sit in District or Municipal Court. A court traffic record is not the same as the state driver history. Probate files include estates, wills, guardianship books, marriage records, land instruments, and old judicial records. Sheriff's jail and warrant material is also separate from the court case, even when it relates to the same person.
- Civil: claims, service, motions, orders, judgments, and collection process.
- Criminal: filed charges, pleas, settings, disposition, sentence, and appeal events.
- Family: divorce, custody, support, and protected domestic information.
- Traffic: citation, payment, plea, court date, and disposition records.
- Probate: estates, wills, marriage, land, election, and archive records.
Read Mobile County Court Records
Names in a civil record can be labeled plaintiff and defendant. A petition may use petitioner and respondent. Criminal records may identify a charge, arraignment, plea, disposition, and sentence. A charge is an accusation; a conviction is an outcome. A docket setting shows that an event is scheduled, not that the case has reached a final result.
| Record Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Case number | The court's identifier, with formats that vary by system. |
| Venue or division | The court and clerk unit responsible for the matter. |
| Party | A plaintiff, defendant, petitioner, or respondent when public. |
| Filing or setting date | When a document was filed or an event is set. |
| Docket event | A filing, hearing, notice, motion, order, plea, writ, or appeal entry. |
| Disposition | The recorded outcome of a case or charge. |
| Financial item | Fine, cost, restitution, bond, balance, or payment when shown. |
Personal identifiers may be redacted. Do not expect Social Security numbers, protected accounts, minor details, or sealed material to appear in a public Mobile County court view.
Mobile County Circuit Clerk Access
Circuit Clerk Ashleigh Long acts as record keeper and business manager for District and Circuit proceedings. The office manages pleadings, fines and fees, subpoenas, and notices. Its official division directory directs users to Circuit Civil at (251) 574-8420, Circuit Criminal at (251) 574-8430, District Civil and Small Claims at (251) 574-8525, District Criminal at (251) 574-8511, Domestic Relations at (251) 574-8441, and the Youth Center at (251) 574-1450.
Division fees matter. District Civil lists $5 for copies of one through twenty pages and fifty cents for each added page. Certification is $5. Computerized, paper, and archived or microfilmed searches are listed at $10, $20, and $25. These amounts come from that division's official schedule and should not be assumed for every record unit.
| District Civil Service | Published Amount |
|---|---|
| Copies, 1-20 pages | $5.00 |
| Each added page | $0.50 |
| Certification | $5.00 |
| Computerized search | $10.00 |
| Paper search | $20.00 |
| Archived or microfilmed search | $25.00 |
Call the correct division before requesting a copy. Probate and municipal files do not move to the Circuit Clerk merely because they concern a Mobile County resident.
Mobile County Sheriff Records
Sheriff Paul Burch leads the Mobile County Sheriff's Office at 510 South Royal Street. The office serves more than 400,000 residents across about 1,200 square miles and operates the Metro Jail. Its Who's in Jail page lists names, dates, charges, and bonds. The 24-hour booking page covers recent bookings, while the automated inmate line is 251-574-6412.
The MCSO App supports Who's in Jail, outstanding warrant checks, crime reports, photo or video uploads, and My Neighborhood. The warrant unit is listed at (251) 574-8657, while Central Records is (251) 574-8660. These are sheriff channels, not court disposition sources. A booking charge can change after prosecutors file a case.
The full custody distinctions, roster fields, facility contacts, and video-visit rules appear with the Mobile County inmate lookup. State prisoners use Alabama Department of Corrections search, and federal custody uses the federal inmate locator.
Mobile County Probate Court Records
Mobile County Probate Court maintains wills, estates, guardianship and conservatorship material, marriage records, land and recording files, election records, and a large historic archive. Landmark WEB offers a free land-record index, while document images cost ten cents per page unless a user has a monthly subscription. The official site says the system covers more than five million documents and keeps purchased images available for download and printing for ten days.
Probate custody reaches back to 1812. Archives include translated colonial records, Orphans Court books, early wills, judicial cases, naturalization indexes, and files on courthouse and jail construction. The court began microfilming in 1948, opened its Micrographic Section in 1958, moved to internet document access in 2000, and adopted electronic recordation in 2014.
- Testator
- A person who made a will.
- Executor
- The person authorized to carry out a will and administer an estate.
- Guardianship
- A court relationship concerning personal care for someone legally unable to manage it.
- Conservatorship
- A court relationship concerning management of another person's property or finances.
Mobile County Court Access Rules
Alabama Code Section 36-12-40 provides the broad public-record inspection and copying rule, subject to exceptions. Related sections address fees, timing, duties, procedures, and request forms. Alabama's Rules of Court-Record Privacy and Confidentiality took effect January 1, 2025. Rule 104 recognizes court-record access while excluding records made confidential by law, rule, or order.
Key access rules:
Rules 201 and 202 address excluded records and confidential information that must not appear in ordinary public access.
Rules 301 through 303 govern sealing and requests for access to material a court has sealed.
Alabama Code Title 15, Chapter 27 controls expungement eligibility and process for qualifying criminal records.
Juvenile, adoption, sealed, expunged, and mental-health records may be restricted. Private identifiers and account information may be redacted. Sealing restricts access by court order; expungement follows a distinct statute. Neither is accomplished through a casual request to the Sheriff, jail, or search portal.
Mobile County Federal District Records
Federal cases use a separate court system. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama handles federal civil and criminal matters in the region.
The district court source is not a replacement for Mobile County Circuit, District, Municipal, or Probate searches.
Federal district electronic filing uses the Southern District CM/ECF source.
CM/ECF filing access requires credentials, while public federal record searches generally route through PACER.
Mobile County Federal Record Access
The official PACER portal covers federal district, bankruptcy, and appellate records.
A PACER account and federal fee rules apply independently from Alabama Just One Look.
Bankruptcy cases use the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Alabama.
Bankruptcy files are federal court records, not Mobile County Probate Court estate files.
Mobile County Federal Appeal Records
Federal appeals from Alabama go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
The Eleventh Circuit is distinct from Alabama's Court of Civil Appeals, Court of Criminal Appeals, and Supreme Court.
Mobile County Court Record History
Mobile's record history begins before Alabama statehood. Probate Court says the Judge of Probate has served as custodian of Mobile citizens' records since 1812. When an Archives Section was formed in 1989, staff found French and Spanish colonial records in the courthouse attic. The archive now includes translated books from 1715 through 1841, original colonial documents, Orphans Court records, early wills, judicial cases, official bonds, and naturalization indexes.
This long span explains why online coverage varies. New records may be electronically imaged, while old material can depend on microfilm, indexes, archives, staff help, or a paid image. A missing web image does not mean the historic record is absent.
Mobile County Court Questions
Is the public docket a full case file?
No. It is a date-based public docket and may omit some electronic cases. Full state trial-court information may require Just One Look or a request to Ashleigh Long's correct Circuit Clerk division.
Where are city cases searched?
City-limit misdemeanors, ordinance matters, and municipal traffic cases use City of Mobile Municipal Court channels. The city court page links its supported case and docket search, while document requests go through the Municipal Payment window.
Can a phone enter Government Plaza courtrooms?
No cell phones are allowed in the Mobile County Courthouse under the rule effective June 10, 2024. Bring case details on paper and allow time for entry screening.
Who keeps jail and warrant records?
Sheriff Paul Burch's office provides the jail roster, booking page, app, warrant tools, unit phones, and central-records request route. Those sources do not replace the filed court case or disposition.
Are all court records public?
No. Juvenile, adoption, sealed, expunged, mental-health, and protected personal information can be withheld or redacted. Access depends on Alabama law, court privacy rules, and court orders.
Where are certified copies requested?
Ask the office that holds the file. Circuit and District records go to the appropriate Circuit Clerk division. Municipal and Probate records follow their separate court procedures.