Nevada court records are valuable if you need to check into a person's background or verify specific details. In addition, you can check for other details, such as unclaimed inheritance, etc. Today, requesting Nevada court records is easier that it has ever been in the past. In most cases, you can perform a search online for the court records that you need, as opposed to in the past when you would have to go down to the courthouse and sort through mountains of paperwork.

In order for your records search to be successful, you need to know where in the state to begin looking for the Nevada court records that you need. Even if you do your records search online, you still need to know the best place to start. For example, where would you go to find information on a bankruptcy case? Where do you need to go to get a copy of a divorce certificate? Unless you are familiar with the court system, your search for Nevada court records could prove to be long and tedious.

District Courts of Nevada

There are seventeen county courts in the state of Nevada, which is divided up into nine judicial districts with more than sixty-four judges presiding.

Most of the time, the Nevada court records that you are looking for can be found by going through district courts. In the state of Nevada, the district courts have general authority over all legal disputes.

In the district courts of Nevada, civil, criminal, family and juvenile matters are typically resolved through mediation, arbitration, bench trials or jury trials. In addition, the judges of the district courts may also hear appeals from municipal court or justice court.

Municipal and Justice Courts of Nevada

The courts that the citizens of Nevada are probably the most familiar with are the municipal courts and the justice courts. This is the courts that they will have had the most contact with, along with the justice courts.

Within these courts is where you would look for Nevada court records pertaining to lesser civil matters, parking citations and traffic violations, which are the only types of courts that most people in the state will ever be required to appear. The jurisdictions for both the municipal courts and the justice courts are quite similar.

The Nevada Supreme Court

The highest court in the Nevada judicial system is the Nevada Supreme Court. From 1864 to 1967, just three justices sat at the bench of the Supreme Court, and then the size of the court was increased to five by legislature. In 1997, two more judges were added, bringing the total up to seven.

The primary function of the Supreme Court is to review appeals for cases from the district courts. The Supreme Court does not conduct trials, but instead makes their ruling based on the review of court records from the previous trial that took place in the lower courts.

Accessing Nevada Court Records

The administrative arm of the Nevada Judicial Branch is the Nevada Administration Office of the Courts, which has the responsibility of examining the effectiveness of the state's judicial branch and implementing policies that the Supreme Court enacts. In addition, it also has the job of maintaining accounts and budgeting, foreclosure mediation, human resources, special events and facilities.

The county clerk at the courthouse where the case took place is the office that you need to go through in order to obtain Nevada court records. In addition, many of the websites for the counties of Nevada provide search engines that allow you to easily look through their court records online.

• Nevada State Court Districts

• Nevada State Legislature