Search the Pendleton County Court Docket

How to Search the Pendleton County Court Docket

Start with the court layer. Circuit and Family cases in Pendleton County live in the West Virginia Public Access Search System, known as WVPASS. Magistrate traffic, misdemeanor, and felony preliminary matters run through the Magistrate Case Record Search, or MCR. Emergency protective and small civil cases use MCR too. The West Virginia court-record access hub puts both official routes on one page.

The best search tool is the exact case number. A Pendleton Circuit felony number might read CC-36-2023-F-3. A Magistrate felony sample looks like 23-M36F-00029. Working from a name alone takes more care. Before you treat a match as the right Pendleton County docket, confirm the county and filing year. Check the party role, court, and case type as well.

1. Read the citation, notice, order, or pleading to identify Circuit, Family, or Magistrate Court.
2. Search the matching portal with the complete case number, including dashes.
3. If no number is available, use the full name and narrow with portal filters actually shown.
4. Review the filing date, location, type, parties, events, and disposition together.
5. Call the responsible Pendleton clerk when a case, image, or new setting is missing.
6. Request a certified copy from the clerk when an official record is required.

Two Pendleton County Docket Portals

WVPASS holds public Circuit cases filed from July 1, 1999 forward. Viewing public case details costs nothing. Viewing or downloading documents costs $0.25 per page. Registration requires two-factor authentication, allows one active session, and includes an inactivity limit. The WVPASS FAQ confirms party-name and case-number searching. It also notes that downloaded papers are not certified.

MCR is a separate portal, gated by a captcha. Its case detail covers Case ID, location, type, filing date, amount, agency, charges, plea, disposition, bond, event schedule, parties, judgments, and docket entries. The state cautions that portal data can be incomplete or wrong. The official access hub explains the split. Any Pendleton County court docket search has to pick between these two routes first.

One more database exists, though it answers a different question. The County Clerk's IDX service indexes deeds, wills, probate material, judgments, releases, and other recorded county documents. It is not a Circuit or Magistrate case lookup.

What a Pendleton County Court Docket Shows

Think of a Pendleton County court docket as a chronological register. It tracks when a case began and what was filed. It also records which hearings were set and how the court logged each later step. One caution: an entry is not always the filed paper itself. A single event row rarely states the whole outcome. So read the case basics, the event list, and the disposition fields as one group. Only then draw conclusions from a docket search.

Keep the limits in mind. A charge is not a conviction, and a filing is not a ruling. A closed hearing on the docket may mark the end of one scheduled event while the case itself continues.

Pendleton County Docket Code 36

County number 36 stands for Pendleton in documented state case-number examples. Take CC-36-2017-C-7. Here CC marks Circuit Court, 36 marks Pendleton, 2017 is the filing year, C is the civil series in that sample, and 7 is the sequence. The felony sample swaps in F for C.

CC

Circuit Court in the documented number pattern.

36

The Pendleton County identifier in the cited samples.

F

The felony-series marker in the official sample.

C

The civil-series marker in the official sample.

M36

A Magistrate-format element tied to Pendleton in the redacted sample.

Other case types carry other markers. Enter the number exactly as printed and never guess a category from a partial code. When a Magistrate matter moves up to Circuit, the higher court can assign a new number.

Which Pendleton County Courts Keep Dockets

Pendleton County sits inside a unified state system, yet the records stay divided by court. Magistrate Court takes traffic, misdemeanors, felony preliminary examinations, warrants, bail, and emergency protective matters. Civil claims within its jurisdiction land there too. Family Court handles domestic relations. Circuit Court is the general-jurisdiction trial court. It hears felony trials, larger or assigned civil cases, appeals, juvenile and abuse-and-neglect matters, and other work set by law. Knowing the layer tells you where the court docket you need actually sits.

Pendleton shares the Twenty-Sixth Judicial Circuit with Hampshire and Hardy Counties. The Twenty-Fifth Family Court Circuit covers Grant, Hardy, and Pendleton. A judge's administrative office in another county never changes who holds a Pendleton filing.

Pendleton County Docket Clerks

Several public offices sit close together in Franklin's courthouse area. That convenience invites routing mistakes. The Circuit Clerk keeps Circuit and Family pleadings, orders, and dockets. The Magistrate Clerk supports Magistrate files. The County Clerk holds land, probate, county-government, and recorded judgment material. For contacts, the official Pendleton County court-information page lists the local court offices. It also lists the shared circuit resources.

Use the hearing notice, not a general judge-office address, to learn where a particular setting will happen. That notice beats any contact list when a court date is at stake.

Finding Pendleton County Court Dates and Settings

The clerk posts no standalone, searchable daily Pendleton trial calendar. MCR case details fill the gap. Its event schedule lists date, time, room, location, judge, event type, and reason closed. For Circuit matters, WVPASS case details and filed notices help too. When a date is close, or the online record clashes with a notice, the clerk is the final source.

Trial Court Rule 2.26 sets Pendleton's local terms. They fall on the first Tuesday of March, July, and November. Those recurring term dates describe court administration. They do not prove your case is set on one of those days. Rely on the case-specific notice and clerk confirmation. Then check the state court-closure page before you travel.

Note: A reset changes the setting rather than dismissing the case. Write down the new date. Keep the court's notice.

Pendleton County Docket Numbers

Official 2024 statistics show the scale and mix of local filings. Count incoming cases only, not pending matters, dispositions, docket entries, or unique people. One case can generate many entries and even move between courts. Even so, the numbers explain something practical. A Pendleton County docket search so often begins in Magistrate Court.

The cited Circuit criminal table lists 30 felonies, one misdemeanor, and eight other criminal filings. Magistrate criminal activity was heavier: 48 felony filings, 412 misdemeanors, and 13 juvenile entries. Each figure keeps its source year and category label.

Public Access to Pendleton County Court Dockets

West Virginia law lets the public inspect and copy open court records. Statutes, rules, and court orders still limit that access. A portal does not open everything. Sealed cases, juvenile records, protected victim information, and confidential Family Court papers stay off limits. Family Court orders and indexes can be public. The pleadings, exhibits, recordings, and transcripts behind them remain confidential.

A missing search result is not permission to bypass a restriction. Check the search terms, the court, and the year first, then ask the responsible clerk whether an open index or order exists.

Pendleton County Certified Docket Copies

An online result helps with research but proves nothing official. WVPASS says plainly that its downloads are not certified. MCR offers public case information, not a certified-file service. Certification means the copy was checked against the original. It also carries the clerk's certification, signature, and seal. An attested copy relies on a sworn attestation instead of the seal. The official Circuit Clerk page names the Franklin office that handles Circuit and Family records.

Request the document by case number, title, and date. Say which form you need: plain, attested, certified, or exemplified. Confirm postage and the final charge too. The statute sets a $1-per-page clerk copy anchor, and special handling can change the total.

The Pendleton County Clerk and Docket Records

The Pendleton Circuit Clerk, Shalee Wilburn, serves three roles. She is registrar, recorder, and custodian for Circuit and Family Court pleadings and related documents. Her office also runs jury administration. It helps self-represented litigants with procedure, though it gives no legal advice. Visit the counter on the second floor at 10 South Main Street, Franklin. Hours run Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For the lower court, contact Mary A. Simpson, the Magistrate Clerk. That office handles traffic cases, misdemeanors, Magistrate civil claims, bonds, and preliminary-hearing records. In person, staff usually pull the file and supervise your access. The public should not handle originals without clerk control. Mail and phone work as fallbacks. Before sending anything, confirm the file is public. Ask also about the page count, the copy form, payment method, postage, and archive status. Staff need not read a whole file aloud by phone.

Pendleton County Docket Routing Trap

The County Clerk's office is not the general keeper of Pendleton trial dockets. Its online Document Inquiry covers deeds, deeds of trust, judgments, probate records, releases, wills, and similar county records. A recorded judgment can matter to court research. Still, the index entry and the lawsuit file answer different questions. Their dates and numbers may not match. The official County Clerk page describes that separate record set. It also links the county document portal.

Use the County Clerk for deeds, wills, probate, County Commission records, and recorded judgment clues. Use the Circuit Clerk for Circuit and Family case files, and the Magistrate Clerk for Magistrate dockets.

Pendleton County Electronic Docket Change

Pendleton switched on CourtPLUS and Circuit/Family E-File on October 1, 2018. CourtPLUS provides case management plus the Vault repository. Clerks scan paper files into Vault. Self-represented parties keep filing paper at the clerk's office. Sealed underlying documents stay paper too. The e-file stamp matters because state rules give it official entry effect. Going electronic did not put every historic file online. Older records may sit in an archive or a clerk-controlled legacy system. WVPASS coverage starts with public Circuit cases filed from July 1, 1999. Even a covered case may lack a scanned image. Ask the clerk to locate an older Pendleton County docket before assuming it was destroyed.

Court Dockets by City in Pendleton County

Franklin stands alone. The official Census incorporated-place table names it as the county's only incorporated place, and it lists a 2020 population of 495 against 6,143 countywide. The town posts no municipal-court page, judge, fee schedule, or separate docket portal. Traffic, misdemeanor, and preliminary-hearing matters arising in Franklin follow the Pendleton Magistrate route instead. Small civil matters do too.

The Town of Franklin answers municipal-government questions, not county trial-court files. A Franklin address on a citation alone proves nothing. It does not create a town court or make town staff the record custodian.

Pendleton County Docket Limits

A public docket can confirm a case exists and show filed events. It cannot prove the online display is complete. Sealed content, confidential papers, an unscanned document, or a later clerk correction may be missing. A name match also cannot prove identity without the court, date, role, and case number. Use the docket to track your own case. Confirm a hearing or read a filing history, follow a public matter, or do historical research. Do not republish dates of birth, addresses, or minor names. Victim identifiers and private numbers deserve the same care on a public detail screen. The originating clerk remains the source for the official record.

Map and Directions to the Pendleton County Courthouse

Circuit and Family Court files are kept at the Pendleton County Courthouse in downtown Franklin, where the Circuit Clerk's counter is on the second floor at 10 South Main Street. Some official state and county listings instead give the courthouse street number as 100 South Main Street; that discrepancy is unresolved in the sources reviewed, so this page follows the Circuit Clerk's own published address. The courthouse's first floor holds the Assessor, Magistrate Court, County Clerk, County Commission, and Sheriff's tax office, while Circuit Clerk, Probation, and court activities are upstairs.

No official source publishes a Pendleton courthouse parking map, security policy, or accessibility schedule, so call the Circuit Clerk before an in-person visit, especially for a same-day hearing or an accommodation request.