How to Find and Clear Warrants
General tips on dealing with misdemeanor warrants. 

This info does not apply to serious criminal cases or Federal warrants.  For more detailed info and local resources, see our local State or County pages. 


What is a Warrant?

Nearly all warrants come from pending court cases - and if you are interested in a warrant, you are probably also interested in the court case that produced the warrant, right? Warrants are actually court orders to a Sheriffs Department or other law enforcement.  The most common reason for a warrant to issue is a missed court date (failure to appear) or failure to obey a court order, such as a child support order. Usually, the information found on a warrant is:  1) the case # and court address that issued it; 2) the required bail to get released after arrest; and 3) usually, the charges. A traffic ticket can result in a warrant in some areas if the defendant misses the deadline to take care of the ticket.  Parking tickets generally do not result in warrants.

How To Find Warrants:

The best way to find information on an arrest or bench warrant is to go in person to the court clerks office at the court that issued the warrant. The court clerk is the record keeper of the court, and criminal and traffic court records are public records.  You can ask to see them in person.

If you do not know which court you should look in, the best place to start is the county court where the crime or arrest (or traffic stop) took place.  Most traffic or criminal courts are organized by county, so that is the best place to look first.

If you do not want to go to the court in person, there may be other ways to get information on a warrant.

If you want to search for warrant or case information on line, you can do so in most courts at their web site.  But on-line access to court case info varies greatly from court to court.  Some courts are excellent, some do not allow access.

Most courts have a traffic division and a separate criminal division - both of which may issue warrants.  You may have to check both divisions to find the case you are interested in.

The local Court clerk can provide the most accurate info on a court case with a warrant. Many courts provide on line access to case info, and that info will list the warrant if there is one.  Many sheriffs offices have on line access to warrant listings, but this info is of limited value because the Sheriffs rarely have details about the underlying case.

We offer a free nation wide warrant search link section, and it works really well.  It provides links to local government web sites that provide access to court case info, and warrants where possible.  Some areas are way better at providing on line access to case info than others. 


How to Get Court Date on a Warrant: 

Most misdemeanor warrants require a court appearance to solve the problem.  In most courts, it is the court clerk that assigns court dates and they can set dates for warrant cases.  However, some warrants are issued in the traffic division, and some from a criminal division.  You may have to check with both division clerks.

Generally, the best way to get a court date is to go in person to the court clerks office at 8:00 and request a walk in appearance. 

In most misdemeanor cases, an attorney can do this work without the client having to appear in court.

But if a person is arrested for a warrant, the arresting agency will set a court date.

If there is a set bail on the warrant from the court, a defendant can also hire a bail bond company (or post bail themselves at the court clerk) and then the court will set a date.

For more info, see the Traffic Court Blog Article on the subject.