Clark County Court Records Lookup

How to Search Clark County Court Records

Most Clark County court records start with one tool. The Washington Courts Odyssey Portal lets anyone look up cases filed in Superior Court. The Clerk's office points the public to Odyssey to find a case number. You can search by case number, a person's name, or a business name. Results may show a case summary, the calendar, and a list of filed documents. Anonymous users see public case information that is not sealed. Documents themselves are not shown unless you register and the County Clerk grants access.

Before you start, gather what you know. A full name helps. A case number helps more. Party names must be typed in Last, First order, exactly as they appear on the case.

1. Open the Odyssey Portal and choose Smart Search.
2. Enter a case number, or type a party name as Last, First.
3. Click Advanced Filtering Options to narrow by court location, case type, filed date, and status.
4. Complete the CAPTCHA if the screen asks for it, then click Submit.
5. Click a case number in the results to view the record, or open Search Hearings to find upcoming court dates.

The portal is the front door for a Clark County court records search. For a copy of an actual filing or order, you contact the County Clerk. The Clerk handles copy requests in person, by mail, or by email. We explain those steps in detail on the Clark County court records page.

Washington Courts keeps an official self-help guide that explains the statewide case search. You can review it at the Washington Courts find court records page. That guide confirms that a Clark County Superior Court case should be searched through Odyssey, and that the complete record comes from the court where the case was filed.

The screenshot below shows the Odyssey Portal landing page at the Washington Courts Odyssey Portal, where the public search begins.

The three tiles, Smart Search, Search Hearings, and Judgment Search, cover most public lookups for Clark County Superior Court cases.

Odyssey Smart Search Fields

Smart Search uses a single text box plus optional filters. Knowing each field saves time. The table below lists the main fields the official user guide describes for the portal.

Registered users get one extra tool. They can use a wildcard, an asterisk at the end of a partial name. Anonymous users cannot. Names are not case sensitive, and a Sounds Like option can match names that sound alike.

The Clark County Judicial System

Clark County splits its courts by case type. Superior Court is the trial court of general jurisdiction. It hears felony criminal cases, divorce and family law, probate, guardianship, adoption, juvenile, dependency, mental illness, and large civil disputes. District Court is a court of limited jurisdiction. It takes misdemeanors, gross misdemeanors, traffic infractions, small claims, protection orders, and name changes. The Camas-Washougal Municipal Court handles city code matters in that area.

The presiding judge of Superior Court is the Honorable Derek J. Vanderwood. The Court Administrator is Pamela Hartman Beyer. Twelve Superior Court departments and six District Court departments serve the county. Appeals from Superior Court go to the Washington Court of Appeals, Division II, and then to the Washington Supreme Court.

Case flow: District & Municipal Court › Superior Court › Court of Appeals › Washington Supreme Court

You can confirm the current judges on the official Clark County judicial offices table, shown below.

That page lists every Superior Court and District Court department by judge and term. More detail sits on the Clark County Superior Court page.

Clark County Courthouses

The main courthouse sits in downtown Vancouver. Superior Court, the County Clerk, the Family Court Facilitator, and the Law Library are all there. District Court moved to a new building at 210 E. 13th Street on February 2, 2026, so check your hearing location before you go. The downtown justice campus also holds the Law Enforcement Center, which contains the Main Jail, and the Public Service Center across the street.

The courthouse itself is worth a note. It is the county's fourth courthouse, dedicated November 29, 1941, and designed in an Art Deco and Art Moderne style by local architect Day Walter Hilborn. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2014. The official Clark County Courthouse history page, shown below, covers the building and its Buckskin Brigade sculpture.

Two original fourth-floor courtrooms still keep their wood-paneled walls, judge's bench, and jury chairs.

Types of Court Records Available in Clark County

Court records cover the whole life of a case. Some are criminal. Many are civil or family. The County Clerk keeps Superior Court files, while District Court keeps its own limited-jurisdiction files. The kind of case decides which office holds the record.

Here are the main record types you will find in Clark County:

• Criminal records - Felony files in Superior Court and misdemeanor files in District Court.
• Civil records - Contract disputes, property cases, torts, and small claims.
• Family and divorce records - Dissolution, parenting plans, support, and protection orders.
• Probate and guardianship records - Estates, wills, letters, and guardianships in Superior Court.
• Traffic records - Infractions and citations handled by District Court.

Juvenile, adoption, and mental health files also exist, but those carry tight access rules. You can read more about each type on the court records and arrest records pages.

What Clark County Court Records Show

A court record is built from many small fields. Once you open a case in Odyssey, you see the pieces that make up the file. The table below explains the common fields and what each one tells you.

Case numbers follow a pattern. The first two digits are the year. The next digit is the case type. So a 1 means criminal, a 2 means civil, a 3 means domestic, and a 4 means probate or guardianship.

Public Access Laws for Clark County Court Records

Washington keeps two separate tracks for open records. Agency records follow the Public Records Act. Court case records follow court rules instead. The County Clerk holds Superior Court files, District Court holds its own files, and the Sheriff holds jail public records. Each office uses its own rules and fees. Court rule GR 31 sets the policy that favors access to court records, while still protecting privacy.

For sensitive matters, GR 22 limits access to some family, protection order, and guardianship materials. You can read the full framework on the Clark County public records page.

Records That Are Restricted or Confidential

Not every file is open. The County Clerk names adoption records as confidential. Juvenile records carry special limits under RCW 13.50. Mental illness commitments, and alcohol or drug treatment commitments, are not public through District Court. Police reports are not court records, so you request those from the law enforcement agency. Any file a judge has sealed by order stays closed to the public.

To view a sealed record, you usually need a court order. Sealing and redaction follow court rule GR 15. A judge weighs the request against the public interest before lifting a seal. If a conviction was vacated under state law, public criminal history may change, but the court file can still hold docket history unless it was sealed too. The court records page explains how to petition.

Specialty Courts in Clark County

Clark County runs nine therapeutic specialty court programs between Superior and District Court. These courts mix treatment with court supervision. The goal is to break the cycle of addiction and crime, build self-sufficiency, and reunite families. The programs follow the national key components for drug courts and use evidence-based treatment.

Adult Drug Court meets several times a week under Judge Snider, with separate dockets for in-custody and residential DOSA participants. Veterans Court meets Monday mornings. A Mental Health Docket meets Wednesdays. Family Treatment Court meets Mondays before Commissioner Ellis. Safe Babies Court serves infants and toddlers under age three who are in the child welfare system. To ask about a program, call 564-397-2304 or email Shauna.Mccloskey@clark.wa.gov.

Clark County Sheriff and Jail

The Clark County Sheriff is John Horch, the 35th sheriff of an office founded in 1849. The Sheriff's Office calls itself Washington's oldest law enforcement agency. Jail Services runs the Clark County Jail inside the downtown Law Enforcement Center, next to the courthouse. The county currently has one inmate housing facility. A public jail roster lists who is in custody, with booking dates, location codes, and charges.

The roster is plain by design. It does not show mugshots, bond amounts, or court dates. Aside from the roster, jail records stay confidential under state law. For the full roster and how to read it, see Clark County inmate records. To check on active warrants, see the warrant records page. For a 24-hour information line, call 564-397-4996.

Marriage, Divorce, and Probate Records

Two different offices split these records. The County Auditor issues marriage licenses and keeps recorded documents. The County Clerk keeps divorce and probate files because those are Superior Court cases. So a marriage license search and a divorce search go to different places. Learn more on the marriage and divorce records page and the probate records page. A few probate terms come up often.

Testator

The person who made a will.

Executor

The person named to carry out a will, also called a personal representative.

Conservator

A person a court names to manage another adult's affairs, close to a guardian.

Clark County Court Records Fees

Copy fees at the County Clerk are set by a published schedule. The cost depends on whether you want a certified copy or a plain copy, and whether you pick email or mail. The table below shows the common fees for Superior Court records.

Older records can cost more. Pre-1996 microfilm requests may add a $30 search fee. You can see the full list on the official Clark County Clerk fee schedule.

Note: Court and clerk copy fees are separate from the Public Records Act fees that county departments charge for agency records.

How to Interpret Clark County Court Records

Court files use shorthand. A docket is the running list of events in a case. A disposition is the outcome. An arraignment is the hearing where charges are read. A charge is only an accusation, not proof of guilt. A conviction means the court found guilt. Keep that line clear when you read a criminal file. A dismissal with prejudice ends a case for good, while a dismissal without prejudice may allow a refiling. When a code or term is unclear, the Clerk can confirm what a docket entry means, though staff cannot give legal advice.

Accuracy and Record Limitations

Online records lag real life. A new filing, a plea, or a release may take time to post. Name searches are not perfect either. The state criminal history portal warns that only fingerprints positively tie a person to a record. So treat an online match as a lead, not a final answer. If you spot an error in a Clark County court record, contact the office that holds the file, the County Clerk for Superior Court or District Court for its own cases.

History of Clark County Courts

Clark County is the oldest county in Washington. The current courthouse, built in 1941, is the fourth one. The first, built in 1855, was a small two-story frame building on West Reserve Street. The 1941 building reflects New Deal-era public design. Its Buckskin Brigade sculpture stood over the entrance from 1941 until 1978, when damage was found. A bronze recreation went up in 1990 after years of local fundraising. The newest chapter is the 2026 move of District Court to 210 E. 13th Street, which the county says improves public access.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I search Clark County Superior Court records?

Use the Washington Courts Odyssey Portal. The Clerk's Access to Records page sends users there to find a case number by case number, person name, or business name. Anonymous users can see public case information that is not sealed. Documents are not shown unless you register and the County Clerk grants access. For copies of filings, you contact the Clerk.

Where is Clark County Superior Court?

Superior Court is at the Clark County Courthouse, 1200 Franklin Street, Vancouver, WA 98660-2812. The phone is 564-397-2150. The building is a five-story 1941 courthouse listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The County Clerk, the Law Library, and the Family Court Facilitator are also in this building.

Are Clark County court records public?

Many are, but not all. Court rule GR 31 favors access. Sealed files, adoption records, some juvenile records, mental health commitments, and drug or alcohol treatment commitments stay closed. GR 22 limits some family and protection order materials. When a record is open, you can view case information online and request copies from the right office.

More on the Clark County Court Records FAQ page.