Search Lackawanna County Court Records
The fastest official starting point for Lackawanna County court records is Pennsylvania UJS Case Search. It provides free public docket sheets for many Court of Common Pleas, Magisterial District Court, appellate, citation, attorney, and participant-name searches. UJS is useful when the exact office is not yet known because it searches statewide records and lets the user narrow by Lackawanna County. It is not a certified background check, and UJS warns that recent entries may not appear right away.
The county-specific path is Lackawanna Public Access Inquiries, the INFOCON system linked by county pages for civil, family, Register of Wills, Orphans' Court, marriage, and genealogy searches. The local launch page opens a public inquiry app in a pop-up window, so browser pop-up settings can matter. Certified copies, sealed files, older files, and records that do not appear online still route to the correct office counter.
- Open UJS Case Search and choose a search type such as participant name, docket number, citation number, OTN, complaint number, attorney, or calendar event.
- Choose Lackawanna County when the form offers a county field, then add the docket number, name, date range, citation number, or other known identifier.
- Review the docket header, court office, case type, filing date, parties, events, charges, disposition, sentence, or financial entries.
- Use Lackawanna Public Access Inquiries when the record type is civil, family, probate, Orphans' Court, marriage, or an older local index.
- Contact the Clerk of Judicial Records, Register of Wills, or the issuing Magisterial District Court when a certified copy or counter search is required.
The Pennsylvania Unified Judicial System public records page groups statewide court records and public-access policies. That source is useful for checking current court-record rules before relying on a docket sheet.
UJS public-record pages help separate statewide court access from county administrative public-record requests.
Lackawanna County Court System
Lackawanna County is Pennsylvania's 45th Judicial District. The primary trial court is the Court of Common Pleas, which handles major civil, criminal, family, juvenile, and Orphans' Court matters. Pennsylvania does not use a county-level "district court" as the main trial court name. Local district courts are Magisterial District Courts, which handle traffic and non-traffic summary cases, civil claims below $12,000, landlord-tenant disputes, preliminary arraignments, preliminary hearings, bail, search warrants, arrest warrants, and emergency protection matters.
Lackawanna County also uses Central Court at the Criminal Justice Center for countywide preliminary hearings and 24-hour Magisterial District Judge duty coverage. Appeals from Common Pleas cases generally go to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania or Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, depending on case type, with discretionary review in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
| Court level | Lackawanna County role | Common records |
|---|---|---|
| Court of Common Pleas | General trial court for the 45th Judicial District | Civil, criminal, family, juvenile, Orphans' Court, probate, appeals from minor courts |
| Magisterial District Courts | Local minor courts and Central Court functions | Traffic, summary, preliminary criminal, landlord-tenant, small civil claims, warrants |
| Intermediate appellate courts | Statewide review after Common Pleas | Appeal dockets, opinions, orders, appellate filings |
Case flow: Magisterial District Court or filing office › Court of Common Pleas › Superior Court or Commonwealth Court › Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
Lackawanna County Courthouse Campus
The historic Lackawanna County Courthouse at 200 North Washington Avenue in Scranton is the central civil and criminal Common Pleas courthouse. County research places the courthouse on a downtown 4.7-acre block bounded by Washington Avenue, Linden Street, Adams Avenue, and Spruce Street. The nearby Government Center at 123 Wyoming Avenue houses the Court Administrator's Office, Family Court Center, Civil Division of the Clerk of Judicial Records, Register of Wills and Clerk of Orphans' Court, and the county Right-to-Know officer.
The county's court campus is compact but split by function. Treatment Court staff are in the Brixx Building at 130 North Washington Avenue, the District Attorney is at 135 Jefferson Avenue, and Central Court is at the Criminal Justice Center at 1360 Wyoming Avenue. Visitors should match the record type to the office before traveling because probate, family, civil clerk, criminal court, and preliminary-hearing matters do not all use the same counter.
Lackawanna County Courthouse
200 North Washington Avenue
Scranton, PA 18503
570-963-6773
Lackawanna County Government Center
123 Wyoming Avenue
Scranton, PA 18503
Civil clerk 570-963-6723
Criminal Justice Center
1360 Wyoming Avenue
Scranton, PA 18509
570-963-6436
The official county homepage is a useful entry point for court offices, public records, elected officials, and Right-to-Know links.
County pages connect the courthouse campus to offices that are not all housed in the same building.
Lackawanna County Court Record Types
Lackawanna County court records include several distinct record families. Criminal Common Pleas records show felony and misdemeanor cases after filing or bind-over, including charges, pleas, hearings, bail, warrants, disposition, sentence, costs, probation, and appeals. Civil records include liens, judgments, civil and equity cases, district justice appeals, malpractice matters, injunctions, and other Common Pleas filings. Family records include divorce, custody, PFA matters, child support, dependency, truancy, adoption, and termination of parental rights, although several of those categories have public-access limits.
Magisterial District Courts create traffic, non-traffic summary, landlord-tenant, small civil, preliminary criminal, warrant, and bail records. Orphans' Court and Register of Wills files include wills, estates, guardianships, formal accountings, trusts, marriage records, and adoption records, with adoption records treated as confidential. Traffic cases can be found through UJS and PAePay when eligible for online payment, while state driver records are held by PennDOT and are not the same file as the court traffic docket.
- Court dockets: case timelines showing filings, events, orders, hearings, and outcomes.
- Criminal records: the full court case file after charges enter the court system.
- Arrest records and charges: the arrest-to-court path, charging documents, offense codes, and charge status.
- Marriage and divorce records: marriage licenses through the Register of Wills and divorce decrees through Family Court Division.
- Orphans' Court records: probate, guardianship, accounting, estate, and related filings.
What Lackawanna Court Records Show
A public docket is a chronological court record, not always the full document set. UJS docket sheets can show the docket number, court type, case caption, filing date, county, court office, docket type, status, judge or magisterial district judge, related case numbers, charge rows, event history, sentence, bail, costs, and payment activity. Criminal dockets may show OTN, complaint number, arresting agency, offense date, statute citation, grade, disposition, sentence, and bail. Traffic and Magisterial District records may show citation number, court office, offense date, plea, disposition, fine, cost balance, and hearing date.
| Field | What it means in Lackawanna County court records |
|---|---|
| Docket number | Common Pleas numbers begin with CP, while Magisterial District Court numbers begin with MJ. |
| OTN or complaint number | Identifiers tied to Pennsylvania criminal processing and early charging documents. |
| Disposition | The outcome of a charge or case, such as dismissed, guilty plea, verdict, or other final action. |
| Docket entries | Events such as complaint filed, bail set, hearing scheduled, motion filed, order entered, plea, sentence, appeal, or bench warrant. |
| Financial fields | Fines, costs, restitution, payment plans, balances, or PAePay eligibility when public. |
Lackawanna Court Records Access Laws
Public access to Lackawanna County court records is governed by Pennsylvania court policy and state law. The UJS public records policies page links the Pennsylvania Case Records Public Access Policy, which controls public access to paper and electronic case records. County administrative records follow the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law, but that process does not override sealed, juvenile, expunged, limited-access, adoption, or confidential court case restrictions.
Key access rules: 65 P.S. Section 67.101 et seq. presumes access to many local agency records unless an exemption applies. The Pennsylvania Case Records Public Access Policy controls case-record access and confidential-information handling. UJS warnings also cite the Criminal History Record Information Act because docket sheets are not Pennsylvania State Police background checks.
The county Right-to-Know fallback is the Lackawanna County RTK officer, Traci Harte, at 123 Wyoming Avenue, 6th Floor, Scranton, phone 570-963-6800. County policy gives the county five business days to grant, deny, or invoke an extension. Copies under the 2021 policy were listed at $0.25 per black-and-white page and $0.50 per color page, with prepayment requested when expected fees exceed $100.
The UJS public-records policy page is the statewide source for case-record access rules and forms.
Policy pages matter because court case records and county administrative records use different access rules.
Restricted Lackawanna County Records
Not every Lackawanna County court record appears online. UJS specifically warns that juvenile, expunged, limited-access, and some civil Common Pleas records may not display even when the search terms are correct. PAePay excludes sealed or secured cases, pending expungement cases, some minor-defendant matters, redacted captions, and cases with zero or negative balances. The Clerk of Orphans' Court identifies adoption records as confidential.
Limited access and expungement are legal record-clearing processes, not clerk copy requests. A person must identify the docket, check eligibility, file in the court that handled the case if a petition is required, and serve the district attorney or other agencies when required. If granted, public display can be removed or limited, but criminal justice agencies may still retain access depending on the relief.
Note: Call the issuing court or clerk before assuming that a missing online docket means no case exists.
Lackawanna County Criminal Records
Criminal records in Lackawanna County often begin in a Magisterial District Court with a complaint, OTN, preliminary arraignment, bail, and preliminary hearing. If the matter is held for court, it moves into the Court of Common Pleas, where the District Attorney files the formal charging document and the Clerk of Judicial Records maintains the case file. The District Attorney's Office is at 135 Jefferson Avenue in Scranton and is responsible for prosecuting crimes in the county.
The difference between an arrest record and a criminal court record matters. The arrest side may involve jail custody, booking identifiers, and court dates after booking. The court record shows filed charges, pleas, motions, hearings, disposition, sentence, probation, costs, and appeals. A closer explanation of the arrest-to-charges path is available in Lackawanna County arrest records and charges, while the full case file is covered under Lackawanna County criminal court records.
The District Attorney page is the county source for prosecution office details and units.
County news confirmed current elected office context for the District Attorney and Clerk of Judicial Records.
Lackawanna County Warrants and Inmates
Lackawanna County Sheriff Mark McAndrew oversees a full-service law enforcement agency with court security duties. The official Sheriff warrant page groups wanted-person material into criminal warrants, domestic relations warrants, and fines and costs warrants. It lists the Warrant Unit at 570-963-6719 ext. 7109, Criminal Division at ext. 7118, fax 570-496-7756, and tips@lackawannacounty.org for wanted-person information. Court Collections links unpaid fines, costs, or missed contempt hearings to bench warrants filed with the Sheriff.
County custody information is more limited online. The Lackawanna County Prison page does not expose a simple public roster field in the inspected official material. Custody-status checks may require the prison page, Pennsylvania VINE notifications, the Pennsylvania DOC locator for state-sentenced inmates and parolees, UJS criminal dockets, or a direct office contact. Personal inmate mail is routed through ViaPath to Phoenix, Maryland, not to the Scranton facility.
The inmate and warrant pages separate custody status, jail services, active warrants, and court docket consequences so the right channel is used for each task.
Lackawanna Marriage Divorce Orphans' Court
Marriage licenses are issued through the Register of Wills and Marriage License Bureau. Applicants who plan to marry within the next 60 days must e-file through the county link, then call 570-963-6702 for an appointment. Both applicants must appear before the clerk at least three days before the marriage date, bring photo identification, know their Social Security numbers, and pay the stated fee. A regular marriage license is listed at $70, and a self-uniting marriage application is listed at $100.
Divorce actions are maintained by the Family Court Division of the Clerk of Judicial Records at the Government Center. Probate, wills, estates, guardianships, formal accountings, and Orphans' Court matters are handled by the Register of Wills / Clerk of Orphans' Court on the fifth floor of the Government Center. The office notes records dating to 1878 for wills and October 1885 for marriage licenses, with adoption records named as confidential.
- Testator
- The person who made a will.
- Executor
- The person named to carry out the will.
- Intestate
- Dying without a valid will.
- Guardianship
- An Orphans' Court case appointing someone to act for a minor or incapacitated person.
Federal Court Records in Scranton
Lackawanna County sits within the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Federal criminal, civil rights, federal-question, diversity, prisoner, habeas, and bankruptcy records are not county court records. The Scranton federal courthouse is the William J. Nealon Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse at 235 North Washington Avenue, with federal docket access through CM/ECF and PACER. Free opinion research may be available through CourtListener, but official federal case documents generally route through federal court systems.
The federal court's official homepage identifies the Middle District offices, including Scranton.
Federal sources are useful when a case is in federal court rather than the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas.
PACER provides the national CM/ECF lookup entry point for federal case systems.
PACER should be used for federal dockets, not local Magisterial District or Common Pleas files.
Lackawanna County Record Fees
Fees depend on the office and record type. The Clerk of Judicial Records links separate criminal and civil/family fee schedules, and those official schedules should be checked before filing or ordering copies because filing categories change. The research found several high-value fees and payment rules that are stable enough to cite with their source context.
| Item | Amount or rule |
|---|---|
| Marriage license | $70 through the Marriage License Bureau |
| Self-uniting marriage application | $100 through the Marriage License Bureau |
| Genealogy office search | $25 per search through Register/Orphans'/Marriage office |
| Right-to-Know black-and-white copies | $0.25 per page under the 2021 county policy |
| Right-to-Know color copies | $0.50 per page under the 2021 county policy |
| PAePay service fee | 2.75% per transaction, maximum online payment $2,500 |
Lackawanna County Court History
The Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas was established in 1878 as the 45th Judicial District. The county history page states that Pennsylvania Courts of Common Pleas have existed at least since the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776, while the 1968 Constitution folded older courts such as Oyer and Terminer, Quarter Sessions, and separate Orphans' Courts into Common Pleas. The local court consists of nine judges, one serving as President Judge.
The county history page gives unusually strong courthouse detail for local record research.
The 1884 courthouse and 1878 court-record history help explain why older files may require the county office rather than a modern portal.
Lackawanna County Court FAQ
Where should a Lackawanna County court records search start?
Start with UJS Case Search for statewide public docket sheets, then use Lackawanna Public Access Inquiries for local civil, family, Register of Wills, Orphans' Court, marriage, and genealogy searches. Certified copies still come from the correct clerk office.
Are Lackawanna County criminal dockets background checks?
No. UJS warns that public docket sheets are not a substitute for Pennsylvania State Police criminal-history checks. A docket may show charges and outcomes, but it is not an official criminal-history report.
Who keeps divorce decrees in Lackawanna County?
The Family Court Division of the Clerk of Judicial Records maintains divorce actions and can issue copies of divorce decrees for a fee. Marriage records are handled separately by the Register of Wills and Marriage License Bureau.
Why does a record not appear online?
The case may be too new, older and not digitized, filed in a different office, sealed, expunged, limited-access, juvenile, adoption-related, or otherwise restricted. Call the issuing court or clerk when a known record does not appear.