Look Up Dane County Court Records

How to Search Dane County Court Records

The main system for a Dane County court records search is Wisconsin Circuit Court Access, or WCCA. It is free and covers circuit court cases across the state. WCCA shows case summaries entered by court staff, not every document in the file. The site is run by the Wisconsin Court System, and Dane County links to it from the Clerk of Courts website. You can reach it directly or through the state case search page.

Before you start, collect what you know. A correct case number is the fastest route. A full name and a date of birth help for criminal records and common names. Dane County says its criminal index runs online from about 1984 forward, while civil years vary by case type.

The WCCA search interface opens to a party-name search by default.

You can open the WCCA search portal directly or start from the Wisconsin Court System case search page.

1. Open WCCA and choose a search mode: party name, business name, or case number.
2. Select Dane County to limit the results to local cases.
3. Enter the last name and first name, or the business name.
4. Add a date of birth where it is legally visible, and use Advanced Search for filing date, offense date, or citation number.
5. Open a case summary to view parties, charges, hearings, and financial entries.
6. Contact the Record Center for documents, certified copies, or older files.

Dane County Court Records Search Fields

WCCA gives you a set of search fields. Some sit on the main screen, and others open under Advanced Search. The table lists the fields most people use to find a Dane County case. Spelling matters, and a middle name or date of birth helps when a last name is common.

Note: WCCA is not the official judgment and lien docket, so the Clerk of Circuit Court office holds the controlling record for liens and judgments.

Types of Dane County Court Records

The Dane County Circuit Court produces several record types, and the Clerk keeps them under one roof. Civil files hold complaints, answers, motions, judgments, and liens, including construction, hospital, and state tax liens. Criminal files hold the complaint, bond orders, pleas, sentencing, and the judgment of conviction. Family files hold divorce, custody, support, and paternity records. Probate covers estates, guardianships, and trusts. Small claims files use simple forms for money and eviction cases.

Dane County sorts its blank forms by these same case types, which makes the split easy to see. Small claims even comes with a pre-filled form to make local filing easier.

The small claims forms page includes Dane-specific filing and eviction instructions.

• Civil cases and money judgments
• Criminal felony and misdemeanor cases
• Family, divorce, paternity, and support cases
• Probate, guardianship, and trust matters
• Small claims and eviction actions
• Traffic and forfeiture citations

The court dockets page explains how to read the event list inside any of these files.

What Dane County Court Records Show

A WCCA case page holds a steady set of fields. You see the case number, the parties, the case type, the judge or commissioner, the charges or claims, the hearing dates, and any money owed. The case number itself encodes the county, year, case type, and a sequence number. Dane County is code 13 in the state numbering. Full documents are not free to download for every user, so certified copies come from the Record Center.

Protected data such as Social Security numbers, account numbers, and driver license numbers are redacted under Wis. Stat. § 801.19.

Public Access Framework for Dane County Court Records

Wisconsin favors open access to court records. Files and documents are open for public inspection at no cost unless sealed by the court or made confidential by law. Copy fees apply when you ask for copies. The right to inspect comes from the state Public Records Law, which sets the policy, the right to copy, and the fee rules. Dane County applies these rules through the Clerk of Circuit Court.

Anyone can request records. You do not need a reason. For court records, you start on WCCA and then ask the Record Center for full files. The Clerk asks for prepayment when a request will cost more than $5, under Wis. Stat. § 19.35. The broad policy that the public is entitled to government information comes from Wis. Stat. § 19.31.

Open access has clear edges. Wis. Stat. § 19.36 lists where other law limits access, which is why a court file is open but a juvenile or treatment record may not be. If a record is wrongly withheld, Wis. Stat. § 19.37 lets a requester ask a court to order release, and it allows damages and attorney fees in proper cases. Most Dane County requests never reach that point, but the law gives a path when one is needed.

Records That Are Sealed or Confidential in Dane County

Some records are closed even though the court system is open. Juvenile records are restricted under Wis. Stat. § 938.396. Adoption records are confidential under Wis. Stat. § 48.93. Mental-health and treatment records are protected, and the statute that governs them limits who may see them.

The treatment-record confidentiality rule is broad and covers more than people expect.

The full text of Wis. Stat. § 51.30 covers mental-health and treatment records. To view a sealed file, a person usually needs a court order or a statutory path. To seal a record, the request must name the record, cite a legal basis, and show why redaction alone is not enough.

In-Person and Mail Record Requests

When you need an actual document, the Dane County Record Center is the place. It sits in Room 1002 of the courthouse. Requests can be made in person, by mail, by fax, or by email. No phone requests are taken, though staff can answer general questions by phone. Public access computers in the Clerk's lobby and the Record Center let you look up a case number first, which avoids the $5 staff search fee. Include the full name, any other names the case could be under, a phone number, a current address, the case number if known, and the exact documents you want. For criminal searches, add the date of birth if you have it.

The Court Records page lays out the request methods and the fee schedule.

The official Court Records page explains coverage years, request methods, and prepayment rules.

Record Retention and Older Dane County Files

The Clerk does not keep every file on site forever. The office holds about five years of records at the courthouse. Simple traffic and non-criminal ordinance violations are kept only one year on site. Older or off-site records may need to be pulled from remote storage, and that retrieval can take several days. If you need an old case, ask the Record Center early and give as much detail as you can, including the case number, the year, and the case type.

Payment rules are set too. In person, the Clerk takes cash, check, money order, or a credit or debit card with a convenience fee. Checks are made out to "Clerk of Courts." Many fees can also be paid online through the AllPaid service using Pay Location Code 5479, though filing fees cannot be paid that way. When a request will cost more than $5, the Clerk asks for prepayment before sending the records.

Related Dane County Record Searches

You may also need Dane County court dockets, arrest records, public records, traffic court records, or details on the Clerk of Circuit Court.