Search Bourbon County Court Records
Bourbon County District Court records are searched first through Kansas CaseSearch, the statewide public district court search portal. The county District Court Search page sends users to the Kansas court system and identifies Bourbon County as part of the 6th Judicial District. CaseSearch replaced the older Kansas Public Access Portal and is the main online path for public district court case data and documents allowed under Kansas court rules.
The online search is only one channel. Kansas court guidance says public court records are also available at courthouses, and each court has a computer reserved for public searches of case information and records in that court. For Bourbon County, older files, missing document images, sealed files, certified copies, and third-floor marriage, divorce, and probate records may require the Bourbon County District Court office at the courthouse.
- Open Kansas CaseSearch and choose a public search option.
- Search by party name, business name, case number, or citation when that field is available.
- Use Bourbon County as the county filter if the portal offers one.
- Open the matching result and review the case number, parties, case type, events, hearings, and public documents.
- Contact the Clerk of the District Court at 620-223-0780 when the record is older, restricted, unavailable online, or needed as a certified copy.
Bourbon County's District Court Search page is the local county page that points residents toward the 6th Judicial District record system. That local source is useful when confirming that court-record questions route to the District Court Clerk, not the County Clerk.
The local search page helps tie the statewide Kansas CaseSearch process back to Bourbon County's District Court office in Fort Scott.
The Kansas Judicial Branch district court records access page explains the statewide online and courthouse-terminal paths used for Bourbon County court records.
That state source is important because Bourbon County records may be searched online, at courthouse terminals, or by request depending on the record.
Bourbon County Court System
Kansas has a unified court system. The Kansas Supreme Court is the highest state court, the Kansas Court of Appeals handles most appeals from trial courts, and Kansas District Courts are the general jurisdiction trial courts. Bourbon County is in the 6th Judicial District with Linn and Miami counties. District Court is the county's main trial court for felony criminal cases, civil cases, divorce, domestic relations, probate, juvenile matters, protection orders, small claims, and many state traffic or misdemeanor matters.
Municipal Court is separate. Fort Scott Municipal Court handles city ordinance violations and many city traffic citations. That split matters because a Fort Scott citation may not appear the same way as a Bourbon County District Court case. A city citation may use the Fort Scott municipal payment portal, while a state traffic or criminal case may use Kansas CaseSearch and the Kansas Courts Central Payment Center.
Case flow: Municipal Court or District Court filing › District Court trial-level record › Kansas Court of Appeals › Kansas Supreme Court when review is granted or required.
| Court or Office | Role | Bourbon County Record Use |
|---|---|---|
| Bourbon County District Court | General jurisdiction trial court | Criminal, civil, domestic, probate, juvenile, small claims, and state traffic files |
| Fort Scott Municipal Court | City court | City ordinance cases and many Fort Scott traffic citations |
| Kansas Court of Appeals | Intermediate appellate court | Most appeals from Bourbon County District Court |
| Kansas Supreme Court | Highest state court | Final state appellate review and judicial branch administration |
Bourbon County Courthouse Contacts
The courthouse for District Court records is the Bourbon County Courthouse at 210 S. National Ave. in Fort Scott. Kansas Judicial Branch material styles the court office as Bourbon County District Court, Bourbon County Courthouse, 210 S. National, PO Box 868, Fort Scott, KS 66701. County sources also list the courthouse at 210 S. National Ave. and give county courthouse hours as Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Kansas court sources list court hours as 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Marriage, divorce, and probate records have a very local access point. The Bourbon County genealogy page says those records are on the third floor of the courthouse in the District Court office. County administrative open-records requests are different: the Bourbon County Clerk handles Kansas Open Records Act requests for county government records, not district court case files.
The Kansas Judicial Branch Bourbon County Courthouse page is the official court contact source for the local District Court office.
The courthouse page confirms the court location and provides the Kansas court system context for local record access.
Bourbon County District Court
210 S. National Ave., PO Box 868
Fort Scott, KS 66701
620-223-0780
Bourbon County Government
210 S. National Ave.
Fort Scott, KS 66701
620-223-3800
Bourbon County Court Record Types
Bourbon County court records are not one single file group. Civil records may include petitions, complaints, answers, motions, orders, judgments, garnishments, liens, collection cases, contract disputes, tort claims, and post-judgment enforcement. Criminal District Court files begin after prosecution starts and can include prosecutor-filed charges, appearances, bond orders, motions, pleas, docket events, dispositions, sentencing, probation violation hearings, warrants, and returns when those records are public.
Family, probate, traffic, juvenile, and protection-order records each have their own access limits. Divorce and probate files are District Court records, while completed marriage licenses later route to the Kansas Office of Vital Statistics for certified certificate copies. Juvenile, adoption, sealed, expunged, mental health, and some domestic or protection records may be restricted online or closed from public view.
- Civil court records: lawsuits, judgments, garnishments, liens, collections, and post-judgment filings.
- Criminal court records: filed charges, pleas, hearings, dispositions, sentencing, and probation events.
- Marriage and divorce records: license and divorce case records kept through District Court, with certificates through KDHE.
- Probate records: wills, estate petitions, inventories, accountings, guardianships, and conservatorships.
- Traffic records: District Court state traffic matters and Fort Scott Municipal Court citations.
Bourbon County Case Record Fields
A Bourbon County case record usually starts with a case number. Research samples from public docket snippets show criminal case numbers such as BB-2022-CR-000333 and BB-2024-CR-000248. BB identifies Bourbon County, the year follows, CR marks a criminal case, and the last digits are the sequence. Other case types may use different letters for civil, domestic, probate, juvenile, or other categories.
Case records also show the caption, court, parties, attorneys, filing dates, status, docket entries, hearings, financial fields, public documents, and restrictions. A docket entry is the court's running log of case activity. A disposition is the result or current outcome of a case or charge. A sealed record is closed from public view by law or court order.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Case Number | Bourbon County prefix, year, case type, and sequence when available |
| Caption | Party names, such as State of Kansas versus a defendant in criminal cases |
| Docket Entries | Hearings, motions, orders, continuances, plea events, judgments, or sentencing entries |
| Status | Open, disposed, dismissed, stayed, transferred, sealed, or another current case status |
| Documents | Pleadings, notices, orders, warrants, judgments, or sentencing papers if public and available |
Bourbon County Public Access Rules
Kansas public access for Bourbon County court records rests on both the Kansas Open Records Act and Kansas court rules. K.S.A. 45-216 states the state's policy favoring open inspection of public records unless another law closes them. Kansas Supreme Court Rule 22 controls public electronic access to district court and appellate case records. That is why a case may be public at the courthouse but not fully viewable from a remote portal.
Bourbon County users should separate court records from county administrative records. Court case files go through CaseSearch, courthouse terminals, the District Court Clerk, or the Kansas court record request process. County records such as commission, budget, tax roll, permit, and other administrative files go through the County Clerk as KORA contact.
Key Statutes:
K.S.A. 45-218 covers inspection requests and agency handling of public records.
K.S.A. 45-219 allows copy and access fees tied to agency costs.
K.S.A. 45-221 lists records that agencies are not required to disclose.
Restricted Bourbon County Records
Some Bourbon County records are public only in part, and some are not public at all. Juvenile offender, child in need of care, adoption, sealed, expunged, mental health, care and treatment, and some protection order or domestic records may be unavailable through CaseSearch. Public record displays should also omit or redact Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, minor identities, medical information, protected addresses, and other sensitive data.
Expungement is a separate court process. K.S.A. 21-6614 covers many Kansas conviction, arrest, and diversion expungements, while K.S.A. 22-2410 covers arrest-record expungement. Fort Scott municipal matters may use K.S.A. 12-4516. Eligibility depends on the case, waiting period, sentence completion, pending charges, and court findings.
Bourbon County Sheriff Records
The Bourbon County Sheriff's Office and jail are at 293 E. 20th St. in Fort Scott. Official contact lines list the Sheriff's Office at 620-223-1440, dispatch at 620-223-1700, and jail at 620-223-2380. Sheriff Bill Martin and Undersheriff Ben Cole are named in official county and sheriff association materials.
The sheriff's inmate roster is the local path for current and released bookings. It shows booking number, age, booking date, charges, bond, and profile links. The roster also warns that charges and bail amounts may change after court appearances, so bond companies and people posting bail should call the jail for correct bail amount, charges, and case numbers. The official Bourbon County KS Sheriff app, launched in 2026, lists inmates, most wanted, press releases, contact, and crime tip features in the app stores.
The Sheriff's Office homepage is the source for jail, roster, app, most-wanted, registered-offender, and crime-tip channels.
The county homepage is a useful starting point for courthouse contact information, while sheriff-specific records remain on the sheriff website.
Bourbon County Warrant Records
No official standalone active-warrant list was found for Bourbon County. The sheriff site has a Most Wanted page with name, current, arrested, and sorting filters, but the inspected page displayed no current content. Warrant information can still appear after booking in the jail roster. Research examples included Bourbon County failure-to-appear warrants, probation-violation warrants, arrest warrants, Fort Scott municipal warrants, and out-of-county holds.
District Court bench warrant questions may require the Bourbon County District Court Clerk or CaseSearch if a public case record exists. Fort Scott municipal warrants are a separate city court channel. There is no official statewide Kansas active warrant database in the research. KBI registered offender search and KDOC offender search are useful state tools, but they are not warrant databases.
Bourbon Marriage Divorce Probate Records
Bourbon County's genealogy page gives a specific courthouse detail: marriage, divorce, and probate records are located on the third floor in District Court, reachable at 620-223-0780. Kansas marriage licenses are processed electronically, and applicants may choose any Kansas county to process the license. The license can be used anywhere in Kansas after issuance.
Certified marriage and divorce certificates are issued by the Kansas Office of Vital Statistics for eligible requestors. Full divorce case files, probate estate files, wills, petitions, accountings, guardianships, and conservatorships remain District Court matters. The marriage and divorce records page and Probate Division of the District Court page cover those channels in more depth.
- Testator
- A person who made a will.
- Executor
- The person appointed to carry out a will.
- Conservator
- A person appointed to manage another person's financial affairs.
Bourbon County Traffic Records
Traffic records split by issuing authority. Fort Scott city citations go through Fort Scott Municipal Court and the Tyler municipal citation portal. State traffic, criminal traffic, juvenile offender, and fish and game cases may route through District Court and the Kansas Courts Central Payment Center if eligible. The city page says Municipal Court is held the first Thursday of the month at 1:30 p.m., with John Bullard listed as Municipal Court Judge.
A court traffic record is not the same thing as a Kansas driver record. The court record shows the citation, court date, plea, fine, costs, disposition, and failure-to-appear or warrant status if it exists. The driver record is maintained by the Kansas Department of Revenue and shows license status, convictions reported to driver control, suspensions, reinstatements, and history used by permitted users.
Bourbon County Federal Records
Federal cases are separate from Bourbon County District Court records. Bourbon County is in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas. Federal civil, federal criminal, bankruptcy, civil rights, federal question, diversity, and federal prisoner matters use federal systems, not Kansas CaseSearch. Remote federal docket access is through PACER and CM/ECF.
The District of Kansas court records page explains federal record access, public terminals, and date coverage. Bankruptcy records use the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Kansas and its separate CM/ECF system.
Bourbon County Court History
Fort Scott is the county seat and the main courthouse town for Bourbon County. Official county history ties Fort Scott to territorial Kansas, the Civil War, military supply activity, and regional commerce. Older courthouse, marriage, divorce, probate, and genealogy records may not be fully online, which makes the courthouse and local historical research contacts important for older record searches.
The Kansas court search process has also changed recently. Kansas CaseSearch launched in late 2025 as the new public district court search tool, replacing the older public access portal. That reform matters for Bourbon County because local District Court records now sit inside the statewide eCourt search environment.
The Kansas 6th Judicial District landing page provides district-level resources for Bourbon, Linn, and Miami counties.
The 6th Judicial District source connects Bourbon County records to the broader district structure used by the Kansas Judicial Branch.
Bourbon County Court Records FAQ
Where are Bourbon County District Court records searched?
Start with Kansas CaseSearch for public district court cases. If a file is older, sealed, missing, unavailable as an image, or needed as a certified copy, use the courthouse terminal or call the Clerk of the District Court at 620-223-0780.
Who is the court records clerk?
The court case-file office is the Clerk of the District Court. Research identifies Melissa Trim as the Bourbon County Clerk of the District Court. The County Clerk is a separate county office for county administrative records and KORA requests.
Are Bourbon County warrants online?
No complete official active-warrant list was found. The sheriff Most Wanted page and Bourbon County KS Sheriff app are warrant-adjacent sources, while the jail roster can show warrant charges after booking. District Court and Fort Scott Municipal Court are separate warrant channels.
Where are marriage, divorce, and probate records kept?
The county genealogy page says marriage, divorce, and probate records are on the third floor of the courthouse in District Court. KDHE issues certified marriage and divorce certificates for eligible requestors.