Find Lawrence County District Court Cases

Lawrence County District Court Overview

Lawrence County is part of Alabama's Thirty-Sixth Judicial Circuit. The official judges page lists Honorable Angela D. Terry as District Judge at 14451 Market Street, Suite 200, Moulton, Alabama 35650, phone (256) 974-2450. The Circuit Clerk, Sandra Parker Ligon, supports District Court record keeping from Suite 300 in the same Judicial and Administrative Center. That close office layout matters for records users because District Court filings, traffic payments, small-claims cases, and many warrant questions point back to the Circuit Clerk counter even when a judge hears the matter.

District Court is not the only court in Lawrence County. Circuit Court handles felony criminal cases, domestic relations, larger civil matters, and appeals from lower courts. Probate Court handles estates, wills, guardianships, conservatorships, marriage-license functions, and recording work. Municipal courts may handle city ordinance violations and municipal traffic or misdemeanor cases. A correct District Court search starts by confirming that the citation, claim, warrant, or misdemeanor was filed into Lawrence County District Court instead of Circuit Court, Probate Court, or a municipal court.

Lawrence County District Court Contacts

Lawrence County does not have a long list of numbered district courts like a large metro county. The local research identifies one District Judge for the county and a Circuit Clerk office that serves the District Court and Circuit Court record divisions. The table below keeps the required court-contact structure while reflecting the actual Lawrence County setup.

District Court vs Other Courts

Alabama court names can confuse users because District Court is a trial court, Circuit Court is the general-jurisdiction trial court, Probate Court is a separate county office, and Municipal Court may hold city-level cases. Lawrence County's own pages show the split in practice. Small claims is a District Court division. Domestic relations is a Circuit Court division. Probate records stay with the Probate Judge. Municipal misdemeanors inside city limits normally start in the municipal court unless a felony is tied to the same incident or extraordinary circumstances exist.

Lawrence County Case Flow

District Court records begin with a filing, citation, complaint, warrant, or other initiating document. In civil and small-claims matters, the plaintiff needs the correct defendant address and pays the filing fee unless a hardship affidavit is granted. The clerk processes the forms, assigns a case number, and service is attempted by sheriff or certified mail depending on the situation. The official local pages say parties should use the assigned case number when contacting the court.

Small claims flow: Statement of Claim › service › answer due in 14 calendar days › trial setting if answered › judgment › appeal within 14 calendar days if filed.

Traffic flow: citation › pay or appear by court date › request trial if contesting › plea, trial, dismissal, or fine/cost disposition › possible warrant or license suspension for failure to appear.

Warrant flow: incident or offense report › magistrate appointment › sworn deposition › probable-cause decision › warrant or summons if issued › public case record after service and filing.

District Court Record Types

District Court touches some of the most practical Lawrence County court records. District civil cases cover claims in the local fee chart from $6,000.01 to $20,000 and include unlawful detainers. Small claims covers simpler claims up to $6,000, with no jury in the small-claims division and appeal rights to Circuit Court. Traffic records include citation number, offense, court date, payment status, plea, fine and cost amount, defensive-driving result if approved, and failure-to-appear consequences when a defendant misses the deadline.

Criminal District Court records may include misdemeanor charges, bonds, appearances, preliminary hearing entries, warrants, summonses, and dispositions. Felony matters may begin with arrest, warrant, or preliminary-hearing steps in the lower court but move to Circuit Court for prosecution. Protection from Abuse filings, domestic relations, and felony criminal cases should not be collapsed into District Court just because they involve a courthouse. The best record route is the one tied to the court division named on the citation, complaint, petition, or docket entry.

Thirty-Sixth Judicial Circuit

The Lawrence County court site brands the county as the Thirty-Sixth Judicial Circuit of Alabama. Presiding Circuit Judge Callie Waldrep is listed at 14451 Market Street, Suite 230, Moulton, Alabama 35650, phone (256) 974-2444. District Judge Angela D. Terry is listed at Suite 200, phone (256) 974-2450. Appeals from District Court can move to Circuit Court, and state appellate review may later route to the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals or Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals depending on the case type.

The official court pages include a useful appeal rule for civil users: district civil and small-claims judgments can be appealed by filing a Notice of Appeal within 14 calendar days after judgment. The local small-claims page also lists separate appeal filing costs for non-jury and jury appeals, plus bond for unpaid costs. Those appeal entries become part of the case history, so a District Court docket may show a final judgment at one level and a new Circuit Court appeal path after that.

Magistrates and Lower Courts

The Lawrence County Warrant Magistrate's Office is part of the judicial branch and reviews probable cause for arrest warrants and summonses. The official warrant page gives the magistrate phone number as (256) 974-2438 and says an appointment is required after the person first files an incident or offense report with the Lawrence County Sheriff's Department or, for city matters, the municipal police department. There is no cost for the warrant process, but the page warns complainants to think carefully because charges are not dropped except in extenuating circumstances and court costs may be assessed.

Municipal courts are important lower-court partners. The warrant page says county warrant magistrates handle misdemeanors outside city limits, felonies in Lawrence County, traffic offenses in Lawrence County, and worthless checks received in Lawrence County. Ordinary misdemeanor conduct inside a municipality usually belongs with that city unless a felony arose from the same incident or extraordinary circumstances exist. For District Court record access, that means a city ticket, city ordinance case, or municipal misdemeanor may not appear where a user expects. The issuing agency and court name on the ticket or report should guide the search.

The District Court page also intersects with federal court only by exception. Lawrence County is in the federal Northern District of Alabama, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit is the regional appellate court for federal cases. Federal cases are separate from Lawrence County District Court records unless a federal prosecution, removal, civil-rights claim, bankruptcy, habeas action, or another federal basis exists.

The Eleventh Circuit website is a federal appellate source, not a Lawrence County District Court search portal.

That federal appellate source helps separate Alabama trial-court records from federal appeals, which are searched through a different court system.