Search Armstrong County Court Records
The main online starting point is the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania case search. It provides public docket sheets for Criminal Courts of Common Pleas, Magisterial District Courts, appellate courts, and Philadelphia Municipal Court. For Armstrong County court records, that means Common Pleas criminal dockets and Magisterial District Court matters can often be found online. Civil Court of Common Pleas files, divorce files, estate files, and some document-copy requests still point back to the correct county office in Kittanning.
The UJS case information page also describes public docket sheets, secure docket sheets, public calendar schedules, and the PAeDocket app. Secure versions and accounting reports may require login or may not be public. The public view should be read as a docket summary, not as every document image in the file.
The Pennsylvania UJS case-search screen is the best source image for the first step of an Armstrong County court records search.
The statewide portal helps narrow the court level before the search moves to an Armstrong County office for copies or sealed-record questions.
- Open UJS Case Search and pick the court level before entering a name or number.
- Use Criminal Courts of Common Pleas for Armstrong County criminal cases that reached Common Pleas.
- Use Magisterial District Courts for traffic citations, summary cases, preliminary hearings, landlord-tenant cases, and small claims.
- Search by participant name, docket number, organization name, OTN, police incident number, complaint number, or SID when those options are available.
- For civil, divorce, estate, adoption, guardianship, or document-image needs, contact the county office that holds the file.
Armstrong County Court System
Armstrong County is Pennsylvania's 33rd Judicial District. The county-level trial court is the Armstrong County Court of Common Pleas, which handles felony criminal cases, civil actions, family matters, juvenile matters, Orphans' Court matters, and appeals from Magisterial District Judges. Lower-level criminal complaints, preliminary arraignments, preliminary hearings, landlord-tenant disputes, small civil claims, summary offenses, and traffic citations start in four Magisterial District Courts.
The county court site lists President Judge Chase G. McClister and Senior Judge Kenneth G. Valasek. Court Administration is in Suite 200 with District Court Administrator Brandi C. Benton. The appellate path is state-specific: most criminal and civil appeals from Courts of Common Pleas go to the Pennsylvania Superior Court, many government-agency matters go to Commonwealth Court, and discretionary review may be sought in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
The Armstrong County Court of Common Pleas homepage shows the local court site used for judge, calendar, rule, form, ADA, and language-access material.
That local site complements UJS because it carries Armstrong County court notices and forms that are not the same as public docket sheets.
| Court | Role | Common Records |
|---|---|---|
| Court of Common Pleas | County trial court | Felony and misdemeanor cases, civil actions, family filings, Orphans' Court matters, appeals from MDJ courts. |
| Magisterial District Courts | Local minor courts | Traffic citations, summary cases, landlord-tenant, small claims, preliminary criminal proceedings. |
| Superior and Commonwealth Courts | Intermediate appellate courts | Appeals from Common Pleas depending on case type. |
| Pennsylvania Supreme Court | Highest state court | Discretionary review and matters within statewide authority. |
Armstrong County Courthouse Offices
The central court location is the Armstrong County Courthouse in Kittanning. The UJS Armstrong County page lists 500 E. Market Street, Kittanning, PA 16201. The county contact list also gives general courthouse information at 450 East Market Street with phone (724) 543-2500. Court Administration, the judges, the Prothonotary and Clerk of Courts, the Register and Recorder/Register of Wills/Clerk of Orphans' Court, the District Attorney, Public Defender, Sheriff administration, jury functions, and law-library functions all route through the courthouse complex or county offices in Kittanning.
The Armstrong County contact list gives the courthouse phone and office contact points used for in-person record routing.
The contact list is useful when a record is not online and the search needs to move to a courthouse suite, phone line, or fax number.
Court Administration
500 E. Market Street, Suite 200
Kittanning, PA 16201
(724) 548-3284
Prothonotary and Clerk of Courts
500 E. Market Street, Suite 103
Kittanning, PA 16201
(724) 548-3252
Open Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; closed noon-1:00 p.m.
Register of Wills and Orphans' Court
500 E. Market Street, Suite 102
Kittanning, PA 16201
(724) 548-3280
Appointments requested for marriages and estates.
Armstrong County Court Record Types
Armstrong County court records differ by court level and office. Criminal Common Pleas files include charges, motions, plea paperwork, orders, sentencing sheets, costs, restitution, and probation entries. Magisterial District Court records show preliminary arraignment, criminal complaints, preliminary hearings, traffic citations, summary matters, bail or warrant activity, and dispositions. Civil records are kept by the Prothonotary and include complaints, answers, motions, judgments, liens, name changes, protection-from-abuse civil files where public, and civil appeals.
Family and divorce matters are civil filings in Armstrong County. Probate-style records are handled by the Register of Wills and Clerk of Orphans' Court. Traffic records usually start in Magisterial District Court. Warrants may appear in public docket activity and in District Attorney CRIMEWATCH listings, while juvenile, adoption, guardianship, sealed, and expunged records have public access limits.
- Criminal case records: Common Pleas and MDJ files showing charges, hearings, pleas, dispositions, and sentences.
- Civil court records: Prothonotary files for lawsuits, judgments, liens, divorce, custody-related civil filings, and appeals.
- Orphans' Court records: Estate, guardianship, adoption, accounts, claims, and related filings kept through the Register of Wills office.
- Traffic records: Citation cases, fines, hearing dates, dispositions, and failure-to-appear events in MDJ dockets.
- Jail and warrant records: Jail custody questions route to the jail, while public warrant notices may appear through the DA's CRIMEWATCH page.
What Armstrong County Court Records Show
A public docket sheet is a case road map. It may show the docket number, court, county, case caption, filing date, case status, case type, parties, attorneys, prosecutor, police agency, charges, grading, statute citation, plea, disposition, sentence, bail, financial entries, and hearing events. Some document images are not available from the public portal. Certified copies and full file review may require a request to the office that keeps the case.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Docket number | Common Pleas criminal dockets commonly use a CP-03-CR style number; Magisterial District Court numbers begin with MJ. |
| Parties | Names of public parties such as defendant, plaintiff, petitioner, respondent, attorney, prosecutor, or agency. |
| Charges or claims | Criminal statutes and grades, civil cause details, or citation information depending on record type. |
| Events | Arraignments, preliminary hearings, motions, continuances, pleas, sentencing, bench-warrant actions, and payment events. |
| Disposition | The outcome of a charge or case, which must be read separately from the fact that a charge was filed. |
| Financials | Costs, fines, restitution, bail, or payment status where public. |
Armstrong County Court Access Laws
Pennsylvania court access is not just a normal open-records request. The UJS Case Records Public Access Policy governs public access to appellate and trial court case records and sets confidential filing procedures. The Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law applies to many state and local agency records, but judiciary case records are mainly handled under court policies. For criminal-history dissemination, Pennsylvania State Police and criminal justice agency rules come from 18 Pa.C.S. Section 9121.
Key access rules:
UJS public access policy controls public case-record access, redactions, and confidential filing forms.
18 Pa.C.S. Section 9122 identifies proceedings where criminal-history information may be expunged.
42 Pa.C.S. Section 6307 makes juvenile court files and records about a child nonpublic except as allowed.
Restricted Armstrong County Records
Restricted records include juvenile files, adoption files, guardianship files, sealed or expunged criminal records, confidential identifiers, and protected military discharge records. Armstrong County states that adoption and guardianship files are sealed and impounded due to sensitive information. The attorney of record or guardian may access those records, while other requesters must submit a request for access.
Expungement and sealing require the exact docket numbers, charges, arrest dates, OTN, and dispositions. Public docket visibility and criminal-history dissemination should change after a court order, but a person who needs accuracy should separately check UJS, PATCH, and the agency records affected by the order.
Armstrong County Court Programs
Armstrong County's court and probation materials list an Intensive Supervision and Treatment Program, Veteran Courts, a Veterans Treatment Court application, an ARD Application, Electronic Monitoring Application, Work Release Application, Guilty Plea Questionnaire, and Defendant's Post-Sentence Rights. These resources can matter when reading criminal court records because docket entries may refer to diversion, supervised treatment, probation, electronic monitoring, work release, or post-sentence rights.
The court administration and staff page is one official route into Armstrong County court offices that support these programs and related forms.
Program details such as eligibility grids and active participant counts were not located in the official research, so records should be checked by docket and court order.
Armstrong County Jail Records
Sheriff Frank Pitzer's office and the Armstrong County Jail are separate from the court clerk records. The jail is at 171 Staley's Court Road in Kittanning, has a 158-inmate capacity, and opened in August 2003. Warden Jessica M. Hicks is listed for the jail. No live county jail roster search was located on the official county jail page, so local custody questions route to the jail phone or lobby. State-sentenced inmates and parolees are searched through the Pennsylvania DOC locator, and custody notifications use Pennsylvania VINE.
The Armstrong County Jail page provides the official custody facility context behind local inmate-record questions.
County custody information and court docket information answer different questions, so jail status should not be treated as a complete court record.
Armstrong County Warrant Records
Armstrong County's most visible public warrant channel is the District Attorney's CRIMEWATCH warrant list. It can show people sought on bench warrants and other warrant-related posts. Arrest posts may include warrant type, date issued, arrest date, charges, and arresting agency. UJS dockets can also show bench-warrant events, failure-to-appear entries, bail changes, and lifted or served warrant entries.
For official process questions, the Sheriff's Office phone from the county contact list is (724) 548-3265. For active criminal charges where jail is possible, the Public Defender page says to apply as soon as charges are received, or at least four business days before the scheduled hearing.
Armstrong County Marriage and Orphans' Court
Marriage records and license applications are handled by the Register and Recorder, Register of Wills, and Clerk of Orphans' Court in Suite 102. Armstrong County takes marriage applications by appointment. Both parties must appear together, bring valid photo identification, know Social Security numbers, and provide required prior-marriage proof when applicable. Divorce cases are civil matters filed with the Prothonotary.
The Register and Recorder page is the local source for Armstrong County marriage, estate, Orphans' Court, recorder, Landex, and office-rule details.
The UJS county court page helps confirm the county court location, while marriage and estate work remains with the local Register and Recorder office.
- Executor
- A person named in a will who receives authority only after the will is probated and letters are granted.
- Short certificate
- A Register of Wills certification that an estate proceeding is open and a representative has authority.
- Orphans' Court
- The Pennsylvania court division for estates, guardianships, adoptions, and related matters.
Armstrong County Record Fees
Published fee details vary by office and record type. The Register and Recorder page gives several concrete payment rules, including cash or check only and no debit or credit cards. UJS public-record forms also list financial-record copy fees. For court filings, certified copies, or civil case requests not priced in the research, the best source is the office that holds the record.
| Item | Amount or Rule |
|---|---|
| Marriage license | $66 cash. |
| Marriage duplicate certificate | $7.50 per duplicate. |
| Recorded document copies | $0.50 per page. |
| Plan of Lots 11x17 copy | $3.00 per page. |
| UJS financial-record photocopy | $0.15 per page for 11 or more pages. |
| UJS financial-record CD | $5 each. |
| Register and Recorder payment | Cash or check only. |
Armstrong County MDJ Courts
Magisterial District Courts are the local first stop for many traffic, summary, preliminary criminal, landlord-tenant, and small civil matters. Armstrong County has four MDJ offices. The municipality tied to the citation, complaint, or local case helps identify the correct district court.
The Magisterial District Judge list shows the four Armstrong County offices, judges, phone numbers, and covered municipalities.
This list is important for traffic citations and lower-court dockets because not every local case begins in Common Pleas.
Read Armstrong County Dockets
Docket terms matter. A complaint is not a conviction. A charge can be amended, reduced, dismissed, or resolved by plea or trial. An OTN is the offense tracking number used in Pennsylvania criminal cases. A preliminary hearing is an MDJ-level hearing to decide whether charges move forward. A disposition is the outcome of a charge or case, while a sentence is the penalty ordered after conviction or plea.
The UJS case information page explains the difference between public docket sheets, secure docket sheets, calendars, and PAeDocket.
Reading the docket by field, rather than by headline, helps separate filed charges, hearing history, court costs, and final case outcome.
Armstrong County Records History
The Register and Recorder office keeps information and documents on microfilm from 1805 through 1947 and on computer from 1947 to present, with ongoing scanning. Marriage records date from October 1885 to present. Local death records cover 1893 through 1905, while post-1905 vital records move to Pennsylvania Vital Records. The modern jail opened in August 2003, and current court operations now include online local rules, calendars, language-access materials, ADA materials, and court notices.
The Court of Common Pleas judge list names the current judicial officers tied to Armstrong County's 33rd Judicial District.
The current court roster sits alongside older microfilm and scanned records, so the access path depends on the record date and type.
Armstrong County Court Records FAQ
Can Armstrong County court records be searched online?
Public criminal Common Pleas and Magisterial District Court docket sheets can usually be searched through UJS. Civil Common Pleas files, divorce documents, estate files, and certified copies may require the Prothonotary, Clerk of Courts, Register of Wills, or Clerk of Orphans' Court.
Who keeps civil and criminal case files?
The Prothonotary keeps civil Court of Common Pleas records. The Clerk of Courts keeps criminal Court of Common Pleas records. Armstrong County has Annette Bowser serving both functions from Suite 103, but the record categories remain distinct.
Where do estate and marriage records go?
The Register and Recorder, Register of Wills, and Clerk of Orphans' Court handles marriage license records, estate files, wills admitted to probate, short certificates, guardianship filings, and adoption filings.
Is a docket sheet the same as a certified copy?
No. A docket sheet is a public case summary. A certified copy must come from the office that holds the official file and can add the certification or seal needed for legal use.