Search Westmoreland County Court Records
Westmoreland County uses more than one official search channel. The county Case Lookup page points users toward civil and criminal lookup options. Civil and family filings in the Court of Common Pleas are searched through the Prothonotary's iJEMS public record search. Criminal Common Pleas cases, Magisterial District Court cases, traffic citations, and many public docket sheets are searched through UJS Case Search.
The best first field is the docket number. A Common Pleas criminal number often uses a CP-65-CR pattern, while Magisterial District Court files use district-number patterns. If the docket number is not known, search by name, county, court type, and date. Then confirm the result with birth date, charge, party role, filing date, or address before treating it as the correct Westmoreland County court record.
- Identify the record type. Civil and family filings go to iJEMS, while criminal and Magisterial District Court dockets go to UJS.
- Search by docket, citation, OTN, complaint number, or party name. Narrow to Westmoreland County where the portal allows it.
- Open the docket sheet or case detail. Review the court, status, filing date, parties, and next event.
- Check whether the case has a lower-court or Common Pleas cross-reference. Pennsylvania criminal cases may have both.
- Contact the custodian office when the online result is missing, too new, sealed, older than the digital index, or needed as a certified copy.
For statewide court record policy and public docket access, the Pennsylvania judiciary's public records and public records policies pages explain what court records are made available and which records may be withheld from remote view.
Westmoreland County Court Records Fields
UJS Case Search exposes different fields depending on whether the search is by participant, docket number, court calendar, OTN, complaint number, or police incident number. A narrow field can save time. A name-only search can return cases from the wrong county or court level, while a docket or OTN ties the search to a specific file.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Notes / Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search type / tab | Tab or dropdown | Yes | Participant, docket number, OTN, complaint number, organization, date, court calendar, and attorney filters may appear by search mode. |
| Court type | Dropdown | Yes | Includes Criminal Courts of Common Pleas, Magisterial District Courts, appellate courts, and other public court types. |
| County | Dropdown | Conditional | Select Westmoreland when the search mode permits county filtering. |
| Last Name / Participant Name | Text | Conditional | Used for participant searches. Add first name, date of birth, or date range when available. |
| Docket Number | Text | Conditional | Common Pleas criminal examples use CP-65-CR style; MDJ dockets use magisterial district patterns. |
| OTN / complaint / citation | Text | Optional | Useful for criminal, summary, and traffic matters when the number is known. |
| Filing date / date range | Date | Optional | Narrows large result sets and helps separate people with similar names. |
The Pennsylvania public records policies page is the source shown in the manifest for court-record policy; it helps explain why some records appear online and others require an office request.
That policy context matters because Westmoreland County court records may be public without every document being available through remote public search.
Westmoreland County Court Record Types
The Court of Common Pleas is Westmoreland County's general trial court. Its civil side includes complaints, judgments, liens, divorce, custody, protection-from-abuse filings, family orders, and other civil matters kept by the Prothonotary. Its criminal side includes charges, pleas, motions, verdicts, sentencing orders, restitution, fines, costs, probation events, and appeals kept by the Clerk of Courts.
Magisterial District Courts handle the local first layer for traffic citations, non-traffic summary cases, landlord-tenant actions, small civil claims, preliminary arraignments, preliminary hearings, and some warrant events. Probate, estate, marriage, guardianship, adoption, and Orphans' Court files are handled by the Register of Wills and Clerk of the Orphans' Court.
- Civil Court of Common Pleas records include complaints, answers, orders, judgments, liens, name changes, and civil trial entries.
- Family civil records include divorce, custody, PFA, and related orders, though public access can be limited by sealed or confidential filings.
- Criminal court records include charges, pleas, bail events, sentencing, probation violations, fines, costs, and restitution.
- Magisterial District Court records include traffic, summary, landlord-tenant, small claims, and preliminary criminal proceedings.
- Orphans' Court and Register records include estates, wills, letters, guardianships, adoptions, marriage records, and estate litigation.
What Westmoreland County Court Records Show
A public court record is not just a name result. It ties a case to a court, filing date, docket number, party role, judge when available, status, and event history. Criminal dockets add charge rows, OTN, disposition, sentence, bail action, and financial obligations. Civil and family records may include scanned images through iJEMS when available, while UJS public dockets often show docket sheets rather than every underlying filing.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Docket number | The court's tracking number, such as a Common Pleas criminal number or a Magisterial District Court number. |
| Court and judicial district | Westmoreland County Court of Common Pleas or the specific Magisterial District Court. |
| Caption and parties | Commonwealth, plaintiff, defendant, petitioner, respondent, attorneys, agencies, or other listed parties. |
| Filing date and status | When the case opened and whether it is active, closed, disposed, appealed, sealed, or limited access. |
| Events | Hearings, motions, continuances, orders, bench warrants, arraignments, pleas, sentencing, appeals, and payments. |
| Financials | Bail, fines, costs, restitution, payment plans, balances, and PAePay eligibility where shown. |
The official Pennsylvania Case Records Public Access Policy is a core source for Westmoreland County court records access and limits.
The policy explains why a docket may show case-level facts while sensitive identifiers, sealed items, juvenile material, or confidential details are removed from public view.
Westmoreland County Court Records Access
Pennsylvania court case records are governed chiefly by court public-access rules, not by a single county website rule. The Case Records Public Access Policy defines case records, remote access, confidential information, and access limits. The Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law, 65 P.S. ยงยง 67.101-67.3104, applies to many agency records, but court case records follow the judiciary's access framework and the custodian office's procedures.
Westmoreland County court users should start online, then shift to the office that keeps the file. The Prothonotary states that public civil records are available unless sealed, current filings are scanned, and older material remains in docket books or microfilm while back-scanning continues. Criminal and juvenile dockets are held by the Clerk of Courts, while public criminal docket data is commonly viewed through UJS.
Note: UJS warns that public docket sheets are not a substitute for an official Pennsylvania State Police criminal-history check.
Restricted Westmoreland County Court Records
Some records are public in part and restricted in part. Juvenile proceedings are not exposed like adult records. Adoption files are maintained through the Register and Orphans' Court system but may be legally restricted. Court filings can also redact Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, minors' names, victim-sensitive information, medical or mental-health material, and other confidential details.
Clean Slate and limited-access rules can shield eligible criminal records from public view. The Westmoreland County Clerk of Courts explains on its Clean Slate/Limited Access page that limited access is not the same as expungement. The record may be hidden from public view while still available to law enforcement and judicial officers. If a payment case cannot be found because of limited access, the Clerk's payment page directs users to the collections process.
Restricted access can also be file-specific. A public docket may remain visible while an attachment, image, filing, or identifier is withheld. Family cases can include minor children's information, financial records, and abuse-related material. Probate-related matters can include adoption or guardianship details. For that reason, a Westmoreland County court records search should separate the public docket from the full file and from certified copies. The custodian office can confirm which parts of a record are public and which parts require a court order or other authority.
Westmoreland County Court Record Offices
In-person requests are still important for certified copies, older paper records, microfilm, scanned images that are not online, and cases with restricted remote access. The Prothonotary page says the public may research civil records using three public computer terminals in the office. Criminal files, expungements, transcript requests, payments, and criminal record questions go through the Clerk of Courts.
The county Prothonotary about page is the manifest source for the civil-record office and its public access details.
That office is the right path for civil, family, divorce, judgment, lien, and older civil docket research that cannot be completed through iJEMS.
Westmoreland County Prothonotary
2 N Main Street, Suite 501
Greensburg, PA 15601
724-830-3502
Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.
Westmoreland County Clerk of Courts
2 N Main Street, Suite 203
Greensburg, PA 15601
724-830-3734
Criminal and juvenile docket records
Records held by the Register of Wills and Clerk of the Orphans' Court follow a third path. Marriage, estate, guardianship, adoption, and Orphans' Court searches use the Register office and its public record search tools rather than iJEMS or the criminal docket system. Westmoreland County's split office structure is the key to avoiding wrong-office requests.