How to Check If You Have a Warrant in Philadelphia

To check if you have a warrant in Philadelphia, search your name on the Pennsylvania Unified Judicial System’s online portal at ujsportal.pacourts.us. The search is free, anonymous, available around the clock, and pulls docket information from both Philadelphia Municipal Court and the Court of Common Pleas. Calling the Criminal Justice Center at 215-683-7000 or visiting in person also works, but those options carry more risk if a warrant comes back active.

Using the UJS Portal Step by Step

Go to ujsportal.pacourts.us and open the docket sheet search. You’ll be asked to choose a court: pick Municipal Court for lower-level offenses and traffic-related matters, or Court of Common Pleas for felony-level cases. If you don’t know which court your case would be in, run both searches.¹

Select “Participant Name” as the search type and enter your full legal name exactly as it reads on your driver’s license or state ID. Choose Philadelphia from the county dropdown. Nicknames and misspellings will cause the system to miss your records, so match the ID spelling character for character. When results load, click into any case listed under your name to open the full docket.

Reading the Docket

The answer lives in two places on the docket sheet. First, check the case status field near the top. Then scroll to the entries section, where the court logs every action taken on the case. A warrant will appear there as a dated line reading something like “Bench Warrant Issued” or “BW Issued – Failure to Appear.”

Case status matters too, but not in the way most people assume. “Active” means the case is being processed and doesn’t by itself signal a warrant. “Inactive” is the stronger warning sign: in Pennsylvania court terminology, an inactive criminal docket means the defendant is unavailable for processing, a category that includes people with outstanding warrants who have been declared fugitive or are held in another jurisdiction.² “Closed” generally means the case has been resolved. You can download any docket sheet as a PDF, which is worth doing if you plan to speak with a lawyer.

Understanding What You’re Looking For

Philadelphia courts issue two kinds of warrants, and knowing which one shows up on your docket changes what happens next. An arrest warrant is issued at the start of a criminal case when a judge reviews a sworn affidavit and finds probable cause that you committed a crime. A bench warrant comes after you’re already in a case and either missed a court date, failed to pay fines or restitution, or violated a condition the court set.

Bench warrants are far more common. When a defendant skips a scheduled hearing, the judge issues a bench warrant and the case status flips to inactive, which flags you in statewide databases and sometimes national ones.³ Neither type of warrant expires. A bench warrant from a missed hearing five years ago is just as enforceable as one issued yesterday, and it will surface at any traffic stop, background check, or job screening.

Other Ways to Check

The Clerk of Courts

If the portal leaves you uncertain, the Clerk of Courts at the Criminal Justice Center, 1301 Filbert Street, Room 206, handles public record inquiries Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.³ You can call ahead at 215-683-7000 to ask whether a warrant appears under your name, though staff may want you to come in person for a definitive answer.

Bring a valid photo ID. The clerk can pull up your case, confirm whether a warrant exists, and provide copies of filings. Certified copies carry a fee and require a written access request.⁴ One caveat worth understanding before you go: the courthouse has its own sheriff’s deputies. Clerk staff won’t arrest you for asking, but visiting is not anonymous the way the online portal is.

Contacting Police

Calling or walking into a Philadelphia Police Department district or the Sheriff’s Office will give you a definitive answer because officers verify warrants through national and local databases, including the National Crime Information Center.⁵ It also carries the highest risk. If a warrant turns up during an in-person visit to a police district, you’ll likely be taken into custody on the spot. This method only makes sense if you’ve already decided to turn yourself in.

If You Find an Active Warrant

Finding a warrant is unsettling, but how you respond shapes the outcome. Three options are open to you, in descending order of how well they usually go.

Hire a Lawyer First

A criminal defense attorney can file a motion to quash the bench warrant and schedule a voluntary court appearance on your behalf. This is the safest route because the paperwork is handled before you set foot in the courthouse, and the warrant is often lifted with a new hearing date set without any time in a holding cell. The motion filing fee in Philadelphia Municipal Court is $12.50.³ Attorney fees vary, but resolving a bench warrant is straightforward work for most defense lawyers unless the underlying charges are serious.

Surrender Voluntarily

If you can’t afford a lawyer, you can walk into the Criminal Justice Center and surrender on the bench warrant yourself. Voluntary surrenders are accepted in Room B-04 at 1301 Filbert Street, Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.³ You’ll go before a judge for a bench warrant hearing. The judge will look at why you missed your original court date and whether the absence was willful, and bail can be increased if the judge finds you deliberately skipped.⁶ Showing up voluntarily generally leads to a better result than being picked up during a traffic stop.

Ignoring It

Doing nothing is the worst option, and people underestimate the damage. The warrant stays active indefinitely in the statewide fugitive database, and in some cases the national database, so you can be arrested during a routine police encounter anywhere in the country.³ Outstanding warrants also show up on background checks for employment, housing, and professional licenses. Felony warrants can trigger suspension of Social Security and Supplemental Security Income under the fugitive felon rule.⁷

A Philadelphia Warrant Follows You

Leaving the city doesn’t help. Bench warrants are entered into the Commonwealth Law Enforcement Assistance Network, which every Pennsylvania officer can access at a traffic stop. Felony warrants often reach the National Crime Information Center, making them visible to police in all 50 states. If you’re picked up in another Pennsylvania county, local police will typically hold you for transfer back to Philadelphia. That reach is the practical reason to check the portal now rather than wait for the question to be answered for you.

1
Pennsylvania Judiciary Web Portal. Pennsylvania Judiciary Web Portal
2
Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania. Glossary
3
Philadelphia Courts. Citizens Guide to Court Procedure Municipal Court Criminal Division
4
First Judicial District of Pennsylvania. Request for Access to Case Records
5
U.S. Marshals Service. Warrant Information System
6
First Judicial District of Pennsylvania. First Judicial District of Pennsylvania Municipal Court Rule 515 Bench Warrant Hearings
7
Social Security Administration. How Does an Individuals Fugitive Status Affect SSI Benefits