The quickest way to find out if you have a warrant in Missouri is to search your name on Case.net, the state judiciary’s public records portal at courts.mo.gov/casenet. If you want certainty, call the clerk of the court that would have jurisdiction over your case, or ask a criminal defense attorney to check for you. Each option has tradeoffs in how complete the answer is and how much personal risk you take on by asking.
Start With Case.net
Case.net is the Missouri judiciary’s public portal for court records. It covers courts across the state that participate in the Missouri Court Automation Program and shows docket entries, parties, judgments, and charges for cases that are public under Missouri law.1Missouri Legal Services. Access Your Case Docket With Missouri Case.net Choose the Litigant Name Search, enter your full legal name, and narrow by date of birth if the results are crowded.
This is the right first step because it costs nothing and nobody knows you looked. It is not, however, a dedicated warrant database. Case.net is a case management tool, and some municipal courts have not fully adopted it, so their records may not appear. A clean Case.net result is reassuring but not a guarantee. If you have a specific reason to believe a warrant exists, keep checking.
Call the Court Clerk
Calling the clerk’s office is the most reliable way to confirm whether a warrant is active. The challenge is picking the right court. Missouri’s court system is layered, and your warrant will sit with whichever court has jurisdiction over the underlying case.
- For city ordinance violations or local traffic tickets, call the municipal court clerk in the city where the citation was issued.
- For state-level misdemeanors and felonies, call the circuit court clerk in the county where charges were filed.
- If you don’t know where the case started, try the circuit court clerk in the county where you live or where the alleged offense happened.
Have your full legal name and date of birth ready. The clerk can usually tell you whether a warrant exists and, if one does, the bond amount. People hesitate here because they expect the call itself to trigger something. It doesn’t. Court clerks are administrative staff, not law enforcement, and calling them does not send officers to your address.
Have an Attorney Check for You
If you have real reason to think a warrant exists and want to understand your position before anyone with a badge knows your name is in the air, hire an attorney to look. A lawyer can run the check without exposing you to immediate arrest and can tell you what charges are involved, what bond has been set, and what the realistic paths forward look like. Many Missouri criminal defense attorneys include a warrant check in an initial consultation, and some will do it as a standalone service.
Asking Police Directly
Local police departments and sheriff’s offices can check warrants and have access to databases the public cannot search. Some will answer over a non-emergency line. The problem is obvious: if a warrant comes back, the officers who find it are authorized to act on it. Treat this as a last option, not a first one.
A Note on Minor Traffic Infractions
Missouri law does not allow courts to issue arrest warrants when someone fails to respond to or pay a traffic citation for an infraction. The court instead sends a notice with a new court date, and if that date is missed, another notice goes out before a default judgment can be entered.2Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 307.018 – Traffic Citation, Infraction, No Warrant of Arrest, When This protection covers infractions only. More serious traffic offenses, including DWI, can still produce a warrant.
What to Do If You Have an Active Warrant
Finding out you have a warrant is uncomfortable, but what you do next shapes the outcome. Waiting is the worst option.
Ask the Court to Recall the Warrant
In many Missouri courts, your attorney can file a motion asking the judge to recall or quash the warrant. If the judge grants it, the warrant is withdrawn and you get a new court date to address the underlying case without being arrested. Attorneys typically file these motions through Case.net. If you don’t have a lawyer, some courts will accept a written request directly from the defendant explaining the circumstances and asking for the recall; include current contact information so the court can reach you with a hearing date.
Turn Yourself In
When a recall isn’t realistic or the charges are serious enough that the court wants you in custody, voluntary surrender is far better than being picked up at a traffic stop or at home. Your attorney can arrange the time and place and often appear with you. Judges have broad discretion in setting release terms under Missouri law, from personal recognizance to cash bail to house arrest with electronic monitoring.3Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 544.455 – Release of Person Charged, When, Conditions Which May Be Imposed Showing up voluntarily tells the judge you are not a flight risk, and that generally helps the bond conversation.
What Happens If You Ignore It
Missouri warrants do not expire. An active warrant stays in the system until it is served or recalled, and it can surface during a routine traffic stop, at a checkpoint, or when any agency runs a background check on you.
Ignoring the warrant can also pile new charges on top of the old ones. Resisting arrest tied to a felony case or felony probation violation is a class E felony in Missouri. Resisting arrest on a misdemeanor warrant is a class A misdemeanor, and escalates to a class E felony if your actions create a substantial risk of serious injury or death.4Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 575.150 – Resisting or Interfering With Arrest, Detention, or Stop Courts can also hold you in contempt for willfully disobeying a court order.5Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 476.110 – Acts Constituting Contempt of Court
If you were already out on bond and failed to appear, the court will declare your bond forfeited and order your immediate arrest without a new warrant.6Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 548.181 – Forfeiture of Bail Expect the next bond to be considerably higher.
For moving traffic violations, failing to pay or appear starts a license suspension process. The court mails a notice warning that your driving privileges will be suspended if you do not resolve the charges within 30 days. If you still do nothing, the court notifies the Missouri Department of Revenue, which suspends the license.7Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 302.341 – Moving Traffic Violation, Failure to Prepay Fine or Appear in Court, License Suspended, Procedure The suspension lasts until you resolve the charges and pay all fines and costs, plus a $20 reinstatement fee to the Department of Revenue.8Missouri Department of Revenue. Failure to Appear in Court or Pay for Traffic Violation FAQs
Finally, a Missouri warrant does not stop at the state line. Active warrants are typically entered into national law enforcement databases, so an officer in another state who runs your information will see it. Whether that state arrests and holds you depends on the severity of the charge and whether Missouri is willing to extradite. Felony extradition is common. Misdemeanor extradition is less predictable and often turns on distance and available resources. Either way, the warrant’s presence in national databases will complicate background checks, professional licensing, and international travel for as long as it sits unresolved.