You can look up most Virginia court cases online for free through the state judiciary’s Online Case Information System (OCIS 2.0), which covers General District Courts, Circuit Courts, and Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Courts. Appellate cases live in separate tools run by the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Court of Appeals. Federal cases filed in Virginia are on PACER, not the state system. A few things won’t appear anywhere public, including most juvenile files and, starting July 1, 2026, records sealed under the state’s clean slate law.
What to Have Ready Before You Search
A useful search starts with at least one piece of identifying information: the full legal name of a party, a specific case number, or a hearing date.1Virginia’s Judicial System. OCIS Search Help Knowing which court handled the case also helps.
Virginia’s trial courts split the work by case type. General District Courts hear traffic tickets, misdemeanors, preliminary hearings in felony cases, and smaller civil claims.2Virginia Court System. General District Court Circuit Courts try felonies, hear larger civil cases, and take appeals from the lower courts.3Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 17.1-513 – Jurisdiction of Circuit Courts Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Courts handle cases involving minors, custody, support, and abuse or neglect. If you’re not sure which level to check, OCIS 2.0 searches all of them at once by default.
Using OCIS 2.0 for Trial Court Cases
OCIS 2.0 is the free statewide search tool. You can reach it from the case information page at vacourts.gov or directly at eapps.courts.state.va.us/ocis/landing.4Virginia Judiciary Online Case Information System. Online Case Information System 2.0 Terms and Conditions When you first arrive, you’ll acknowledge a terms-and-conditions disclaimer before you can run any queries.
You have three ways to search:1Virginia’s Judicial System. OCIS Search Help
- By name. Type a person’s name into the search box. The system searches all courts statewide by default, and you can narrow by court level (Circuit, General District, or Juvenile and Domestic Relations) or by a specific courthouse.
- By case number. Enter the number and pick the exact court where it was filed. Case number searches, unlike name searches, require you to select a single court.
- By hearing date. Enter a date to see all hearings scheduled that day at a chosen court.
Spelling matters. If you’re not sure about the exact name, try a partial entry, since the system can return matches on incomplete names. When a common name pulls dozens of results, use the court-level and location filters to trim the list. Results show basic details like case type, filing date, and current status. Click into a specific case for more: charges or claims, scheduled hearings, the presiding judge, and any final outcome.
One caveat: not every Circuit Court is on OCIS 2.0. Circuit court records appear only with the consent of the local clerk’s office.4Virginia Judiciary Online Case Information System. Online Case Information System 2.0 Terms and Conditions Fairfax County is the notable holdout. Its Circuit Court runs its own tool called eCaseSearch, built with the county’s IT department.5Fairfax County Circuit Court. Fairfax Circuit Court Launches eCaseSearch For a Fairfax Circuit Court case, go there instead of the statewide portal.
Looking Up Appellate Cases
Cases before the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Court of Appeals of Virginia aren’t in OCIS 2.0. Each court runs its own online case management system, both reachable through the Virginia Courts case information page.6Virginia Court System. Case Status and Information The Court of Appeals uses the Appellate Case Management System (ACMS).7Court of Appeals of Virginia. Court of Appeals of Virginia The Supreme Court has a separate but similar tool.
Both let you search by name or case number. The appellate case number is assigned when the appeal is filed and is different from the trial court number. If you only have the original trial court number, search by party name instead. Once you find a case, you can follow it through briefing, oral arguments, and the court’s final opinion or order.
Looking Up Federal Cases Filed in Virginia
Federal cases don’t appear on any Virginia state system. Virginia has two federal judicial districts: the Eastern District (Richmond, Norfolk, Alexandria, Newport News) and the Western District (Roanoke, Harrisonburg, Lynchburg, and others). Federal case searches happen on PACER, the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system.8Public Access to Court Electronic Records. Public Access to Court Electronic Records | PACER: Federal Court Records
PACER requires a free account, and you’ll set up multi-factor authentication when prompted. Documents cost $0.10 per page, capped at $3.00 for most individual documents. If your total charges stay at $30 or less in a quarter, the fees are waived entirely.8Public Access to Court Electronic Records. Public Access to Court Electronic Records | PACER: Federal Court Records For casual searches on one or two cases, you’ll usually stay under the waiver threshold.
What You Won’t Find in a Public Search
Not everything in Virginia’s courts shows up online. A few categories are restricted or invisible, and knowing about them keeps you from mistaking an empty result for a clean record.
Juvenile Cases
Most juvenile case files are confidential. Under Virginia Code 16.1-305, court records involving delinquent children, abused or neglected children, and children in need of services are open only to judges, probation officers, attorneys on the case, and others with a court-authorized legitimate interest. There is one exception: if a juvenile aged 14 or older is adjudicated delinquent for an act that would be a felony if committed by an adult, those court records become public.9Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 16.1-305 – Confidentiality of Court Records
Sealed Records After July 1, 2026
Virginia’s record-sealing law takes effect on July 1, 2026. Once a record is sealed, courts, police departments, and the DMV are all prohibited from providing public access to it. The Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court must remove sealed records from public online viewing, and clerks may not release sealed case files without a court order.10Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia Title 19.2 – Chapter 23.2 Sealing of Criminal History Record Information
Certain misdemeanor convictions, including petit larceny, concealing merchandise, some kinds of trespass, misdemeanor marijuana distribution, and disorderly conduct, can be sealed automatically once seven years pass without a new conviction. Other convictions may be sealed by petition to the circuit court, with no filing fee.11Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 19.2-392.12:1 – (Effective July 1, 2026) Sealing of Offenses The law applies only to offenses dated on or after January 1, 1986, and excludes many serious crimes such as domestic assault, stalking, involuntary manslaughter, and abduction.
Starting in mid-2026, some criminal cases that used to show up on OCIS 2.0 will no longer be visible. An empty result doesn’t necessarily mean no history; it may mean the record has been sealed.
Reading the Case Status Labels
OCIS 2.0’s status labels can be confusing without some translation. The ones that trip people up most often:
- Disposed. The case is resolved and closed, with no more hearings scheduled. A case can be disposed by a guilty plea, verdict, dismissal, settlement, or sentencing order.
- Nolle prosequi. The prosecutor dropped the charges. This is not an acquittal, and the government can refile later unless the statute of limitations has run or something else bars prosecution.
- Dismissed with prejudice. The case was thrown out permanently. The charges or claims cannot be refiled.
- Dismissed without prejudice. The case was dismissed, but the charges or claim can be refiled later.
- Active. The case is still being litigated, with future hearings or pending motions.
A “disposed” status doesn’t always mean the case is finished forever. Cases can be reopened due to a probation violation, a successful appeal, or other post-judgment motions.
When to Go to the Clerk’s Office
Some documents aren’t online at all. Older files that predate digitization, exhibits, and certain restricted materials require a trip to (or a written request to) the clerk of court in the jurisdiction where the case was heard. Virginia Code 17.1-208 gives you a broad right to inspect these records: files kept by circuit court clerks are open to any person, and the clerk must furnish copies upon request. The only limit is that you can’t monopolize the clerk’s office or interfere with normal business.12Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 17.1-208 – Records, Etc., Open to Inspection; Copies; Exception
Copies cost $0.50 per page at the circuit court clerk’s office. A certified copy with the court’s seal, the kind accepted as an official legal document, runs an additional $2.00 for the clerk’s certificate.13Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 17.1-275 – Fees Collected by Clerks of Circuit Courts; Generally Supreme Court clerk fees run a little different: $0.25 per page for copies and $0.50 for authentication under the court’s seal.14Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 17.1-328 – Fees Charged and Collected by Clerk of Supreme Court Most clerk’s offices take cash, check, and credit card, though a convenience fee sometimes applies to card payments.
Some courthouses also have public-access computer terminals with broader search capabilities than the home version of OCIS 2.0. If the file is stored off-site, the clerk may need a few days to retrieve it.