Search Hampshire County Court Docket

How to Search the Hampshire County Court Docket

Figure out which court holds the case before you touch a keyboard. Jurisdiction decides that. In Hampshire County, Magistrate Court takes traffic tickets, misdemeanors, preliminary felony steps, small claims, detinue, unlawful detainer, and most limited civil cases. Circuit Court owns the felonies, the larger civil suits, and appeals or removals. Family Court covers domestic relations. Town ordinance matters may sit with a municipal court instead.

Once you know the lane, let the record lead the way. A case number beats a name every time. If you have no number, pair a full name with Hampshire County plus a filing range, the case type, and the party's role. Write down the exact result and the date you checked it. Then ask the right clerk to confirm any live deadline, hearing setting, disposition, or copy before you rely on it.

1. Identify the case type and likely court.
2. Use WVPASS for public Circuit Court files.
3. Use MCR for a Magistrate Court index.
4. Check later entries for a reset, transfer, or appeal.
5. Call, write, or visit the proper clerk for verification.

Hampshire Docket Search Routes

West Virginia splits remote access to its state courts into two official lanes. WVPASS is the West Virginia Public Access Search System. It serves publicly available Circuit Court records. The Magistrate Case Record Search, known as MCR, covers Magistrate Court index data. Neither one replaces the full Hampshire County court docket kept by the clerk. The West Virginia Court Record Access hub lays out that split in plain terms.

Pick the wrong lane and you may see nothing, even when a public Hampshire County case exists. That is why the portal choice matters before you run a docket search.

What a Court Docket Shows

A docket is the court's running log. It records what came in and what the court did about it. A Hampshire County court docket can list the court and the case number. It may also show the filing date, the parties and their roles, case type, hearings, motions, orders, judgment, payment events, and the disposition. It is not a transcript. The paper or PDF behind a line may not appear at all.

MCR's layout uses separate fields. They include Basic Case Information, Case ID, location, filing date, type, trial type, claim or amount, appearance date, agency, related cases, charges, pleas, and dispositions. Read those fields together. One charge's disposition does not always close every part of the case.

Hampshire Docket Numbers Beat Names

Searching by name can pull in a crowd. MCR lets you enter a last name or company name. You can add first and middle names, party type, partial matching, a sounds-like option, filing dates, case type, and court location. Court Location defaults to All, so pick Hampshire and skip results from the other 54 counties. Note the cap: the public search returns no more than 30 records.

You must supply at least one identifier. That means Case ID, Citation Number, or Last Name or Company Name. Case ID takes up to 15 characters; Citation Number takes up to 30. When rows look alike, compare the case ID, court, date, case type, agency, and party role. Never pin a case on a shared name alone.

Which Courts Keep Dockets

Hampshire County runs several separate court registers. Magistrate Court is the busy entry point. It takes traffic, misdemeanor, preliminary felony, and limited civil matters. Its civil jurisdiction reaches claims up to $20,000 under the official court overview. The West Virginia Circuit Court of Hampshire County handles felonies and larger civil claims. It also takes appeals and removals from lower courts, plus other matters the law assigns to it.

Family Court covers divorce, custody, support, paternity, parenting, and related cases. Municipal courts keep town ordinance business. A federal case tied to Hampshire goes through the Northern District of West Virginia, Martinsburg Division, and PACER rather than either state portal.

Hampshire Court Docket Circuits

County lines do not settle the question of who hears your case. Hampshire, Hardy, and Pendleton together form West Virginia's 26th Judicial Circuit. Hampshire also sits in the 23rd Family Court Circuit alongside Mineral and Morgan. That structure can shape judge assignments and hearing locations. Even so, the Hampshire Circuit Clerk still keeps the local copy of any Hampshire-filed court record.

Family Court Judges Meredith Haines and Deanna Rock are listed at the Mineral County Judicial Annex in Keyser. Do not assume that listing pulls the file out of Hampshire. Do not assume every hearing happens in Romney either. Read the current notice. Then ask the Circuit Clerk to confirm the court, the judge, the room, and the place.

Judicial circuit

A group of counties served within one trial-court assignment.

Venue

The county or place where a matter is properly heard.

Custodian

The clerk or office that keeps the original record.

Finding Court Dates and Settings

Hampshire posts no standalone public trial-court calendar. The Supreme Court of Appeals publishes an appellate calendar. That is not a Hampshire trial calendar. A local date can still surface in other ways. Think of a WVPASS docket event, an MCR Appearance Date, a mailed or served notice, a paper docket, a posted courthouse calendar, or a clerk-confirmed setting.

Start from the case ID. Search the right portal. Then read the entries that came after the date that caught your eye, watching for a continuance, reset, cancellation, or later order. Remember that MCR filing-date filters limit when a case began, not when hearings fall. For a live Hampshire County court docket setting, call the Circuit Clerk at 304-822-5022 or the Magistrate Clerk at 304-822-4311, depending on the court. The Hampshire County court calendar details explain how each setting field should be read.

Hampshire Docket Access Milestones

Hampshire County moved toward electronic case handling in stages. The clerk notes the county joined a Supreme Court pilot in 2016. The goal was to bring e-filing into case management. Then WVPASS launched statewide on March 10, 2025. Through it, the public can reach Circuit documents dating to 1999, where the material is public and available. In 2026, CourtPLUS and Vault materials explained the next stage of unified case management and digital storage.

None of these dates mark a clean switch from paper to digital. Paper filing still works for pro se filers. Older files may need scanning or a direct clerk review. Sealed records stay restricted. Remember the split. E-file serves registered filers, while WVPASS serves public access, so a filing in one system does not prove every public page can be downloaded from another.

Public Access to Dockets

West Virginia starts from a right to inspect court records. That right has legal limits, though. A clerk can provide inspection and copies of public records, but a judge may seal material, and whole case categories can be confidential. Public access never means every filed fact belongs in a public search result.

Adoption, juvenile, mental-hygiene, sealed, and protected domestic-violence files are not ordinary public docket material. Ask the custodian what can be released. A blank result can reflect limits, not absence.

Hampshire Docket Case Activity

The scale is real. The 2025 West Virginia Judiciary Annual Report counts case activity, not any single case's status. Circuit tables list 113 criminal and 160 civil matters. Family Court tables show 94 divorces, 56 domestic-violence matters, 72 other domestic-relations matters, 129 marriages, 28 modifications, and 18 contempts. Magistrate small claims total 516. The same civil and special table lists three personal-safety matters, 75 domestic-violence emergency protective orders, and one temporary emergency protective order.

Court level and case type matter here. Read Hampshire's numbers with that in mind. Case status stays hidden. Totals cannot say whether one case is open, closed, reset, or sealed. Only its Hampshire County court docket and the proper clerk answer that.

The Clerk and Docket Records

Sonja K. Embrey is the Hampshire County Circuit Clerk. Her office keeps court records. Those include Circuit and Family Court pleadings, orders, judgments, dockets, fees, costs, bonds, and related records. You will find it in Suite 157 of the Hampshire County Judicial Center, 50 South High Street, Romney, WV 26757. Mail goes to P.O. Box 343, Romney, WV 26757. Posted hours run Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Christie D. Davis serves as Magistrate Clerk. The office sits in Suite 3 and uses P.O. Box 881, Romney, WV 26757. For copies and questions, call 304-822-4311. A public terminal is available through the magistrate clerk office, though local terminal and printer details should be confirmed before travel.

Hampshire Docket Clerk Boundaries

The word "clerk" trips up many locals. Three different offices answer to it. The Circuit Clerk and Magistrate Clerk keep court records. Hampshire County Clerk Eric W. Strite handles deeds, mortgages, releases, births, marriages, deaths, wills, probate and estate records, elections, and other county instruments at 19 East Main Street. A deed or will is a legal record, but it is not a Circuit Court docket entry.

Land and probate work goes to the County Clerk. Circuit and Family cases go to the Circuit Clerk. Magistrate cases go to the Magistrate Clerk. Romney and Capon Bridge municipal matters may have their own town custodian. Picking the right office first saves a trip and prevents a false "no record" conclusion.

The official Hampshire judiciary directory shows these court offices and assignments.

The directory view ties each public contact to a specific court role. No single, undivided county records office handles it all.

Hampshire Docket Copies and Fees

WVPASS registration and searching are free. Regular public document downloads cost 25 cents per page plus a nominal card-processing charge. MCR is free too. It needs no registration, but it does not supply the documents behind its index. Ask the Magistrate Clerk for a copy and the current lawful cost.

The Hampshire Circuit Clerk's posted chart prices ordinary copies at $1 per page, with a Family Court hearing CD or DVD at $5 per disc. Exact-change cash, money order, or credit card all work. Credit-card use adds 4.025 percent or $1, whichever is greater. No certified-copy price appears on the chart. Ask the clerk for a quote. A mailed request should name the court, case number, document or docket date, copy type, delivery method, and return contact.

Hampshire Docket Search Fallbacks

If the portal stalls, widen the search. WVPASS loads through the browser and sometimes throws an error. MCR may cut you off with a continuation screen or a CAPTCHA gate. And a case that shows nothing online can still be sitting in a paper file. It might be freshly filed, sealed, or filed in another court entirely. It might simply be listed under a different name. So record the honest result, "no public result located." Then stop short of declaring that no case exists.

The phone beats the keyboard at this point. Call the right clerk, case number in hand if you have it. You can also visit the Judicial Center during posted hours for help. The clerk's counter and the magistrate public terminal are both options. A tight written request works too. State law and Trial Court Rule 10.04 back public access to inspectable judicial records, within limits. Federal cases go through PACER or a terminal at the federal courthouse. Town ordinance cases belong to that municipal clerk. One caution: the Circuit Clerk's web form handles inquiries only. So an online message protects no deadline.

Court Dockets by City in Hampshire County

Hampshire County contains just two incorporated places in the official 2020 Census place table, not five. Romney and Capon Bridge are therefore the whole city and town set here. Neither town posts its own public municipal docket search, so local dockets live elsewhere. County and state matters still run through WVPASS, MCR, and the Judicial Center clerks.

A municipal notice may never reach MCR. A state citation written near a town is a different animal. It can stay a Hampshire Magistrate Court record, so identify the issuing court before you pick a docket search route.

Map and Directions to the Hampshire County Judicial Center

Circuit and Family Court files are kept at the Hampshire County Judicial Center, 50 South High Street, in Romney, the county seat. The Circuit Clerk's office is in Suite 157, Circuit Court chambers are in Suite 6, the Magistrate Clerk is in Suite 3, and probation is in Suite 4, so naming the right suite speeds up a visit. The separate County Clerk, at 19 East Main Street, handles probate, deeds, and vital records rather than trial-court dockets.

The Judicial Center's public pages do not describe a parking map, security-screening rule, or elevator/ADA details, and the building does not offer notary service, so plan those items separately before a time-sensitive visit.