How to Search Civil Dockets
Jurisdiction comes first. The 84th District Court and its District Clerk take district civil disputes, property and title matters, and family cases that fall under district authority. The Ochiltree County Court and County Clerk hold the county civil categories. Small claims, debt claims, evictions, and repair-and-remedy cases go through the Justice of the Peace. Collect the cause number, case style, party names as filed, the approximate filing date, the court, the hearing date, and the document type. Then run a search on re:SearchTX, which covers eligible cases statewide. If nothing turns up, or the entry looks thin, call the right clerk, visit the counter, or write.
- Identify the court from a notice, petition, citation, or order.
- Search by cause number before using a broad party name.
- Compare the court, style, filing date, and case type.
- Open the event history and distinguish filings from orders.
- Ask the custodian for a plain or certified copy when needed.
Ochiltree Civil Docket Routes
One search never covers every civil case here. Three routes exist. District civil files sit with District Clerk Shawn Bogard. The office is at 511 S. Main Street in Perryton, phone (806) 435-8054. County civil files stay at the same courthouse with County Clerk Sandra I. Limas, Suite 8. That number is (806) 435-8039. The Justice of the Peace handles Justice Court records, phone (806) 435-8020.
| Case level | Typical matters | Custodian |
|---|---|---|
| District | District civil, title, property, family | District Clerk |
| County | County civil and related county categories | County Clerk |
| Justice | Small claims, debt, eviction, repair | Justice Court |
One caution about the County Clerk's recorded instruments. A deed, lien, or plat in the official-records portal proves nothing about a lawsuit, because court dockets and property recordings are separate records kept for separate purposes.
What a Civil Docket Shows
A civil docket is procedural history. The Ochiltree County entries may show the petition, service, answers, motions, hearing settings, orders, judgment, post-judgment filings, and any appeal. The list confirms only that something was filed. The document itself carries the substance.
| Cause number | The court identifier, best copied exactly as CAUSE NUMBER. |
|---|---|
| Case style | The caption naming the parties as the clerk recorded them. |
| Case type | The civil category assigned by the court. |
| Event | A filing, service, setting, order, or judgment entry. |
| Date | The filing or event date, which may differ from a hearing date. |
| Status | Active, inactive, disposed, or another system label requiring context. |
Ochiltree County publishes no anonymized civil register. That means no invented party, cause number, property, or judgment should ever be used as a stand-in example.
Ochiltree Civil Setting Requests
Civil settings in the 84th District Court run through a request-to-administrator process. The form wants the county, a requested date and time, a title, the estimated length, the requestor's name and email, both attorneys, the case number, the style, the type, and any interpreter need. All of that exists to schedule a hearing. It does nothing to search the historical docket. The official 84th District Court site explains its three-county role.
That court serves Ochiltree, Hansford, and Hutchinson Counties. Check that any setting you find actually belongs to Ochiltree County before counting it as part of the local civil docket.
Types of Civil Cases
Which court takes which case? District civil jurisdiction covers the disputes assigned to district court, property and title matters, and family cases. The constitutional County Court handles county civil matters. Justice Court posts local materials for small claims, debt claims, evictions, and repair-and-remedy cases, and its packet sets a civil ceiling of $20,000, which excludes statutory interest and court costs but includes attorney fees, if any.
The small-claims petition form asks for the claim type, the parties, the court and county, the amount, and the facts. An answer form offers a general denial or other defenses, plus a jury request with a $22 fee and a 14-day note. Remember what these forms do. They start or answer a case; they are not docket lookup tools and say nothing about what has already happened in a filed matter.
Ochiltree Civil Filing Systems
Attorneys in Texas district and county courts file and serve through eFileTexas. Non-attorneys are encouraged to use it where available. The County Clerk notes a local e-filing kiosk open to attorneys and the public. Filing access is not search access.
Both clerk pages identify NetData as the local case-management system, verified through OCA, but NetData has no public login for Ochiltree County. re:SearchTX serves as the statewide repository layer. The 84th Daily Docket is just a calendar. Keeping those functions straight stops a filing receipt or a calendar line from being mistaken for a full civil docket. Texas Online Records provides a county-selection landing page.
The county selector leads toward recorded public records only, so treat it as anything but a universal civil-case search.
Settings on Civil Dockets
A setting is a scheduled court event. It is not a ruling. The 84th Court's local process sends requests through the Court Administrator and wants an estimated hearing length. It requires copies to opposing counsel and the District Clerk, and calls for a certificate of conference. That certificate states whether counsel discussed the request and whether it is agreed or opposed. Pretrial motions fall under the local 14-day timing rule. A continuance request must give a reason. A remote pretrial can be arranged rather than assumed. If a date shifts, read the latest docket entry. Check any written order too, then confirm with court staff. An older calendar line can linger after later action. The 84th Court publishes its effective local rules and standing order.
The published rules give the procedural context that a short event label cannot convey.
Ochiltree Inactive Docket Meaning
An "inactive" tag on a civil docket is not the same as a dismissal. The 84th Court local rules spell out when a case sits on the inactive docket. Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 165 covers dismissal for want of prosecution separately. So read the label before drawing a conclusion. Check the notice and order that go with it too.
- Active pending
- A reporting category for a case that remains open.
- Inactive
- A status that requires the court’s own rule and order for meaning.
- Disposed
- An aggregate closing category, not a substitute for the judgment.
- Continuance
- A requested or ordered move of a setting to another date.
When an older Ochiltree County case shows inactive, get the most recent order. Confirm whether the court dismissed it, stayed it, transferred it, or put it back on the active docket later.
Public Access to Civil Dockets
Court records in Texas start open. Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 76a presumes public access. It also sets the test for sealing a file. Rule 21c governs sensitive data inside pleadings and other filed papers. Family cases and similar protected material carry extra limits. A public line on the docket does not open every identifier or attachment.
Access rule: Use the responsible clerk for the docket and document. Ask whether a public copy can be supplied with required redactions when the original contains protected data.
Access to judicial records runs through Texas Rule of Judicial Administration 12. Other law applies as well. The Texas Public Information Act does not replace those court-specific rules. If the clerk withholds a record, ask which rule the office relied on. Don't assume the case never existed.
Ochiltree Civil Activity Numbers
The OCA's 2023 district report gives hard numbers on the local civil docket. Ochiltree County opened the year with 128 active pending civil cases. It added 66. It disposed of 56. The year closed with 139 active pending. No civil cases were reactivated in that period. None were newly marked inactive either.
Numbers like these skip party names, claim values, hearing dates, and outcomes. They don't roll County Court and Justice Court civil matters into one total either. Treat them as workload context. For any one case, go to the source. Rely on the docket entries and signed documents.
Ochiltree Civil Copies and Appeals
Need a copy of a docket page, order, or judgment from Ochiltree County? Give the clerk the cause number, the document's title, and its date. Say whether you want an ordinary copy or a certified one. The two are priced and treated differently. One wrinkle: the current County Clerk fee schedule does not spell out every District Clerk charge for civil copies. So ask the District Clerk for the exact amount before you mail a payment. Ask about your delivery choices too. If a portal won't show the document itself, the counter still works. So do the phone and regular mail.
An appeal moves the fight to a new docket in the Seventh Court of Appeals. A case that keeps going can land in the Supreme Court of Texas. Hang on to the original trial cause number. But a separate appellate number will be assigned. The clerk at the trial court still holds the original Ochiltree County civil court docket. The public 84th Court Daily Docket lists scheduled hearings and other events on the court's calendar.
For hearing dates, the calendar works fine. The real record lives in the Ochiltree County clerk's file, which holds the pleadings, the orders, and any certified copies a case needs.