Franklin County Circuit Court
Indiana's trial courts include circuit courts, superior courts, and local city or town courts. The Indiana Judicial Branch explains that these names reflect legislative history and local custom, with jurisdiction varying by county. Franklin County is a small-court county centered on the Franklin County Circuit Court at the courthouse in Brookville. The state court map for this project resolves the primary trial court name as Circuit Court, not District Court.
County-level trial work is handled at the Franklin County Courthouse, 459 Main Street, Brookville, Indiana 47012. The circuit judge department page places the Franklin County Circuit Court on the second floor. The Clerk of the Circuit Court is on the first floor and handles file access, payments, marriage licenses, probate, small claims, protection orders, child support, and copy requests. That floor split matters: hearings and judge functions are upstairs, while filings and copies route through the clerk.
The retained filename is district-court.html because the template uses that baseline file name, but the content and page title use Franklin County's actual Indiana terminology. The court to describe is the Circuit Court. No Franklin County district court exists in the researched state court structure map.
The Franklin County Circuit Court Judge page identifies the local court office and courthouse location used for county trial-court business.
That local page anchors the county trial-court profile, while statewide sources explain how Indiana trial courts fit together.
Franklin County Circuit Divisions
The elected-official source reviewed for Franklin County lists two circuit-court judges. Both are tied to the same courthouse address and phone number. The court list follows the required trial-court table format, but it uses Franklin County's actual circuit-court divisions instead of invented numbered district courts.
| Court / Division | Type | Address | Phone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Franklin County Circuit Court | Main county trial court; Judge Alex Dudley | 459 Main Street, Brookville, IN 47012 | 765-647-4186 |
| Franklin County Circuit Court Division 2 | Second circuit-court division; Judge Clay M. Kellerman | 459 Main Street, Brookville, IN 47012 | 765-647-4186 |
Judge Alex Dudley's listed term expires December 31, 2030. Judge Clay M. Kellerman's listed term expires December 31, 2026. The reviewed source lists adudley@franklincounty.in.gov for Judge Dudley and court@franklincounty.in.gov for Division 2.
Both divisions share the same courthouse address and public court phone in the researched county materials. A case-search user should therefore start with MyCase or the clerk rather than trying to guess a separate courthouse or branch location. If a hearing notice names a division or judge, use that notice when calling the court.
Circuit Court vs City Courts
Franklin County court users should not assume every matter begins and ends in the Circuit Court. The state court map lists lower courts as City Court and Town Court. Local city or town courts can be relevant for municipal ordinance or local infraction matters, especially when a city police department issued the citation. For county case files, family matters, criminal prosecutions, civil cases, probate, and many clerk functions, the Franklin County Circuit Court and its clerk remain the central record path.
| Point of comparison | Franklin County Circuit Court | City or Town Court |
|---|---|---|
| Role | Primary county trial court for local circuit-court cases. | Lower local court for city or town matters where such a court has jurisdiction. |
| Records path | Search public cases in MyCase and request documents from the Clerk of the Circuit Court. | Check the issuing city or town if a local ordinance or citation does not appear as expected. |
| Common matters | Criminal, civil, family, probate, guardianship, small claims, protection-order related records, and other circuit-court filings as routed locally. | Local traffic, infraction, or ordinance matters depending on the municipality. |
| Marriage licenses | Issued by the Franklin County Clerk of the Circuit Court. | Batesville City Court does not issue marriage licenses, according to the city page. |
| Official copies | Certified circuit-court copies come from the clerk. | Use the local court or city contact only for records held at that lower court level. |
The Indiana court structure overview explains that Indiana trial-court names vary by county and history.
That statewide structure is why Franklin County court terminology uses Circuit Court even though the retained template filename still says district court.
Franklin County Case Flow
Case movement depends on the record type, but the public record usually follows a familiar path. Criminal matters begin with law-enforcement reports and prosecutor filing decisions, then appear as charging information, initial hearing, bond, pretrial hearings, plea or trial, disposition, and sentencing. Civil and small-claims cases move through filing, service, answer or response, hearings, judgment, and post-judgment payment or collection entries. Family and probate cases have their own pleadings and orders, but they still produce docket entries when public.
Criminal flow: Arrest or report › prosecutor filing decision › charging information › initial hearing or bond › pretrial hearings › plea or trial › disposition › sentencing › appeal if filed.
Civil flow: Complaint or petition filed › service › answer or response › hearings or motions › settlement or trial › judgment or order › collection, payment, or appeal.
Probate flow: Petition or estate opening › will admission if applicable › appointment or letters › notices and inventory › accountings or orders › distribution and closing.
Public docket entries in MyCase often show these steps before the full document is available. If the document is not linked, the Franklin County Clerk is the copy source.
That same flow helps explain why a case may appear online before every document is viewable. A new criminal filing may show an initial charge and bond event before later plea or disposition entries. A probate case may show opening events before inventory or closing papers. A civil case may show service and hearing events before judgment. The docket is the timeline, while the clerk file holds the documents that may need to be requested.
Franklin County Court Records
The Circuit Court produces or maintains records across several subject areas. Criminal records can show charges, bond, hearings, pleas, dispositions, sentencing, fines, warrants, and probation-related outcomes. Civil records can show complaints, appearances, motions, orders, judgments, garnishments, and post-judgment entries. Family records can include dissolution, custody, support, paternity, and protection-order related filings, though some personal details and juvenile material are restricted.
Probate records include estates, wills when filed, guardianships, trust-related litigation, and small-estate context. Traffic and ordinance records can involve ePay if payment is eligible, but official case information still ties back to the court that maintains the record. MyCase includes many public case entries for Indiana courts that use Odyssey, yet converted older data, unlinked documents, confidential cases, sealed cases, and expunged records may not appear the same way online.
Franklin County Judicial District
Franklin County is listed by the Indiana Judicial Branch in Judicial District 18 with Fayette, Franklin, Rush, Union, and Wayne counties. That district identity helps place the county within the state judicial system, but it does not change the local starting point for court users: Franklin County Circuit Court and the Clerk of the Circuit Court at the Brookville courthouse.
Appeals from final Franklin County Circuit Court judgments generally proceed to the Court of Appeals of Indiana unless a case type has a direct Supreme Court route or another specialized appeal path. Further review may be sought in the Supreme Court of Indiana. Federal court is separate. Franklin County is served by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana for federal matters, and that court's Indianapolis division covers Franklin County.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana is the federal trial court source, not the county court for local criminal, divorce, probate, traffic, or small-claims records.
That distinction matters because federal dockets and Franklin County Circuit Court records use separate systems and clerks.
Franklin County Lower Courts
The state court map names City Court and Town Court as lower-court categories. The research did not locate a Franklin County-specific specialty court page, and it did not support building the page as a magistrate-court profile. The closest court-adjacent county office is probation in the annex at 493 Main Street, while the prosecutor and clerk are in the courthouse. A recent local initiative involving community corrections was noted in research, but it is not a dedicated official specialty-court page in the reviewed county sources.
For local police or city matters, Brookville and Batesville may matter at the front end. Brookville Police Department has a local contact page, and Batesville Police Department serves a city that is partly in Franklin County. If a citation, ordinance matter, or police contact does not map cleanly to the Circuit Court search, check the issuing city or town and then verify court status through MyCase or the clerk.
The Southern District of Indiana court-locations page lists Franklin County under the Indianapolis federal division.
Federal location information is useful only when the case is federal; county Circuit Court users should stay with MyCase and the Franklin County Clerk.
Note: No official Franklin County specialty-court page was located in the reviewed county or Indiana Judicial Branch sources.