What a Westchester County Court Docket Shows
A docket is a dated log of everything that happens in a case. It is not the case file itself. Think of it as the table of contents. Each line marks one event: a paper was filed, a motion was made, a judge signed an order, or a court date was set. The docket tells you what happened and when. It does not always hold the documents behind those events. For a Westchester County court docket, the entries run in date order from the day the case opened.
Court dockets list the parties, the case or index number, the court, and the case type. Then come the entries. A civil docket might show a summons filed, a complaint filed, a Request for Judicial Intervention, and later a judgment. A criminal docket shows charges, appearances, and the disposition. The docket is a map. The full file is the territory. Most people start with the docket, then pull the documents they actually need.
One docket does not cover the whole county. New York keeps court records by court type, not in one shared system.
How to Find a Westchester County Court Date
Start by naming the court. A divorce or a high-value civil suit sits in Supreme Court. A felony sits in County Court. A custody or support matter sits in Family Court. A will or estate sits in Surrogate's Court. A traffic ticket or small claim sits in a city or town court. Once you know the court, you know which calendar or docket tool to open. Then you search by party name or by case number.
- Pick the right portal for the court. Use WebCivil Supreme for civil Supreme Court cases and calendars.
- For pending criminal matters with future court dates, open WebCriminal and pick a Westchester court from the dropdown.
- Enter a party name or the case, index, or indictment number. Use at least the first two letters of a name.
- Open the case and read the docket entries, the parties, and the next appearance date, part, and judge.
- Sign up for eTrack if you want email alerts when a civil case updates.
WebCivil Supreme gives past, present, and future case information for New York civil Supreme Court cases only. The court dropdown in WebCriminal lists Westchester County Court, Westchester County Supreme Court, and the Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, Peekskill, Rye, White Plains, and Yonkers city courts.
Courts That Publish Westchester County Dockets Online
Several state systems post Westchester dockets and calendars, and each one covers a slice of the courts. The right system depends on whether the case is civil, criminal, family, or estate. Some show only future appearances. Others show the full event history.
- WebCivil Supreme covers civil Supreme Court cases statewide, with index, party, attorney, and justice searches plus court calendars by county, justice, and part.
- WebCriminal lists pending criminal cases with future appearance dates in selected courts, including the Westchester County and city courts.
- WebFamily covers active Family Court cases in all 62 counties, with searches by file or docket number and calendars by county and judge.
- NYSCEF shows e-filed documents and lets the public search as a guest, though document access depends on case type and sealing rules.
- WebSurrogate covers estate proceedings, with name, file, and will searches for Surrogate's Court matters.
- City court calendars for Yonkers, White Plains, and the other city courts handle local civil, criminal, traffic, and small claims matters.
The County Clerk also runs Westchester Records Online for Supreme and County Court legal records, judgments, and liens. The state eCourts hub at iapps.courts.state.ny.us links WebCivil, WebCriminal, WebFamily, and eTrack in one place.
Note: WebFamily covers active cases, and most Family Court files are not open to broad public inspection, so calendar data there is limited by law.
Inventory of Westchester County Docket Entries
Docket entries follow a pattern. Each one names an event, a date, and often the party who filed it. The table below lists the entry types you see most in a Westchester Supreme or County Court docket, drawn from the standard fields the County Clerk and the state calendars use. A civil case and a criminal case share many of these, though the order and the labels can differ.
| Docket Entry | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Summons Filed | The case opens; the defendant is put on notice that a suit has started. |
| Complaint Filed | The plaintiff sets out the claims and what relief the court is asked to grant. |
| RJI Filed | A Request for Judicial Intervention, filed when a case needs a judge assigned. |
| Motion Filed | A written request asking the court to issue a ruling or order. |
| Order Entered | A directive signed by a judge or justice that decides a motion or sets terms. |
| Note of Issue | A filing that tells the court the case is ready for trial. |
| Judgment Filed | The final or enforceable determination, often money or a divorce decree. |
| Appearance Date | The next scheduled date, with the part, courtroom, and assigned judge. |
Criminal dockets add their own entries. Those include the arraignment, plea, bail or appearance terms, and the disposition. In the Clerk's online system, a criminal case is marked by the letters "DA" before the index or indictment number.
Westchester County Court Calendar Search Fields
The calendar tools share a short set of fields. You search by who, by case number, or by court date. WebCivil Supreme lets you pull calendars by county, by justice, and by part. WebFamily produces calendars by county and judge, or a list of pending cases for an attorney or firm. The fields below match the WebCivil Supreme calendar and search menu.
| Field / Path | Type | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| Index Search | Search path | Find a civil Supreme Court case by its index number. |
| Party Search | Search path | Find cases by a party name. |
| Justice Search | Search path | Find cases by the assigned judge or justice. |
| Court Calendars | Calendar path | Pull a calendar by county, justice, and part. |
| Attorney/Firm Calendars | Calendar path | Get calendar dates for an attorney or firm, with email copies. |
| eTrack | Tracking link | Track a civil case and get alerts on docket changes. |
Westchester County Court Docket vs. Full Case Record
A docket and a full case record are not the same thing. The docket is the index of events. The full record holds the documents those events point to. You can read a Westchester County court docket online for free in many cases. Getting the documents behind it is a different step, and it can cost money or call for a trip to the courthouse. The table sums up the split.
| Court Docket | Full Case Record | |
|---|---|---|
| What It Is | A dated list of events and filings | The actual papers: pleadings, motions, orders, exhibits |
| Access | Often online and free through the state portals | May need a fee, a subscription, or a courthouse visit |
| Where It Lives | WebCivil, WebCriminal, WebFamily, WebSurrogate | County Clerk, NYSCEF, or the court that holds the file |
| Best Use | Track a case and find the next court date | Legal review, evidence, certified copies |
Image access through Westchester Records Online runs on a paid model. The Clerk lists a one-day image fee and an annual subscription. The docket search itself, though, is free. NYSCEF lets a guest search e-filed cases without a login, but whether a document opens depends on the case type and any sealing.
Update Delays on Westchester County Court Dockets
Online dockets can lag the courthouse. WebCriminal posts a notice that case information is sometimes slow to update. If a case or a new entry is missing, it may just not be posted yet. Search again later before you assume the data is wrong. A docket you pull today might not show a filing made this morning.
The County Clerk's office terminals show document images from 2002 to the present. Older case documents may need an off-site archive pull by Clerk staff. For Westchester Records Online, the Clerk lists civil case coverage from 1980 and criminal case coverage from 1978. WebSurrogate links unrestricted public documents filed on or after February 19, 2014; older ones may call for a public computer at the Surrogate's Court.
Always confirm a court date or an outcome with the court that made the record before you act on it.
How to Read a Westchester County Court Docket
Dockets use shorthand. A line might read RJI, note of issue, or satisfaction of judgment. None of that is plain English at first. The terms below come up often in Westchester civil and criminal dockets, so a quick glossary helps you read the entries without guessing.
- Index Number
- The civil case identifier, assigned when a case is filed.
- Indictment Number
- The identifier for a felony case after a grand jury indicts.
- RJI
- Request for Judicial Intervention, filed when a case needs a judge.
- Note of Issue
- A filing that tells the court the case is ready for trial.
- Disposition
- The outcome of a case or a charge.
- Adjournment
- A court date moved to a later day.
Watch the case-type label too. A docket entry tells you what was filed, not how the case ended. The disposition line is the one that gives the result. And remember the "DA" tag: in the Clerk's online system, those two letters before an index or indictment number flag a criminal case.