District Of Columbia Court Records Search
Congress created the District of Columbia Superior Court in 1970. They are the general jurisdiction trial courts for the state. DC's Superior Court's mission is: "The Superior Court is here to serve the community, and several initiatives and collaborative projects are underway to improve service to the public in our Nation's Capital."
Superior Courts have exclusive jurisdiction over all trials for civil and criminal matters. These courts do use jury trials and they take on cases like small claims, domestic violence, landlord/tenant issues, traffic violations, civil lawsuits of $5,000 or more, small claims of up to $10,000, juvenile cases, divorces, adoptions, probate/estate cases, tax issues, all felonies and misdemeanors, and all other trial cases.
These courts have one Chief Judge, 61 Associate Judges, and 24 Magistrate Judges that assist with the caseload. A group of retired judges called "Senior Judges" also assist Superior Courts and provide recommendations and support.
Superior Courts are split into a bunch of different divisions to handle specific types of cases and legal issues. Some examples of these are a criminal division, a civil division (for lawsuits and landlord/tenant issues), a domestic violence division, family court for child abuse, neglect, adoptions, marriages, and divorces. They also have specialized divisions for tax cases and probate matters.
The District of Columbia Courts website has many helpful resources for patrons of Superior Courts. On the Superior Courts page, they offer all the forms for filing a case, rules of the court, an active warrant list, a link to order transcripts from a case, judge's information and biographies and an e-filing option to make things easier on litigants, attorneys, and court staff. They even have an entire page devoted to helping self-represented individuals by directing them to legal resources and assistance.