New Hanover County Court Dockets
A docket is the court's running schedule and event log for a case. In New Hanover County, docket information may show the case number, party name, business name, hearing date, hearing type, court location, courtroom, judicial officer, attorney, and event history. The docket helps answer where and when something is set. A full case record may include pleadings, motions, orders, exhibits, judgments, and other filed documents that are not always shown in a public docket result.
North Carolina's unified court system means New Hanover County court dockets are part of the statewide trial court framework. Superior Court handles felonies, larger civil cases, and certain appeals. District Court handles misdemeanors, infractions, traffic, family, juvenile, domestic, small claims appeals, and lower civil matters. Magistrates operate within District Court for small claims, evictions, criminal process, initial appearances, and bond matters.
| Docket | Full Case Record |
|---|---|
| Shows hearing dates, event entries, courtroom, and case status. | May include pleadings, motions, orders, judgments, and file documents. |
| Useful for checking where a case is on the calendar. | Useful for legal review, certified copies, and complete case history. |
| Often available through hearing search or calendar links. | May require Smart Search, public terminal access, or a clerk request. |
Search New Hanover County Court Dockets
The main online tool for hearing dates is Portal Search Hearings. It allows location selection, hearing type selection, and searches by case number, party name, business name, attorney name, attorney bar number, judicial officer, or courtroom. Search Hearings is different from Smart Search. Use Search Hearings when the goal is a court date or calendar setting. Use Smart Search when the goal is broader public case information.
The Portal hearing interface has been documented for hearing dates, locations, case numbers, parties, attorneys, judicial officers, and courtrooms, although the corresponding manifest screenshot failed and no image is used from that row.
- Open the eCourts Portal and choose Search Hearings.
- Select New Hanover County as the location when available.
- Choose a hearing type such as Civil, Criminal, Family, or Probate or Mental Health.
- Search by case number, party name, business name, attorney, judicial officer, or courtroom.
- Confirm the result with the Clerk of Superior Court if the setting is urgent or the online result is unclear.
New Hanover County Docket Search Fields
The Search Hearings form is built around required location, hearing type, and search type selections. Name searches may include last, first, and middle name fields. Attorney and courtroom searches are useful when the exact case number is not known. The research also identified courtroom/location labels for New Hanover County, including courthouse courtrooms 100, 200, 300, 301, 302, 317, 400, 401, 402, 403, 422, and 514.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Options / Format Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Location | Dropdown | Yes | County list including New Hanover County and All Locations. |
| Hearing Types | Dropdown / multiselect | Yes | All Hearing Types, Civil, Criminal, Family, Probate or Mental Health. |
| Search Types | Dropdown | Yes | Case Number, Party Name, Business Name, Attorney Name, Attorney Bar Number, Judicial Officer, Courtroom. |
| Last Name / First Name | Text | Conditional | Used for party or attorney name searches. |
| Middle Name | Text | No | Optional name search field. |
| Sounds Like | Option | No | Fuzzy name search option. |
New Hanover County Court Calendars
New Hanover County court dockets are also supported by local administrative schedules and calendar links. The county Judicial Branch page links to civil calendars, criminal calendars, local schedules, local rules and forms, administrative traffic court, Guardian ad Litem, and jury service. Local administrative schedules include criminal, DWI, civil, family, public defender, and unrepresented defendant settings. These schedule categories help explain why a case appears on a specific docket even when the public result gives only a short hearing label.
The NCAOC public-records request form warns that NCAOC is not custodian of local case files, marriage records, or birth certificates.
That warning matters for docket work because local hearing questions usually belong with the clerk or the Portal, not a general NCAOC agency-record request.
- Criminal calendars: felony, misdemeanor, DWI, administrative, and related criminal settings.
- Civil calendars: civil motions, trials, arbitration, and other case-management settings.
- Family calendars: custody, support, domestic, and mediation-related settings.
- Public defender calendars: settings tied to appointed counsel and indigent-defense scheduling.
- Unrepresented defendant schedules: local calendars for parties without counsel.
New Hanover County Docket Locations
Most local state court docket activity centers on the New Hanover County Courthouse at 316 Princess St in Wilmington. Search Hearing location labels also include OJJ Courthouse courtrooms A and B, Custody Mediation Virtual Meeting, and Clerk of Court Courtroom 219. Because courtrooms can change, the online hearing result should be checked close to the court date. Urgent questions should be confirmed with the Clerk of Superior Court or the division contact listed in the official contact directory.
New Hanover County has no county court at law, justice of the peace court, municipal court, or local probate court in the Texas or Pennsylvania sense. Municipal police departments and the Sheriff's Office can create law-enforcement records, citations, and warrants, but state court cases route into Superior Court, District Court, magistrate functions, and clerk proceedings.
| Court or Office | Docket Role | Contact |
|---|---|---|
| Superior Court | Felony, higher civil, appeals from District Court, superior calendars. | 316 Princess St; 910-772-6616 |
| District Court | Misdemeanor, traffic, family, juvenile, lower civil, small claims appeals. | 316 Princess St; 910-772-6612 |
| Clerk of Superior Court | Case files, public terminals, copies, estates, special proceedings. | 316 Princess St; 910-772-6600 |
| Magistrates | Initial appearances, criminal process, small claims, bonds. | Criminal 910-772-6619; civil 910-772-6600 |
Read New Hanover County Docket Entries
A docket entry is a short event note. It may list a complaint, petition, citation, warrant, criminal summons, indictment, information, appearance, arraignment, bond hearing, probable cause hearing, administrative setting, trial date, plea, judgment, dismissal, continuance, motion, order, appeal, probation review, or compliance review. The exact terms depend on the case type and court division.
Several terms are worth separating. A docket is the chronological event record. A disposition is the outcome of a charge or case. A judgment is the final or enforceable court decision. A continuance is a postponed hearing. A motion is a formal request made within a case. A warrant or criminal summons is court process connected to a criminal matter, but it is not the same as the full case file.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Hearing Date | The scheduled date and time for the setting. |
| Hearing Type | The kind of setting, such as civil, criminal, family, probate, or mental health. |
| Courtroom | The room or virtual location label for the hearing. |
| Judicial Officer | The judge, clerk, or officer assigned if displayed. |
| Event Entry | A filing, order, motion, continuance, plea, judgment, dismissal, or review entry. |
| Case Status | Whether the case appears open, disposed, pending, or otherwise marked in the public data. |
New Hanover County Docket Access Law
North Carolina public-records law affects docket access, but it does not make every hearing detail public. Chapter 132 is the state public-records chapter. G.S. 132-1 defines public records broadly. G.S. 132-6.2 addresses copy media and fees. Court dockets can still omit sealed, expunged, juvenile, mental-health, adoption, or protected personal information.
The public-records chapter is not a substitute for the court's own access rules and case-level restrictions.
Chapter 132 supports public access, while court confidentiality rules explain why some New Hanover County court dockets are limited.
G.S. 132-1 defines public records in North Carolina.
The definition helps explain why many court-created records are public unless another law or court order restricts them.
G.S. 132-6.2 governs public-record copy media and fee rules.
Copy fee rules are relevant when a docket search turns into a request for a printed or certified court document.
Missing New Hanover County Dockets
A missing online result does not always mean there is no hearing. The name may be spelled differently, the case may use a business name, the case may be restricted, the hearing may have changed, or the docket may require a clerk terminal or division contact. Portal also has separate Smart Search, Search Hearings, and Make Payments tools, so using the wrong tool can miss the needed docket record.
For urgent court-date questions, use the Clerk of Superior Court at 910-772-6600 or the official contact directory. For criminal process and initial appearance context, magistrates can be reached through the published criminal magistrate contact. A missed court date can lead to failure-to-appear consequences and, in some matters, an order for arrest or other court action.
Local administrative schedules add another check for New Hanover County court dockets because they group settings by calendar type. A case may appear on a DWI calendar, civil calendar, family setting, public defender calendar, or unrepresented defendant schedule before a user finds the exact party entry in Portal. When a hearing label is unclear, the local schedule category can point to the right division for follow-up.
Recent eCourts changes also matter. New Hanover County joined eCourts on February 3, 2025, so older instructions may refer to systems that are no longer the primary route. The June 2025 kiosk deployment added public courthouse kiosk support in selected courthouses, including New Hanover, for case and date search, eFiling, payments, scanners, printers, and public access services. These tools help, but they still depend on current court data and local clerk confirmation for urgent hearings.
Note: Confirm near the hearing date because New Hanover County court dockets can change after an online search.