Lancaster County Clerk of Courts
The Lancaster County Clerk of Courts is the chief filing office for the Court of Common Pleas in criminal and juvenile matters. It is the office tied to adult criminal filings after Common Pleas case opening, juvenile court filing administration, prison commitments, bail, motions, petitions, summary appeals, and appellate filings to the Pennsylvania Superior Court and Supreme Court. The office does not maintain civil complaints, divorce decrees, custody filings, liens, or estate records.
Lancaster County's split structure matters because many Pennsylvania counties use similar names for different court offices. In Lancaster County, the Prothonotary is the civil filing office. The Clerk of Courts is the criminal and juvenile filing office. The Register of Wills and Clerk of Orphans' Court is the probate, adoption, guardianship, estate, and marriage-license office. A criminal defendant, surety, attorney, or requester seeking a criminal case filing should not start with the Prothonotary unless the issue is a separate civil record.
Lancaster County Clerk of Courts
Criminal and juvenile filing office for the Court of Common Pleas
50 North Duke Street
Lancaster, PA 17608
Court main line: 717-299-8041
Courthouse hours: Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
Lancaster County Criminal Filing Duties
The Clerk of Courts role begins where criminal filing and court administration meet. The office handles the papers and fees tied to Common Pleas criminal cases, including prison commitments, bail paperwork, criminal motions and petitions, guilty pleas, trial-related filings, sentencing-related records, summary appeals, appeals to higher Pennsylvania courts, subpoenas, record searches, redactions, expungement petitions, limited access petitions, and Clean Slate-related filings listed in the county fee schedule.
Public docket research often happens through UJS Case Search, but docket access and filing-office functions are not the same. UJS may show a docket sheet, charges, dispositions, sentence, attorney, OTN, and financial data when public. The Clerk of Courts remains the office for filing or obtaining official criminal court papers when a certified copy, petition, appeal, search, or clerk action is needed.
- Adult criminal Court of Common Pleas files are the core Clerk of Courts record group.
- Juvenile filing duties exist, but juvenile public access is far narrower than adult access.
- Summary appeals from Magisterial District Court convictions are filed for Common Pleas review.
- Expungement, limited access, and Clean Slate petitions are filed with current local fees.
- Appeals from Lancaster County criminal cases may proceed to Pennsylvania appellate courts.
Search Lancaster County Criminal Records
The first public online search route for Lancaster County criminal dockets is the Pennsylvania Unified Judicial System portal. UJS Case Search covers Common Pleas and Magisterial District Court dockets. It can be searched by participant name, organization name, case number, OTN, county, and court type. UJS also warns that docket entries made in filing offices may not appear right away and that docket sheet review is not a substitute for a Pennsylvania State Police criminal history check.
- Open UJS Case Search and choose the Common Pleas search path when the case is a Lancaster County Common Pleas criminal matter.
- Search by docket number when available, or use participant name with Lancaster County selected.
- Use OTN or police incident information when a criminal charging record provides those identifiers.
- Review the docket header, charges, entries, disposition, sentence, bail, and financial lines that are public.
- Contact the Clerk of Courts when an official search, filing, certification, appeal, or copy is needed beyond the public docket.
| UJS Field | Use | Clerk of Courts Relevance |
|---|---|---|
| Case Number | Exact docket search | Best for copy requests, appeals, and filing follow-up. |
| Participant Name | Name-based lookup | Useful when the docket number is unknown. |
| OTN | Offense tracking number | Links arrest-to-charge data with the Common Pleas docket. |
| County | Local filter | Select Lancaster for local Common Pleas criminal records. |
| Court Type | Common Pleas or MDJ | Use Common Pleas for Clerk of Courts filings. |
Lancaster County Clerk Records
A Lancaster County criminal court record may show the court name, docket number, case caption, filing or complaint date, case status, judge, defendant name, attorney, OTN, police incident or complaint number, arresting agency, charges, statute, grade, disposition, sentence, costs, restitution, bail, payment plan information, and chronological docket entries. Docket entries can include complaint filing, preliminary arraignment, hearing notices, continuances, orders, guilty plea, trial action, sentencing, payment events, and appeals.
Those fields should be read with care. A charge is not the same as a conviction. A docket may list dismissed, withdrawn, amended, or reduced charges next to charges that led to a plea or verdict. A sentence line may include fines, costs, restitution, probation, incarceration, or other conditions, but the docket should still be checked against the signed order or certified copy when exact legal proof is required.
| Record Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Docket number | The Common Pleas case identifier used for searches and filings. |
| OTN | The Pennsylvania offense tracking number tied to criminal processing. |
| Charges | Offense names, statutes, grades, and status changes. |
| Disposition | The outcome of a charge or case, such as plea, verdict, dismissal, or withdrawal. |
| Sentence and costs | Court-ordered penalty and financial obligations where public. |
Request Lancaster County Criminal Copies
Certified criminal copies are used when a public docket is not enough. A requester may need a certified disposition, sentence order, expungement order, bail document, appeal record, or other filed criminal paper. The Clerk of Courts fee schedule lists per-page copies and a separate certified copy fee. It also lists a record search fee, so requesters should be ready to pay for both search work and copy production when the office performs the lookup.
- Identify the docket number through UJS Case Search or a court notice.
- Write the defendant name, date of birth if known, OTN if known, and case number.
- State the exact document needed, such as certified disposition, sentencing order, bail bond, or appeal filing.
- Contact the Clerk of Courts for current processing instructions and the total fee.
- Pay by an accepted method and keep the receipt with the certified copy.
Lancaster County Request Details
The research file does not provide a separate criminal copy request form field inventory, so the safest request format follows the identifiers used by UJS and the Clerk of Courts fee schedule. A vague request for "my record" is less useful than a request tied to a docket number, defendant, document type, and copy count.
| Request Detail | Why It Matters | Source in Research |
|---|---|---|
| Docket or case number | Points the office to the correct Common Pleas file. | UJS case search and docket inventory. |
| Defendant name | Confirms the party on the criminal record. | Participant search field and sample docket data. |
| OTN or complaint number | Helps match charges from arrest to court filing. | UJS and PAeDocket search fields. |
| Document type | Separates disposition, sentence, bail, appeal, and petition papers. | Clerk of Courts duties and fee schedule. |
| Certification and copy count | Determines whether certification and per-page copy fees apply. | 2026 Clerk of Courts fee schedule. |
Lancaster County Criminal Fees
The 2026 Lancaster County Clerk of Courts fee schedule provides current researched amounts for criminal and juvenile filings, copies, redactions, appeals, and record searches. Payments to the Clerk of Courts must be cash, certified check, or money order. Exact change is required for cash, and personal checks are not accepted.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Jury trial | $194.25 |
| Non-jury trial or guilty plea | $147 |
| Adult or juvenile hearing | $29.50 |
| Summary appeal hearing | $29.50 |
| Per-page copies | $0.25 |
| Certified copy | $9.25 |
| Redaction | $2 per page |
| Appellate appeal | $160.75 |
| Adult expungement petition | $137 |
| Juvenile expungement petition | $36.75 |
| Limited access or Clean Slate petition | $137 |
| Summary appeal | $52.25 |
| Record search | $22.75 |
| Subpoena | $3.50 |
| Bail bond | $17.75 |
Lancaster County Juvenile Limits
The Clerk of Courts handles juvenile filing matters, but juvenile records are not public in the same way adult criminal records are. Pennsylvania law, including 42 Pa.C.S. Section 6307, limits inspection of juvenile court files and records. Public search results may omit juvenile case data, show less information, or require court permission before inspection. The fee schedule's juvenile hearing and juvenile expungement items do not make juvenile records broadly public.
Adult expungement and limited access also affect public search. Pennsylvania law distinguishes expungement under 18 Pa.C.S. Section 9122 from limited access under 18 Pa.C.S. Section 9122.1. UJS and PAePay may stop returning cases marked sealed, limited access, pending expungement, minor-defendant, or redacted. A person should not assume a missing public result means no case ever existed.
Note: Public criminal dockets are useful for adult case lookup, but juvenile and sealed records have separate access rules.
Lancaster County Appeals and Summary Cases
Magisterial District Courts hear traffic, non-traffic summary, minor criminal, landlord-tenant, and small civil claims. A defendant who pleads guilty or is found guilty of a summary offense may appeal to the Court of Common Pleas within 30 days for a new hearing on the merits. The Clerk of Courts fee schedule lists summary appeal and summary appeal hearing fees. If the appeal is late, the research notes a Petition Nunc Pro Tunc route under the summary appeal docket type.
The Clerk of Courts also handles appeals to Pennsylvania appellate courts for criminal matters. Lancaster County appeals may go to the Superior Court in many criminal cases, while Pennsylvania's Supreme Court is the court of last resort. The Clerk of Courts does not decide the appeal. It files and transmits records and collects the listed fees tied to the appeal process.