How to Search Civil Dockets
The Archer County District Clerk connects its Court Records Search to the Tyler Odyssey Texas UCMS portal. Two routes sit inside it. Smart Search finds cases. Search Hearings finds settings on the calendar. For wider civil and family coverage, re:SearchTX helps. It offers Cases, Filings, Text, and Hearings cards, along with filters and case-detail pages. Coverage varies, so treat neither result as the clerk's certification.
Lead with a cause number when you have one. A party name, filing range, case type, and court will trim down common-name matches. When the screen leaves questions open, use every documented channel:
- Determine whether the case is district civil, county civil or probate, or justice-court civil.
- Use Smart Search in the county-linked Odyssey portal for the case record.
- Cross-check civil and family material through re:SearchTX where coverage exists.
- Call, mail, or visit the District Clerk or County Clerk for verification and copies.
- Give the cause number, exact instrument, document date, and certification need.
You can reach the District Clerk at 100 S. Center, Archer City, TX 76351. Mail goes to P.O. Box 815, and the phone is 940-574-4615. The County Clerk sits at 112 E. Walnut, with mail to P.O. Box 427 and phone 940-574-4302.
Archer Civil Docket Clerk Split
Case type controls the clerk route. The 97th Judicial District Court hears district civil and family matters, and Lori Rutledge’s District Clerk office keeps those records. The Archer County constitutional County Court handles county civil and probate matters, with Karren Winter’s County Clerk office as the first contact. Justice Courts in four precincts maintain their own small civil and small-claims dockets within their jurisdiction.
| Matter | Likely custodian | First check |
|---|---|---|
| District civil or family | District Clerk | Odyssey and re:SearchTX |
| County civil or probate | County Clerk | County Clerk contact and available indexes |
| Small claims or JP civil | Precinct Justice Court | The specific precinct office |
The County Clerk page does not publish one complete county-civil portal for the Archer County court docket. So a no-result answer may simply mean the docket search started at the wrong civil court rather than at the wrong clerk.
What an Archer Civil Docket Shows
Think of an Archer County civil docket as a running timeline. Each line can mark a petition, an answer, service, or a counterclaim. Motions, mediation, settings, and signed orders appear too. So can the judgment, the costs, an appeal, or a status marked inactive or closed. Treat these as the fields to look for. No search shows them all at once.
| Cause and style | The court identifier and case caption used to confirm the correct parties. |
|---|---|
| Filed events | Petitions, answers, motions, responses, and other clerk entries. |
| Service | Citation issuance and return activity when shown. |
| Settings | Pretrial, status, motion, mediation, jury, and trial dates or resets. |
| Orders and result | Signed orders, dismissal, judgment, disposition, and appeal entries. |
A line reading "order signed" is only a docket entry, not the order itself. Pull the linked filing or ask the clerk for the exact instrument. Note that a filing date can differ from both the event date and the signature date on a court record.
Archer Civil Dockets in re:SearchTX
For Archer County civil docket work, the re:SearchTX statewide portal matters a great deal. Its official guide lays out four search cards: Cases, Filings, Text, and Hearings. Filters narrow what comes back, a case description opens Case Details, and users can save searches or export results. You need eFileTexas credentials or registration to get in. Some documents carry statutory purchase fees.
The official re:SearchTX source shows the statewide search layer for court records.
The state layer is clear from the image. What Archer County coverage looks like on the ground is a separate matter. A 2024 Judicial Council report described cases reaching back to 2016, with broad civil and family integration, plus a later direction toward statewide integration. When Odyssey and re:SearchTX disagree about an Archer County civil docket, the clerk is the tiebreaker.
Types of Civil Cases on the Docket
Civil work in Archer County is split by court. The 97th Judicial District Court holds general civil jurisdiction under Texas Government Code Chapter 24, and its Archer County civil docket can carry contract, tort, property, family, and other district matters assigned by law. Below it sits the constitutional County Court, which keeps county-level civil and probate work. The Justice Courts handle small civil matters and small claims. Their limits come from Texas Government Code Chapter 27.
- Contract and debt disputes filed at the proper court level
- Tort and personal-injury civil actions
- Property disputes and other statutory district matters
- Family matters to the extent the public docket is accessible
- County civil, probate, and justice-court claims kept by separate custodians
Digging into older land, probate, or recording records? A County Clerk index may serve you better than a District Clerk docket. Keep one caution in mind: a civil docket is no substitute for a certified title, probate, or vital record.
Archer Civil Docket Fee Layers
Fees stack in layers. The 2024 District Clerk civil and family fee sheet breaks a new filing into clerk, law library, records preservation and management, reporter, court facility, alternative dispute resolution, county jury, appellate judicial, language access, and state consolidated items. Filings in an existing action carry an $80 line in several situations, including a counterclaim, cross-action, motion for new trial, contempt, modification, intervention, and third-party petition. A withholding order or writ adds a $15 line.
The County Clerk's 2022 civil sheet runs on a separate schedule. One listed scenario combines $137 state consolidated, $213 local consolidated, $8 citation issuance, and $135 in-county service, for a $493 total. Those figures belong to their own schedules, so never blend them into one universal Archer County civil fee. Ask the correct clerk for a current quote covering the exact action, service method, copy type, and any certification request.
Settings and Hearings on Civil Dockets
A civil setting on an Archer County docket can take many forms: a motion hearing, a status conference, a mediation-related event, a pretrial conference, a jury call, a bench trial, or another scheduled appearance. Read each entry for the court, the judge, the date, the time, the setting type, and its status. "Reset" only means the schedule changed. It does not end the case. Likewise, "set" does not prove a hearing actually happened. For a date-range query, use Odyssey Search Hearings. Then compare the result with the case docket and any notice. The 97th District Court coordinator is Amanda Cunningham, reachable at 940-894-2066 or admin@97thdistrictcourt.com. The Archer County district page also lists 940-574-4940. Have the cause number and setting type ready when you call, and if a portal conflicts with a notice, contact the court or clerk before acting.
Archer Civil E-Filing Pipeline
Filing and public access are two separate steps in Archer County civil cases. Both clerks accept civil e-filing through eFileTexas, with Tyler Technologies Odyssey running behind it as the connected system. An accepted electronic submission can create a docket event. Even so, eFileTexas is not itself the public docket. Odyssey and re:SearchTX supply access layers, while the clerk maintains the official file. The official eFileTexas landing page documents the filing channel.
The portal marks where authorized users submit filings. Do not confuse it with Smart Search, Search Hearings, or a request for a clerk-certified civil record.
Public Access to Civil Dockets
Access to an Archer County civil docket follows Texas judicial-record rules. Those rules differ from the ones covering ordinary agencies. Texas Government Code Section 552.0035 keeps judiciary information outside the Texas Public Information Act's treatment of agency records. Rule 12 supplies the judicial-record request framework. Sealing has its own process. Rule 76a governs the judicial process for sealing civil court records, and Rule 21c requires protection of specified sensitive data in filed documents.
Key access rules:
Texas Government Code § 552.0035 directs judiciary information to court rules or other law.
Texas Rule of Judicial Administration 12 provides the judicial-record access process.
Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 76a governs civil sealing procedures and findings.
These terms are not the same. "Not online," "redacted," and "sealed" carry different meanings. Each one changes what an Archer County civil docket entry reveals. Restricted access can attach to family-sensitive information and protected orders. It also covers juvenile material, sealed filings, and documents holding sensitive data. Ask the clerk. The clerk can explain the legal or practical status of the specific entry.
Archer Civil Certified Documents
A free event line, an ordinary copy, a certified copy, and an appellate clerk's record each serve a different need. When the wording of a petition, order, or judgment matters, ask for that instrument by name rather than broadly requesting "the docket." Give the clerk the cause number and court. Add the document title or entry date, how you want it delivered, and whether the copy must be certified.
The County Clerk sets a firm visit limit. No copies after 4:30 p.m. The office closes from noon to 1 p.m. Its 2024 fee sheet shows a $5 certification component plus $1 per page for the listed assumed-name example. The District Clerk follows separate copy and appeal-record conventions, so charges depend on the record and you should confirm the cost before mailing payment or visiting. Appeals from Archer County district or county judgments go to the Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth. That appeal docket stays distinct from the trial file.