What a St. Louis County Court Docket Shows
A docket has two meanings in Missouri practice. The first is the courtroom calendar: a list of hearings, trials and arraignments set for a specific judge on a specific day. The second is the case docket: the chronological log of every filing, motion, order and notice in one case. Case.net carries both views. The Scheduled Hearings & Trials Search returns the calendar view. The Docket Entries tab inside a single case file carries the chronological log. Missouri Courts Case.net help describes the same two layers in its official guidance.
St. Louis County dockets sit inside divisions. The 21st Judicial Circuit runs more than 50 numbered divisions, from circuit civil and criminal divisions 1-21 through associate divisions 31-44, family court commissioners in the 61-65 range, probate commissioners in 66-67 and the treatment-court commissioner in division 68. Each division has its own daily calendar. Searching by name on Case.net pulls every case for that party regardless of division, but searching by scheduled hearing date pulls a courtroom-by-courtroom list for that day.
The official 21st Judicial Circuit homepage carries the Find My Case button, the judge directory and the address for the Clayton Courts Building. It is the local launch point before opening Case.net.
How to Find St. Louis County Court Dockets
Case.net at courts.mo.gov/cnet is the gateway. Pick the search method first. For a daily courtroom calendar, choose Scheduled Hearings & Trials Search. For the running log inside one case, run a Case Number or Litigant Name search and open the Docket Entries tab. The portal is free. Automated scraping is prohibited by the Missouri Courts user notice; run searches one at a time.
- Open Case.net and pick a search method. Use Scheduled Hearings & Trials for daily dockets, Case Number or Litigant Name for one-case docket entries.
- Choose 21st Judicial Circuit / St. Louis County in the court-location filter to narrow results to this circuit.
- For the calendar view, enter a hearing date or date range. For a case docket, enter the case number or party name.
- Open the case from the result list and click the Docket Entries tab to read the chronological log.
- For public documents filed on or after July 1, 2023, click the document link inside a docket entry to view, download or print the file.
- Older paper files stay at the Circuit Clerk in Clayton. Public terminals inside the courthouse also read electronic case documents.
The Missouri Courts Case.net help page spells out the same search methods and field set used at the public counter.
The help page is the cleanest official reference for what each search method returns and which fields apply to each.
Docket Search Fields on Case.net
Case.net opens a tailored form once a search method is picked. The fields below cover the docket-related search paths. Field labels are taken from the Missouri Courts help pages and the live Case.net welcome screen.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Notes / Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search for Cases by | Dropdown | Yes | Pick Scheduled Hearings & Trials, Case Number, Litigant Name or Filing Date. |
| Court location / circuit | Dropdown | Often required | Choose 21st Judicial Circuit for St. Louis County. |
| Scheduled hearing date | Date control | For hearings search | Single date or short range. Best for daily dockets. |
| Case number | Text | For case-number search | Exact case number. No spaces. |
| Litigant last / business name | Text | For name search | Exact spelling helps. Protected parties may not appear. |
| Litigant first name | Text | Optional | Narrows name results. |
| Filing date / range | Date control | For filing-date search | Useful when only the filing window is known. |
| Judgment debtor | Text | For judgment index | Civil judgment lookups, not daily docket lookups. |
Which Divisions Publish St. Louis County Court Dockets
The 21st Judicial Circuit posts its division structure on the local court site and reaffirms it in Missouri Courts civic education material. Every numbered division generates a docket. The table below sums up the local division groups and what the docket carries for each.
| Division Group | Role | What the Docket Carries |
|---|---|---|
| Divisions 1-21 | Circuit judge divisions | Circuit civil and criminal hearings, trials, motions, judgments. |
| Divisions 31-44 | Associate circuit judges | Associate civil, associate criminal, traffic and domestic matters. |
| Divisions 46-47 | Traffic commissioners | Department of Revenue traffic dockets. |
| Divisions 61-65 | Family Court commissioners | Juvenile, custody, dissolution, child support, family matters. |
| Divisions 66-67 | Probate commissioner / deputy | Estates, guardianship, conservatorship, civil commitment. |
| Division 68 | Treatment court commissioner | Drug, DWI, mental-health and veterans treatment-court reviews. |
The presiding judge for the 21st Circuit is Hon. Bruce F. Hilton in Division 13. The assistant presiding judge is Hon. Ellen Levy in Division 11. The probate court administrative judge is Hon. Nicole Zellweger in Division 5. The family court administrative judge is Hon. Jason D. Dodson in Division 10. The full judges list is on the local court site.
The judges list pairs each division number with the assigned judge, which is the same number used to read the docket calendar.
Reading a St. Louis County Case Docket
Each entry inside the Docket Entries tab is dated and tagged by clerk action. Missouri Courts case-information help lists the fields the public can read. The table below maps the entries to the plain-English meaning the public counter explains.
| Docket Entry | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Petition / Information filed | The opening filing that started the case. |
| Summons issued / served | The court notified a party of the case. |
| Motion filed | A party asked the judge for an order. |
| Order entered | The judge ruled on a motion or status. |
| Hearing set | A future date and time were assigned. |
| Hearing held | The hearing happened on that date. |
| Continuance granted | The hearing was postponed. |
| Bond posted / reduced | Criminal bond was paid or modified. |
| Disposition entered | Final outcome was recorded. |
| Judgment entered | The court issued an enforceable decision. |
| Satisfaction of judgment | A civil money judgment was paid. |
| Document image | For July 1, 2023 and later public filings, the entry links to the document. |
The Case Header tab carries the case number, case type, filing date, assigned judge or commissioner and disposition fields. The Parties & Attorneys tab carries names, roles and attorney contact when available. The Docket Entries tab is the running narrative. Most of the work to interpret a Case.net record is in reading the docket entries in order from oldest to newest.
Note: Case.net docket entries are public information, not certified records; certified docket printouts come from the Circuit Clerk at 105 S. Central Avenue in Clayton.
St. Louis County Court Dockets vs Full Court Records
A docket is part of the court record, but it is not the whole record. The docket carries every clerk-noted action in date order. The full record includes the actual filings, exhibits, orders and judgment paperwork that the docket points to. Many older case files in St. Louis County are paper and stay at the Clayton Courts Building. Newer files filed on or after July 1, 2023 are largely electronic and can be opened straight from a docket entry on Case.net.
| Item | Court Docket | Full Court Record |
|---|---|---|
| What it shows | Chronological log of clerk actions and hearings | Every filed document, exhibit, order and judgment |
| Where it lives | Case.net Docket Entries tab | Circuit Clerk paper file plus Case.net documents |
| Access cost | Free online search | Free to read in person; certified copies have a fee |
| Use in court | Reference only | Certified copy accepted as official |
| Coverage gap | Recent entries appear quickly | Pre-July 2023 files may need a counter visit |
Full record requests pair with the broader St. Louis County court records guidance. A certified docket printout from the Circuit Clerk is the version accepted for filing in another court or for ID verification, while a Case.net printout is reference information.
Municipal and Traffic Dockets
Municipal divisions sit outside the 21st Judicial Circuit. Missouri Courts municipal help says Case.net lists only those municipal divisions that use Show-Me Courts. Municipal cases that do not appear in Case.net should be checked with the city's municipal court directly. The county itself runs traffic cases through associate divisions, the Department of Revenue traffic commissioner divisions 46 and 47, and the regular criminal divisions where a traffic charge becomes a misdemeanor or felony.
For ticket-by-ticket calendar lookups, use the citation number as a starting point and then a Litigant Name search if the ticket itself is unclear. Traffic cases run on a fast docket; deferred adjudication and defensive driving terms can be set at the early appearance. The traffic court records page covers citation lookup, the difference between the court traffic record and the state driver record, CDL exposure and DWI handling.
Probate, Family and Treatment Court Dockets
Probate Division dockets cover estates, guardianship, conservatorship and civil commitment. The probate commissioner schedules estate-opening hearings, annual settlements, will-contest matters and 96-hour hold hearings. The 21st Circuit posts probate forms for civil commitment and trust filings on the official site.
The probate forms page is the official launch point for filings that show up on the probate docket within days.
Family Court was consolidated in 1993 and runs under a one-family, one-judge model. Family dockets carry dissolution, custody, paternity, child support, adult abuse and juvenile matters. Juvenile cases under RSMo § 211.321 are confidential, so juvenile docket details may not appear in Case.net even when the case exists. Treatment court reviews appear on Division 68's calendar; the court calls each participant for a docket review, often weekly at the start of a program.