Pike County Court Dockets Defined
A docket is the chronological list of case events. In Pike County, that can mean a Court of Common Pleas civil docket, a Common Pleas criminal docket, a divorce or custody docket with remote limits, a Magisterial District Court traffic or summary docket, or an appeal docket. The docket does not always display every filed document. It usually tells a reader what was filed, when the court acted, whether a hearing was scheduled, and how the case or charge ended.
Pike County is Pennsylvania's 60th Judicial District. Common Pleas matters are handled at the county trial court level, while the four Magisterial District Courts handle traffic, summary criminal matters, landlord-tenant cases, small civil claims up to $12,000, preliminary arraignments, preliminary hearings, and emergency PFA proceedings when Common Pleas is not in session. This local split matters because a person searching Pike County court dockets for a traffic citation, disorderly conduct summary, or preliminary hearing may need an MDJ docket, not a Common Pleas docket.
Find Pike County Court Dockets Online
UJS Case Search is the main free online source for Pike County court dockets. It covers Pennsylvania appellate, Common Pleas, Magisterial District Court, and related public docket sheets. PAeDocket, described on the UJS portal, is the mobile route and supports searches by case number, participant name, organization name, offense tracking number, police incident or complaint number, or state ID number.
- Start with UJS Case Search and choose the court category that fits the case, such as Common Pleas or Magisterial District Court.
- Select Pike County or the appropriate local court to avoid results from other Pennsylvania counties.
- Search by docket number when possible. If using a name, narrow by case type or filing date range.
- Open the docket sheet and compare court name, party names, filing date, and case status before using the result.
- Contact the Prothonotary or Clerk of Courts when the docket points to a document that is not available online.
UJS warns that recent entries made in court filing offices may not be immediately reflected on docket sheets. That warning is practical in Pike County because a filing, plea, continuance, bench warrant withdrawal, payment, or order can exist at the office before it appears on a public docket.
When a docket search does not show a case that should exist, use the local filing office as the next step. Civil, divorce, custody, PFA, judgment, lien, and District Justice appeal dockets route through the Prothonotary. Criminal, summary appeal, bench-warrant-related criminal, juvenile, dependency, and miscellaneous criminal dockets route through the Clerk of Courts, subject to public-access limits. The court docket is the index, but the office record is still the source for certified copies and nonremote file review.
Pike County Docket Inventory
Public docket sheets use a repeatable set of fields. The exact fields depend on the court level and case type, but the research file identifies these common Pike County docket elements from Pennsylvania web docket conventions and UJS public-access policy.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Docket number | The court's case identifier, such as a Common Pleas criminal number or an MDJ docket number. |
| Court and case caption | The court, parties, and short case title. |
| Case type and status | Whether the matter is civil, criminal, traffic, family, or another type, plus active or closed status. |
| Filing and initiation dates | Dates that mark when the docket opened or key filings were entered. |
| Judge or MDJ | The assigned judge or Magisterial District Judge when shown. |
| Party and attorney data | Participant names, party roles, counsel of record, attorney address, and attorney role where public. |
| Criminal identifiers | Offense tracking number, complaint number, police incident number, arresting agency, charges, grades, and dispositions. |
| Docket entries | Complaints, praecipes, motions, orders, hearings, continuances, judgments, warrants, appeals, and payment events. |
| Financial fields | Fines, costs, restitution, balances, payment plans, and PAePay eligibility. |
Pike County Courts With Dockets
Pike County dockets are split by venue. The Court of Common Pleas handles county trial-level civil, criminal, family, and related matters. The Prothonotary maintains civil, divorce, custody, PFA, judgment, lien, and related Common Pleas files. The Clerk of Courts maintains criminal court files, summary appeals, juvenile and dependency records, and miscellaneous petitions. Magisterial District Courts handle local traffic, landlord-tenant, small claims, summary criminal matters, and preliminary stages for adult misdemeanor and felony cases.
| Court | Judge | Municipal Jurisdiction | Phone |
|---|---|---|---|
| MDJ 60-3-01 | Cristin Cavallaro | Milford and Westfall Townships, Matamoras and Milford Boroughs | 570-296-8108 |
| MDJ 60-3-02 | Randy Schmalzle, Esq. | Blooming Grove, Greene, and Palmyra Townships | 570-226-9650 |
| MDJ 60-3-03 | Ashley Zimmerman | Dingman, Lackawaxen, and Shohola Townships | 570-296-7726 |
| MDJ 60-3-04 | Christina Ballas | Delaware, Lehman, and Porter Townships | 570-828-2880 |
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania is a separate federal venue assigned to the Pike County dockets manifest.
Federal docket channels matter only when the case is federal, such as a federal prosecution, federal civil-rights case, bankruptcy-related appeal, or other federal matter.
Court Administration is another local context point for docket timing. Pike County Court Administration is at 412 Broad Street, Suite 4, Milford, PA 18337, and the research lists its phone as 570-296-3556. That office handles day-to-day court operations such as case assignments, scheduling, jury selection, statistical reporting, and information coordination. It does not replace the Prothonotary or Clerk of Courts for case-file copies, but it explains why schedules and docket activity are managed through the judicial district rather than a generic county clerk counter.
Pike County Dockets vs Case Files
A docket is the index and event history. The full case record is broader. In a civil case, the file may include the complaint, praecipes, service returns, motions, orders, exhibits, judgments, arbitration awards, liens, satisfactions, and appeal paperwork. In a criminal case, the full court record can include pleadings, motions, transcripts, charging documents, pleas, sentencing, costs, restitution, probation, appeals, and expungement or limited-access filings.
| Feature | Docket | Full Case Record |
|---|---|---|
| Format | Chronological case-event list | Documents and filings behind the docket |
| Online access | Often free through UJS when public | May require office review, copy fee, or authorized access |
| Best use | Track status, hearings, outcomes, and case numbers | Read pleadings, orders, transcripts, exhibits, and certified documents |
| Limits | May lag or omit confidential data | May contain restricted, sealed, or nonremote material |
For broad records access, Pike County court records explain the local custodian route beyond docket lookup.
Reading Pike County Court Dockets
Read a Pike County docket from the header down. Confirm the court name, docket number, case type, filing date, status, judge or MDJ, and parties. Then move to the entries. A criminal docket can show charges, statute sections, grading, disposition, disposition date, sentence or probation information, bail, warrants, and payment events. A civil or family docket can show filings, orders, opinions, judgments, and scheduled hearings, but remote access may stop short of the underlying family record.
Glossary terms from Pike research help decode docket language. A complaint begins a civil or criminal case. A praecipe is a written request directing clerk action. A motion asks for a court order. Disposition means the outcome of a case or charge. Arraignment is the proceeding where charges and rights are addressed. Preliminary arraignment is the early MDJ proceeding after arrest where bail may be set. A bench warrant is a judge-issued warrant, often tied to failure to appear.
Bench-warrant entries should be read with care. Pike Local Rule 117 says Magisterial District Judges are available twenty-four hours a day for continuous coverage for warrant issuance, preliminary arraignments, and setting and accepting bail. That means a warrant, bail event, or preliminary arraignment may first appear in an MDJ setting before a later Common Pleas entry exists. If a docket shows a warrant event, confirm the status with the issuing court or the official Sheriff's warrant channel, because withdrawals and updates can lag in public docket systems.
Note: UJS docket sheets are not official Pennsylvania State Police criminal-history background checks.
PACER is the official federal case-access system for federal dockets assigned to the Pike County docket manifest.
PACER should be used for federal filings, while UJS remains the practical route for Pike County state court dockets.
Federal Dockets Near Pike County
Pike County state court dockets do not include federal cases. The research file places Pike County in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, with federal court offices in Scranton, Harrisburg, Williamsport, and Wilkes-Barre. Federal criminal prosecutions, federal civil cases, prisoner civil-rights cases, Social Security appeals, federal-question cases, and diversity cases use federal court rather than Pike County Common Pleas.
The CourtListener public docket search can be useful as a free research supplement, but it is not the court of record. Bankruptcy records are in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Appeals from the Middle District go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Use these federal channels only when the matter is not a Pike County state case.
CourtListener is included in the Pike County court dockets image set as a public federal docket research supplement.
Its role is supplemental because PACER and the federal courts remain the official source for federal docket filings.
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania is another manifest source for Pike County docket research.
Bankruptcy dockets are federal records, so they do not come from Pike County's Prothonotary or Clerk of Courts.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is the appellate channel for Middle District federal appeals.
This appellate source rounds out the federal docket chain for cases that leave the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
For state cases, the appeal path is different. Pike County matters begin in Magisterial District Court or the Court of Common Pleas depending on case type. Appeals from MDJ judgments and summary convictions go to the Court of Common Pleas. Appeals from Common Pleas generally go to the Superior Court or Commonwealth Court depending on the subject, with the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania as the court of last resort. Those later appeal dockets are still Pennsylvania court records, not federal PACER records.