How to Search the Clarendon Court Docket
Your search for a Monroe County court docket starts at Search ARCourts. Pick Participants to look up a person or business by name. Pick Cases instead when you already have a case number or citation. Then set the county to Monroe County. A list of court locations will appear. This is where care matters: the Clarendon District Court department and the Monroe County Circuit Court are two separate dockets with two separate clerks. Both names point to Clarendon. But you cannot swap one for the other.
Here is one thing to know about district results. A district case shows up in one way. The court must feed its records to the statewide service. Circuit courts, under Arkansas rules, must supply at least statistical data. Plenty go further. So an empty district result in Clarendon is not proof that no case exists. Call the clerk and ask before you give up.
- Read the source document for the court level and case number.
- Choose Participants or Cases in Search ARCourts.
- Filter to Monroe County and the correct Clarendon court.
- Confirm the party, number, judge, and court before reading events.
- Call the correct Clarendon clerk for a current date or official record.
Clarendon Court Docket Search Filters
The participant search takes a first, middle, and last name. It also searches an organization or a case description. The last-name field needs at least three characters. It will not run otherwise. For tighter results, use the advanced controls: date of birth, license number, county, and court location. Cases mode works from a case number or citation number. Optional filters cover dates, case type, docket code, county, or location.
| Clarendon search | Fields | Critical choice |
|---|---|---|
| Participant | Name or organization | Select Monroe and the right court level |
| Case | Case or citation number | Match District or Circuit Court |
| Clerk fallback | Name, number, date, document | Call the office that filed it |
A Clarendon case lookup on Search ARCourts can pull up a lot: parties, the judge, filings, upcoming events, charges and dispositions where they apply, judgments, and links to some documents. Not every case shows every block of information. Keep one limit in mind, too. A printout from the web is not a certified court record.
The Clarendon Municipal Court
Use the official name when you search: Monroe County District Court, Clarendon Department. Plenty of people still type “Clarendon Municipal Court.” The clerk will know what you mean. But the county department label is the one that matches the Judiciary directory. The office sits at 270 Madison Street. Call 870-747-5200 or fax 870-747-9969.
What does this court hear? Traffic tickets, misdemeanors, ordinance violations, and preliminary felony matters. It also hears civil claims and small claims within its jurisdiction. The directory lists Judge Elizabeth Skinner on the bench and Denise Sturmer as chief clerk. The department posts no online docket, fine sheet, or caseload totals. It publishes no standing hours or recurring docket schedule. Call ahead before you go.
Clarendon Department
270 Madison Street
Clarendon, Arkansas
870-747-5200
Fax: 870-747-9969
Clarendon Clerk Denise Sturmer
For the current Clarendon clerk, turn to the directory itself. The official profile for Denise Sturmer lists who holds the office and the contact route for the Clarendon Department, including details useful for any Monroe County court docket question.
If your Clarendon docket search comes up empty, the clerk's office is the answer. Denise Sturmer's staff can check a court date. They can pull a case file or provide copies from the Clarendon Department. A phone call often settles in minutes what an online hunt cannot.
Have your details ready first. Start with the case or citation number. Add the department, plus the document title or its approximate date. Say whether you want a plain or certified copy. Then ask about the current cost, accepted payment methods, delivery options, and turnaround time. The court offers no local copy form or fee schedule. Those numbers come from the clerk directly.
Clarendon Court Dates and Settings
The Clarendon District Court posts no regular printed schedule. Search ARCourts future events are the main online starting point when a result exists. Read the newest event and compare later filings for a continuance, reset, or new setting. Then call 870-747-5200 to confirm a Clarendon district date.
| Date | The latest date shown after later entries are reviewed. |
|---|---|
| Time | The current call or individual time confirmed by the clerk. |
| Location | Clarendon District Court at 270 Madison unless the court directs otherwise. |
| Judge | The judicial officer assigned to the Clarendon case. |
| Setting type | Arraignment, pretrial, trial, compliance, civil, or small claims as recorded. |
A future event listed in the portal is just an upcoming category. It does not prove the date still stands. The statewide Judiciary calendar can move things along, but it never replaces a local Clarendon setting check with the court.
Clarendon Has No Current Schedule
Clarendon simply does not publish a recurring calendar. That does not mean court never convenes there. What it means is practical: skip the temptation to borrow an old schedule from a different department, and never treat a date pulled from a search result as final. Always confirm against the most recent docket activity before you act on it.
Confirm directly: For a Clarendon District Court setting, call 870-747-5200. For a circuit setting, call the Circuit Clerk at 870-747-3615 and ask for the proper division.
Weather, holidays, and continuances can all throw a Clarendon court date into doubt. When that happens, check the Arkansas Judiciary's closure and change notices. Then call the clerk once more. A short chain guards against a stale event. Use the portal first. Then follow the latest entry, the correct Clarendon clerk, and the closure notice last.
Name the court level every time you verify a Clarendon date. Two courts sit in the city. A bare request for "the Clarendon docket" may not give staff enough to work with. Say District Court or Circuit Court, hand over the case number, and describe the event shown. When a continuance appears, ask whether the portal already reflects the new setting. Also ask which office sends the next notice.
Clarendon Traffic Tickets
A citation written in Clarendon should name the court that received it. Search ARCourts is worth a try first. The separate eTraffic citation query walks you through it. Pick a court, then enter a first and last name. Supply either a citation number or a license/state ID with a date of birth. The live court dropdown governs which courts participate, so trust it over any static list you may find.
Choose the Clarendon Department when you pay. The Circuit Clerk is not a payment court. If Clarendon is missing from the dropdown, call 870-747-5200. New tickets can take up to one week to show up online. DWI and certain other charges demand an appearance, so some Clarendon citations cannot be paid online at all.
| Route | Purpose | Clarendon limit |
|---|---|---|
| Search ARCourts | View available case activity | District coverage may be incomplete |
| eTraffic | Query or pay a participating citation | Use only the exact Clarendon court |
| District clerk | Confirm intake, setting, and options | 870-747-5200 |
Paying in full through eTraffic counts as more than paperwork. It waives your appearance and your trial, and the court treats it as a guilty or no-contest plea. Ask about your options first, because that payment is a substantive legal act.
Clarendon District Judge Profile
Judge Elizabeth Skinner serves the Monroe County District Court, which includes Clarendon. Her official judicial profile lists her current assignment in the state directory.
The directory profile names a sitting judge. It does not promise that Judge Skinner presides over every Clarendon setting. The docket entry tells you which judge is assigned. The clerk can confirm it too. Clarendon posts no specialty-court calendar, remote-hearing rule, night court, teen court, or standing docket day. A judge's wider county role is no basis for guessing those details.
Where Clarendon Cases End Up
Clarendon runs two court branches, not one ladder. Traffic tickets, ordinance violations, misdemeanors, preliminary felony matters, limited civil claims, and small claims begin in the Clarendon Department. Felonies, probate, domestic-relations, juvenile matters, and major civil cases skip that step and start at Monroe County Circuit Court in Clarendon.
Clarendon district path: Clarendon Department › authorized de novo appeal › Monroe County Circuit Court
Clarendon circuit path: Felony, probate, domestic relations, juvenile, or major civil matter › Monroe County Circuit Court
A qualifying district judgment can move up to Circuit Court for de novo treatment. From there, the Circuit Court handles the appeal as Arkansas law allows. Not every Clarendon matter starts in District Court. The appeal also does not merge the two clerks' files. The files stay separate.
Clarendon's Two Madison Street Counters
One Clarendon detail matters most: the two counters sit at different addresses. District Court is at 270 Madison Street. The Monroe County Courthouse, which houses the Circuit Clerk, is at 123 Madison Street. Same street, same town, different dockets. Send a traffic citation to the Circuit Clerk or a felony request to the district clerk and it lands with the wrong office.
| Clarendon office | Address | Principal records |
|---|---|---|
| District Court department | 270 Madison Street | Traffic, misdemeanor, ordinance, limited civil, small claims |
| Circuit Clerk | 123 Madison Street | Felony, general civil, domestic relations, probate, juvenile |
The Circuit Clerk answers at 870-747-3615. A separately elected County and Probate Clerk also works at the courthouse. Do not assume that office holds current judicial probate files. Probate belongs to a Circuit Court division. The Circuit Clerk is the safer first stop. Call before you visit a Clarendon counter. Neither office publishes set hours, parking rules, or security screening. No floor location, copy cutoff, or public terminal is listed either. Ask which address should receive your request. Ask whether you can inspect the file and whether it is on site. A phone call beats crossing Madison Street only to face the wrong docket keeper.
Public Access to Clarendon Court Records
Administrative Order 19 controls public access to Arkansas court case records, including Clarendon District Court files. What you can see remotely may be narrower than what the filing clerk can show you at the counter. Sealed content, juvenile material, protected identifiers, and anything restricted by law, rule, or order stay outside an ordinary public search.
Key rules:
Administrative Order 19 controls court-record access, exclusions, and compiled information.
Arkansas FOIA, Ark. Code Ann. §25-19-105 provides the broader public-record inspection and copying framework.
Ark. Code Ann. §9-27-309 works with court rules on juvenile confidentiality.
A Search ARCourts printout is only a reference. It is not a certified Clarendon record. For an authoritative district docket or order, ask Denise Sturmer's office. For a circuit file, ask the Circuit Clerk. A docket entry and its underlying document are two different records. Say Search ARCourts lists a Clarendon judgment but supplies no PDF. Give the proper Clarendon clerk the case number, the filing title, and the date. Then ask whether your purpose needs a plain or certified copy. A certified copy carries the clerk's authentication; a portal print does not. For testimony from a Clarendon hearing, name the judge or division. Ask how to reach the official court reporter. The filing chronology on a docket is not a word-for-word transcript.
Clarendon County Seat Court Context
Clarendon is Monroe County's seat and one of its incorporated cities. The 2020 Census counted 1,526 residents. That figure says little about court workload. The city posts no separate annual filing total. Both district and county-level offices sit here, so Clarendon's court role outruns its population number. Charles L. Thompson designed the present Monroe County Courthouse in 1910. Builders erected it in 1911 on ground that held four earlier courthouses. That history gives the 123 Madison address local weight. It cannot tell you which old case files survived or where each archive sits. For an older Clarendon court record, ask the right clerk. Ask whether the file is online, scanned, on paper, microfilmed, or transferred elsewhere. No archive inventory or terminal list is published. Call before visiting either Clarendon office. A 2024 Arkansas Heritage grant restored six historic first-floor courthouse windows. That helps you spot the county building. It reveals nothing about any particular case file. The 1872 courthouse burned in 1895, though the exact range of lost records is unknown. An old docket gap should prompt an archive question to the Circuit Clerk. Do not assume the fire destroyed your record.