Search Union County Court Dockets

Union County Court Docket Searches

Union County has no docket database of its own. The place to begin is New Mexico Case Lookup. The judiciary runs it without accounts, and it covers District, Magistrate, Metropolitan, Appellate, and limited Municipal matters. It gives case information only. No document images come with a result.

Treat any hit as a starting point, nothing more. The court that took the filing keeps the file. One county address can hold separate District, Magistrate, or Clayton Municipal dockets at once. So match the court on your notice, citation, or case record before you trust a result. Without a case number, a party name can get a search going, but confirm the location and case category before calling it a Union County case. Case Lookup also shows a CAPTCHA at times. Use an ordinary interactive browser, and remember the barrier says nothing about whether a docket exists.

1. Identify whether the matter names Union County District Court, Union County Magistrate Court, Clayton Municipal Court, or another court.
2. Try Case Lookup for free case-level information, using the live page's current directions.
3. Use registered re:SearchNM when authorized detail or document access is needed.
4. Compare the case number, location, category, type, filed date, judge, and status before relying on an entry.
5. Ask the clerk holding the case for an ordinary or certified court copy when the original record is needed.

Union County Case Lookup Limits

New Mexico Case Lookup costs nothing and requires no account. That makes it a good first stop for a Union County case lookup. But know what it will not show. The judiciary describes it as case information, not documents. Social Security numbers and addresses are withheld. The Municipal portion covers only certain criminal domestic-violence and DWI convictions dating from September 1, 1991. Juvenile criminal cases drop off after July 1, 2007. Family Violence Protection Act order cases drop off after July 1, 2008.

So an empty result does not settle anything. A Union County docket search can come back blank. Then go to the court named on the matter. Registered re:SearchNM access is another option. The clerk or a judicial IPRA request can answer an official file question directly. A missing web result is not a dismissal. It is not a sealing, an expungement, or proof that no case exists.

The New Mexico Judiciary's public-access explanation spells out the difference between the free information route and access-controlled online review. Knowing that difference keeps a Union County docket search pointed at the right tool for the job.

Court Dockets: What They Show

A Union County docket tracks every move in a case over time. Think of it as a running case log, not just a list of court dates. New Mexico's re:SearchNM guide labels each docket item either an Event or a Filing. It uses those two words to mean the same thing. Each entry sits in a timeline. The case header, the parties, attorneys, hearings, and any charges all give you context for what a filing means. One caution applies. A later entry can change the practical effect of an earlier setting, so never read an old event on its own.

Document security is its own layer. An Event or Filing can be visible while the image behind it stays blocked. So a docket entry is not automatically an official copy of the filing.

Union County Events and Filings

re:SearchNM is the richer, Odyssey-based route for a Union County case. It is not the same product as the no-account lookup. After registering, a user can run Quick Search by case number, party, attorney, or judge. Basic Search tabs then break out Cases, Hearings, and Filings. A subscription adds Text in Docs. The guide says you can skip dashes, capitalization, and leading zeroes when typing a case number. It publishes no Union-specific number format, so assume none.

When a result appears, check the header first. Then read Events or Filings in whichever time direction fits the question. Newest first is the guide's default. A hearing tab may carry the current date, type, judge, location, and result. These field descriptions come from the official user guide. That guide is not a promise that every Union County record will expose every field.

Event / Filing

Interchangeable re:SearchNM labels for a docketable recorded action.

Location

The court place recorded for the case or hearing, useful for separating similar Union County results.

Document Security

The access condition attached to a document, which may limit its availability.

CAID

An attorney credential identifier used in a re:Search filter, not a case number.

Union County Courts and Their Dockets

Union County sits in the Eighth Judicial District, alongside Colfax and Taos counties. Above that, the New Mexico Supreme Court is the final statewide court. The New Mexico Court of Appeals handles intermediate appeals. Locally, docket routing starts with the court that accepted the case. District, Magistrate, and Clayton Municipal clerk channels stay separate. A statewide search may still return some summary information.

New Mexico's courts-by-district directory confirms Union's place in the Eighth Judicial District. It is helpful court-map context, but it is no substitute for the docket keeper named in a particular matter.

Union County Magistrate Addresses

Union County has an address wrinkle worth resolving before a records visit. The statewide Court Operations directory lists the Magistrate Court at 836 Main Street in Clayton. Eighth Judicial District materials tell a different story. They place the Magistrate function at 100 Court Street, Suite 5, with the District Court. Both official sources give the same number: 575-374-9472. The FY2024 judiciary report says courthouse construction began adding a hearing room and co-locating Magistrate functions. No final relocation date has been announced.

Call the Magistrate Court before you travel, especially for a docket, hearing, or copy request. The county government office does not keep Judicial Branch records. When a directory conflict like this appears, trust the layered check. The court named on the paper, the current court contact, and the latest hearing information beat any single listing.

Court Dates and Settings in Union County

Union County hearings surface through four different channels, and each answers a different question. The Eighth Judicial District posts separate District and Magistrate hearing-schedule pages. Its wider Court Calendar carries judge calendars. re:SearchNM provides an authorized Hearings search plus case-level hearing detail. For a single setting, the clerk, the court coordinator, or the counter can confirm it. Treat these sources as cross-checks rather than copies of one another.

The district calendar calls itself tentative and updates weekly. Any Union County hearing can move. Stack the newest Event or Filing against the hearing summary first. Then call whichever court holds the docket. Get the current date, time, location, and appearance instruction. The full walkthrough lives on the Union County court schedule page.

The Eighth Judicial District home page gathers its public court resources. There you will find hearing schedules, Case Lookup, and payment information. One caution: a payment channel is not a calendar.

Union County Schedule Confirmation

A hearing record lists fields like Date/Time, Hearing Type, Judge Name, Location, and Result. Expand it and you may also see comments, reschedule reasons, and cancellation reasons. Those details help when they appear. Remember that a scheduled hearing is not a final case result. An earlier hearing event can stop controlling after a later reset or cancellation.

To confirm a District Court setting, call the public counter at 575-374-9577. For Magistrate, dial 575-374-9472 and double-check the street location. Clayton Municipal Court runs its own clerk channel. Its published office numbers conflict. So never infer a hearing date from a Clayton payment page. The court named on the citation or record controls the whole confirmation chain.

Docket Access Under New Mexico Law

New Mexico Rule 1-079 NMRA opens with a public-access rule for court records, covering the register of actions and docket entries, unless an order or a specific rule shields the material. Public access does not promise that every filed document reads online. The rule also handles masking of identifiers, automatic sealing categories, and the procedure for sealing or unsealing. The judicial IPRA route likewise points a requester to the court where the case was filed.

Sealed, confidential, restricted, and expunged each describe a different access situation. When a document will not open online, the cause may be a user profile, a legal restriction, or a document-security setting, not a conclusion about the case itself.

Union County Docket Technology

Union County's public record system pairs a historic courthouse with statewide Odyssey technology. The National Park Service nomination for the Union County Courthouse describes the 1909, two-story domed building on Court Street. It also credits D. P. Kaufman and Son. Age does not shift which office holds a modern electronic case file. It simply explains why District and Magistrate access centers on Clayton.

The District contact page gives the Union County court location. The Magistrate address conflict still argues for calling first. Physical access and electronic access complement each other; neither substitutes for the other.

Case Lookup serves as the free information layer. re:SearchNM is the registered Odyssey review layer. Odyssey File & Serve works as the electronic filing channel, not a general public docket reader. A filing description can appear in Odyssey, SOPA, re:Search, and Online Case Lookup, the filing guide notes, which shows how a filing event reaches public-facing case information.

Union County Docket Records at the Clerk

The Clerk of the Eighth Judicial District Court at the Union County location keeps the District Court dockets and case files. The Magistrate clerk holds Magistrate matters. Clayton Municipal Court has its own clerk channel. The Administrative Office of the Courts is not the case-file custodian. When the online search does not settle a record question, identify the court and ask its clerk about inspection, an ordinary copy, or a certified copy.

Published District and Magistrate public hours run 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on weekdays, open through noon. The local schedule sets $0.35 per reproduced page, $1.50 for each certificate or seal, and $4.00 for tape or CD. Ask for a total before ordering, since no local search, postage, email-delivery, or turnaround charge has a published rate.

Union County Court File Requests

A docket is an activity index. A court record can include documents, exhibits, transcripts, and the record of filings. For a formal request, identify the responsible court first. Then use the New Mexico judicial IPRA form. The blank form asks for a court location, requester contact details, record subject when applicable, type of record, case number, description, CAPTCHA, and submission. It states that a requester need not give a reason. The request must still be reasonably particular.

The clerk counter remains the direct local route for a court-held file or a certified copy. Supply a case number where possible. Add a date range, court name, and document type if known. Filing email addresses published by the District are filing channels, not certified-copy order inboxes. For records before 1997, the judiciary access page sends users to the IPRA online form.

The New Mexico Courts landing page is a statewide gateway to court services and rules. It does not replace the specific Union County clerk responsible for a case file.

Union County Court Context

Union County is small. The 2020 Census counted 4,079 residents. The 2025 Census estimate puts the figure at 3,844. Statewide reporting lumps the county with its neighbors: the Eighth Judicial District files annual numbers for Union, Colfax, and Taos combined rather than for Union County alone. Those district figures for FY2024 include 3,020 new, reactivated, or reopened cases. The split was 59 percent civil, 38 percent adult criminal, and 3 percent juvenile. Staffing that year counted three District judges, five Magistrate judges, and 55 full-time-equivalent employees.

Treat those numbers as background. They say nothing about when a Union County case will move, how busy it is, or how it ends. One detail from the same report does touch access directly: Magistrate courts finished paperless-case processing in 2024, and work began at the Union courthouse on a hearing room plus Magistrate co-location. Even so, none of this replaces confirming your matter with the actual court.

City-by-City Court Dockets in Union County

Census records show four incorporated places in Union County, not five. Those places are Clayton, Des Moines, Folsom, and Grenville. Only Clayton has a Municipal Court on the current judiciary list. For the other three towns, start with whatever court name appears on the paper. Then turn to the statewide portals and the right Union County court clerk. A city name by itself tells you nothing about who keeps the docket.

The Census incorporated-place source gives the population context behind the four-place list. It assigns no cases to any court, and no docket comes from it.

The district directory image confirms the structure: Union sits inside a three-county judicial district. Still, every Union case has to reach the court and clerk actually responsible for it before a docket search means anything.

Union County Court Access Sources

The Eighth Judicial District landing page gathers court notices, Case Lookup, hearing schedules, and payment links in one spot. It works well as a first stop once your document names a District or Magistrate court. For a specific record, hearing, or certified copy, the public access materials and the court's local contact pages offer the better route.

The district landing page works as a gateway. It points you toward services rather than holding one Union County docket database, so you still need to confirm which court location or clerk handles the matter. New Mexico Courts offers the statewide entry point for court services. Its official page covers rules, locations, public access, and system notices.

The statewide portal works as an umbrella for Union County case research. For actual records, the Eighth Judicial District and the court-specific clerk remain the local route.

Map and Directions to the Union County Courthouse

Union County District Court files are kept at the Union County Courthouse on Court Street in Clayton, in Suite 5. The National Park Service describes the building as a two-story, 1909 World's Fair Classic-style courthouse with a dome, designed by D. P. Kaufman and Son and listed in the National Register; a 2010 Judiciary annual report called it the state's oldest county courthouse in continuous use. The FY2024 Judiciary Annual Report notes courthouse construction underway to add a hearing room and co-locate the Magistrate Court with the District Court in the same building.

No official source documents a parking rule, entry-security screening, floor plan, or public-terminal count for the courthouse, and the Magistrate Court's own address is still unsettled between this building and 836 Main Street. Calling 575-374-9577 before a visit confirms the counter and any co-location changes.