Site help
Wisconsin Circuit Court Access (WCCA) allows attorneys, abstractors, court staff, law enforcement, and the general public access to circuit court cases.
Because of statutory requirements, certain case types are not available using WCCA.
While some counties have loaded historical cases (Door County has probate cases going back to 1859), most counties have data going back to the time when they began using circuit court case management system. To view any cases not available on WCCA, visit the Clerk of place. See when counties began using the circuit court case management system.
Use the following bookmarks to explore this page or scroll down.
General information
WCCA allows users to search for cases, civil judgments, and generate reports, such as attorney calendars. Navigate to the various selection windows using the Navigation bar at the top of each window. To do an advanced case search, select "Search > Advanced."
To use WCCA, you must enter data into one of the selection windows and select the "Search" button. Any results display in a list. To view the details of the record, select the link. For example, on a simple case search, you will retrieve a list of cases. To view a case, select the case number link.
If your search results in multiple rows, you can move through the records by selecting the "Next" or "Previous" link. To return to the list, select the "Return to search results" link.
Some WCCA reports and the case court record also display in printable (PDF) format. To save the PDF version of the page, select the printer icon.
Simple search
Party name
The simple search allows you to easily search for parties on circuit court cases. You can search statewide for parties. If you are searching statewide, you must select "Statewide" and enter at least three characters in the "Last name" field of the "Party name" section followed by the wildcard symbol "*". You must also enter at least three characters of the first or middle name in the "Party name" section, which may also be followed by a wildcard "*". Provide as much information as possible, as the results will return faster and there will be fewer records to sort through. If your search runs too long, you will need to re-submit your search with more details.
Business name
When searching for a business, you must select either "Statewide" or a county and enter at least three characters of the business name in the "Business name" field, followed by the wildcard symbol "*". Provide as much information as possible, as the results will return faster and there will be fewer records to sort through. If your search runs too long, you will need to re-submit your search with more details.
Case number
Wisconsin circuit court case numbers consist of a four-digit year, a two-character (alpha) case type, and a six-digit number. To search a case number, enter a case number in the box provided. Case numbers may be entered such that the century part of the four-digit year and any leading zeros of the six-digit number can be omitted. Ex: 02cf1 will be converted to 2002CF000001.
Birth date
Enter month, date, and year in the MM/DD/YY format. When a birth date is entered, a party name must also be entered. Not all party entries will have a corresponding birth date, especially on civil-type cases. Try searching by a party name without birth date and only use the birth date field when you need to further limit your search.
The full birth date will display on criminal cases. For other case types, you will only see the month and year of birth.
Advanced search
Party name
Use the "Party name" section to search for cases by a name. For criminal, traffic, and forfeiture cases, the name search only looks for defendant party types.
If you want to search statewide, you must select "Statewide" and enter at least three characters in the "Last name" field of the "Party name" section followed by the wildcard symbol "*". You must also enter at least three characters of the first or middle name in the "Party name" section, which may also be followed by a wildcard "*". Provide as much information as possible, as the results will return faster and there will be fewer records to sort through. If your search runs too long, you will need to re-submit your search with more details.
If you want to search in a county, you must select a county and enter at least three characters in the "Last name" field of the "Party name" section followed by the wildcard symbol "*". You must also enter at least three characters of either a first or middle name in the Party name section.
Middle name/initial
Use this checkbox when you want records to display that match the middle initial you entered into the middle name field and those records that do not contain a middle name or initial. If the "When searching using a middle name, also show parties without a middle name" checkbox is checked, you must enter a complete first name and a middle name/initial.
Birth date
Enter month, date, and year in the MM-DD-YYYY format or use the calendar picker to select the date. When a birth date is entered, a party name must also be entered. Not all party entries will have a corresponding birth date, especially on civil-type cases. Try searching by a party name without a birth date and only use the birth date when you need to further limit your search.
The full birth date will display on criminal cases. For other case types, you will only see the month and year of birth.
Note: If a birth date is entered, the party name must be matched to the party birth date, and the alias name to the alias birth date. If the alias birth date is different than the party birth date on a case, and you enter the party name and the alias birth date, your search will not return the case.
When searching for a business, you must select either "Statewide" or a county and enter at least three characters of the business name in the "Business name" field, followed by the wildcard symbol "*". Provide as much information as possible, as the results will return faster and there will be fewer records to sort through. If your search runs too long, you will need to re-submit your search with more details.
The "Party name" search looks for any matching aliases. Alias types are: Also known as, adoptive name, doing business as, formerly doing business as, now known as, previously known as, personal representative, and true name.
County
Select "Statewide" to search all counties, or select a specific county.
Case number
Wisconsin circuit court case numbers consist of a four-digit year, a two character alpha case type, and a six-digit number. To search by case number, enter the year, case type, and the number in the "Case number" field. WCCA will fill in any zeros to the left of the number, so if the case number is 1998TR000001, enter 1 after the case type (ex. WCCA will convert 98tr1 to 1998TR000001).
Case number range
To search for a range of cases, select from the year and case type dropdown menus, and enter the number range in the "from" and "to" fields.
The second number must be larger than the first. For example, to search from 1998CF000001 to 1998CF000099, select 1998 from the first dropdown list, CF from the second dropdown list, enter 1 in the first text-entry field, and 99 in the second text-entry field.
Case types
The case type dropdown menu contains five case type groups and corresponding individual case types. The case type groups are:
Civil | Civil, Family, Habitual traffic offender, and Small claims |
Criminal | Criminal felony, Criminal misdemeanor, and Criminal traffic |
Group file/ miscellaneous | Commitment of an inmate, Construction lien, Condominium lien, Foreign judgments, Group file, Hospital lien, Incarcerated person, Joint tenancy, Mechanic's Lien, Tribal court orders, Transcript of judgment,Tax warrant, Unemployment compensation, and Worker's compensation |
Probate | Informal probate, Probate, and Wills |
Traffic and forfeiture | Criminal traffic, Forfeiture, and Traffic |
When searching using case type, additional criteria must be provided.
It is not necessary to select a case type when searching by case number. If you do, your case type must match the case type in the case number range field.
Case status
Select a specific case status from the following: Closed, Filed only, Open, or Reopened.
Filing date
To select by filing date, enter month, date, and year in MM-DD-YYYY format. For a filing date range, use the calendar pickers to select a beginning and end date for your search. Searches are limited to 30 days.
Class code
Enter one or more class codes to limit your search to cases with specific class codes. You must enter the complete class code.
When searching using "Class code" in addition to selecting a county, you must select at least one of these items:
- Party name
- Case number
- Prosecuting attorney
- Issuing agency
- Filing date
- Citation number
- DA case number
- State bar ID number
State bar ID number
Enter the attorney's state bar ID number to return a case list for that attorney. You must enter the complete state bar ID number. Select the applicable radio button for either the "Party attorney" or "Prosecuting attorney" to search for cases where the attorney is listed as the attorney of record.
Citation number
Enter the citation number. Citation numbers may not exactly match what appears on the citation. For example, the citation may read X123456-0 but be entered into the system as X123456, so you may have to try different formats to match the numbers. Possible formats include X111111-1, 111111-1, and X111111.
DA case number
Enter the DA case number to return that case. You must enter the complete DA case number. The "DA case number" field is intended for court staff, law enforcement and attorneys.
Issuing agency
To search by issuing agency, first select a county, then select an issuing agency from the "Issuing agency" dropdown.
Offense date
Select the start date of the range you wish to search for cases within using the first date selection field/calendar picker. In the second date selection field/calendar picker, choose any date up to 30 days following the start date previously selected.
Use the State Bar ID No. search for a list of cases by party attorneys.
Docketed civil judgment search
To search for docketed civil judgments using a wide range of criteria, including judgment party name, judgment date, satisfaction date, and docket date, select "Search -> Judgment".
The "Civil judgment details" window displays judgment information -- it does not display complete case information. It is intended for use by abstractors.
This search will only return judgments with a docket date.
Calendar
- The "Court" calendar displays scheduled activities for the selected court official over the selected date range.
- The "Attorney" calendar displays activities for the given attorney over a date range. You must select either prosecuting attorney or party attorney.
- The "Law enforcement" calendar displays a list of scheduled activities over the selected date range for a selected issuing agency.
Reports
- The "Civil judgment events" report displays civil judgment events for the selected date range.
- The "Docketed civil judgments by docket date" report displays a list of civil judgments for the selected docket date range.
- The "Docketed civil judgments by judgment date" report displays docketed civil judgments on cases for the selected judgment date range.