Search Chatham County Court Records Online
The Chatham County court system links public users to re:SearchGA for case access and e-filed documents. The local Odyssey guide says the portal covers Superior, State, Magistrate, Probate, and Recorder's Court records, with document purchase access for Superior, State, Magistrate, and Recorder's Court filings. The county court home page also links eFile Georgia for filing and routes Probate and Recorder's Court users to separate tools when the record type is more specific.
Online case access is useful, but it is not the same as every paper in the file. The Clerk of Superior Court says the public can search open cases and view parties and proceedings, and closed cases may be viewed when the case number is known. Scanned images are not shown on the public internet because filings can include identity-theft data. Registered access and document purchase rights are controlled through the portal and the clerk offices.
- Start with the Chatham court-system eServices links or go directly to re:SearchGA.
- Create or sign in to the account if the portal asks for registration before search or document access.
- Search by party name, case number, court type, or date when those fields are available.
- Review the docket entries, court, judge, party names, and status before paying for any document.
- Use the clerk counter, public terminal, mail option, or record room if the file is older, closed, restricted, or not fully imaged online.
State Court of Chatham County is a good example of why timing matters. Misdemeanor and traffic matters bound over from Recorder's Court or municipal courts may take one to six weeks to arrive and receive a State Court case number. A hearing is not scheduled until the District Attorney issues an accusation, so a person may see an arrest, citation, or lower-court record before a full State Court case appears.
Chatham County Court Records Search Fields
General case searches use party, case, court, and date details, while Recorder's Court citation searches use traffic-specific fields. The citation portal is narrower than a full civil or criminal case search, but it shows the kind of precise data that can help match a Chatham County court record to the right court, date, and person.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Notes / Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Citation Number | Text | Optional / unspecified | Used on the citation-number tab for Recorder's Court traffic cases. |
| DL Number | Text | Optional / unspecified | Used with a state dropdown on the driver's-license tab. |
| Social Security Number | Text | Optional / unspecified | Example format shown by the portal is 111-22-3333. |
| Date of Birth | Date / text | Optional / unspecified | MM/DD/YYYY, used with Social Security and name searches. |
| License Plate Number | Text | Optional / unspecified | Used on the vehicle-information tab with a state dropdown. |
| First Name / Last Name | Text | Optional / unspecified | Used for name searches, usually with date of birth. |
| Business Name | Text | Optional / unspecified | Used when the case or citation is tied to a business name. |
The Chatham court home also publishes daily proceeding fields, including Name, Case No, Courtroom, Type, Session Time, Judge, Attorney, StartTime, and CourtSessionID. Those fields help with court dates and docket checks, but they should be read as schedule information, not a complete case file.
Chatham County Court Records by Court
Chatham County does not use one clerk or one court for all public files. Superior Court is the broad trial court for felonies, divorce, equity, domestic matters, adoptions, and major civil cases. State Court handles civil matters that overlap with Superior Court, plus misdemeanors and traffic matters bound over from Recorder's Court or municipal courts. Magistrate Court covers small claims, dispossessory filings, garnishments, arrest and search warrants, and preliminary hearings.
The county's official State Court page is a useful source for civil and misdemeanor jurisdiction in Chatham County.
State Court records are especially important when a Recorder's Court or municipal matter moves from a citation or lower-court appearance into a prosecutor-filed accusation.
Probate Court records are separate from ordinary civil case records and include estates, wills, guardianships, conservatorships, marriage licenses, weapons carry matters, and some mental-health orders. Recorder's Court and municipal courts create traffic, ordinance, payment, failure-to-appear, plea, and bench-trial records. Juvenile Court files are handled apart from adult case records and have stricter access rules.
| Court | Common Chatham County Records | Main Access Path |
|---|---|---|
| Superior Court | Felony, divorce, broad civil, domestic, adoption, lien, appeal, and equity records. | re:SearchGA, Clerk of Superior Court, public terminal, or certified-copy request. |
| State Court | Misdemeanor accusations, bound-over traffic cases, civil matters, subpoenas, hearings, and dispositions. | State Court clerk office, case-management records, and proceedings search. |
| Magistrate Court | Small claims, dispossessory, garnishment, warrant applications, preliminary hearings, and civil docket records. | Magistrate clerk, court docket contacts, re:SearchGA or counter request. |
| Probate Court | Estates, wills, guardianships, marriage records, weapons carry, and probate record-room files. | Probate Court record room, Georgia Probate Records, mail request, or appointment. |
| Recorder's / Municipal Courts | Citations, ordinances, payment records, bench trials, failures to appear, and cases later bound over. | Recorder's Court portal, municipal court clerk, or State Court after transfer. |
What Chatham County Court Records Show
A Chatham County court record may be a docket entry, a pleading, a hearing notice, an order, a judgment, a disposition, a bond entry, a sentencing document, or a certified copy. The exact fields depend on the court and case type. Civil files focus on parties, claims, service, answers, motions, judgments, and post-judgment steps. Criminal files focus on defendant, charges, arraignment, pleas, motions, disposition, sentence, and probation-related filings.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Case Number | The court's tracking number, including the new number assigned when a bound-over State Court case is entered. |
| Party Names | Plaintiffs, defendants, petitioners, respondents, or criminal defendants tied to the file. |
| Court / Courtroom | The court class, courtroom, judge, session time, and related location details when posted. |
| Proceedings | Filings, hearings, motions, orders, judgments, accusations, pleas, and sentencing entries. |
| Documents | Public documents that may be available for purchase to registered users or from the clerk counter. |
| Status / Disposition | Open, closed, dismissed, judgment entered, guilty plea, acquittal, sentence, or other final event. |
For broad case-file context, Chatham County court dockets are best for tracking hearings and entries, while certified court records from the clerk are used when an official copy is needed for legal or agency use.
Clerk Counters and Older Chatham County Records
Any person may access public court records in Superior, State, Magistrate, and Probate clerk offices at the courthouse, subject to court rules and confidentiality limits. The Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority profile identifies Tammie Mosley as Chatham County Clerk of Superior Court and lists the office at 400 W. Oglethorpe Avenue, Room 178, Savannah, Georgia 31401, with weekday hours.
The Magistrate Court clerk page identifies the clerk and court-administration channel for Chatham County Magistrate Court records.
That separate Magistrate Court contact matters for dispossessory, small-claim, warrant-application, preliminary-hearing, and docket questions that do not belong at the Superior Court counter.
Clerk of Superior Court
400 W. Oglethorpe Avenue, Suite 178
Savannah, GA 31401
(912) 434-8920
8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday-Friday
State Court Clerk Area
400 W. Oglethorpe Avenue, Suite 127
Savannah, GA 31401
Public terminals for case-status checks are in the first-floor lobby.
State Court case information and public terminal access
Older, closed, or non-digitized records may require a known case number, a clerk search, or a mail request. Probate research may require an appointment or mailed request with the Probate Court record room. Court clerks can explain record access and copy steps, but they cannot give legal advice.
Probate and Federal Court Records
Chatham County Probate Court keeps a distinct record set. Estate files, guardianships, conservatorships, marriage records, weapons carry records, and probate filings do not all appear in the same way as Superior or State Court cases. Probate Court is at 133 Montgomery Street, Room 509, and the research and record room provide appointment and mail channels for copy requests.
The official Chatham County Probate Court page is the starting point for probate-specific court records.
Probate Court access is more appointment-driven than many trial-court counters, so marriage, estate, and guardianship requests should follow Probate Court's record-room instructions.
The Probate Court fee page also matters when a certified or exemplified copy is needed.
Chatham County Probate Court fees publish copy and payment rules for probate record requests.
Those fees are separate from Magistrate Court or Superior Court copy charges and should not be assumed for other Chatham County court records.
Federal cases are outside the county court system. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia has a Savannah federal presence, and bankruptcy cases are handled by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Georgia. Federal case access uses PACER and federal CM/ECF systems, not the Chatham County clerk portals.
PACER is the official federal case access path for district, bankruptcy, and appellate records.
Use PACER when the record involves a federal indictment, federal civil case, bankruptcy case, or appeal rather than a Chatham County trial-court file.
Public Access to Chatham County Court Records
Georgia public-records law starts with a presumption of access. O.C.G.A. 50-18-70 says public-records law is broadly construed, and O.C.G.A. 50-18-71 opens public records for inspection and copying unless another law or court order makes the record confidential. Court records also have court-specific access rules, e-filing timing rules, and privacy limits.
A key e-filing limit comes from O.C.G.A. 15-6-11, which is cited by the Chatham court system in connection with public access to e-filed documents. Documents are not treated as publicly filed until the clerk accepts them. That matters when a party has submitted a filing but the case record has not yet updated.
Note: Online Chatham County court records may lag clerk acceptance, lower-court transfer, document review, or citation processing.
Restricted Chatham County Court Records
Not every record can be viewed by name search. Juvenile records are restricted under O.C.G.A. 15-11-701 and O.C.G.A. 15-11-708. Adoption filings, some family-violence records, mental-health proceedings, sealed criminal records, and records with personal identifiers may be withheld, redacted, or limited to parties, attorneys, agencies, or people with a court order.
Georgia record restriction limits public access to eligible criminal history, but it does not erase the record for all purposes. Georgia.gov explains that restricted records remain available to judicial officials and criminal justice agencies. Chatham County Police also directs record-restriction requests for police charges through the jurisdiction where the arrest occurred. For the full court case file and outcome, use Chatham County criminal court records rather than an arrest or police report alone.