Skip Navigation

Spokane County, Washington
County Clerk
Clerk of the Superior Court
Clerk's Office Home Page Spokane County Home Page Spokane County Government Index
General Information
bullet About the County Clerk
bullet Records Maintained by the Clerk
bullet Frequently Asked Questions
bullet Fees/Costs
bullet Case Filing Index Sheet
bullet Case File Numbering System
bullet Notice to Filers About Case Info PDF document
bullet Format Rules for Pleadings
bullet Access to Court Records
Services
bullet Domestic Violence/Anti-Harassment
bullet Documents Filed Under Sealed Cover Sheets
bullet Access Sealed Records
bullet Family Law Court Records
bullet Criminal History and Criminal Records
bullet Pro Se Forms
bullet Adoptions
bullet Tape/CD Duplication - Transcripts
bullet Probate/Wills/Trusts/Guardianship
bullet Official Publications PDF document
bullet Name Changes
bullet Pre Marking & Indexing Exhibits PDF document
bullet Emancipation of Minors
bullet State Judicial Information Systems (JIS) - Case Search
Resources
bullet Superior Court Resources
bullet Spokane County Resources
bullet Other Resources
Contact Information


County Clerk’s Office
1116 West Broadway Avenue
County Courthouse, Room 300
Spokane, WA 99260
(509) 477-2211

Page Translation

Case File Numbering System


The County Clerk has used a numerical filing system since the recording of file No. 1 for each filing beginning in the 1880’s and we progressed in numerical sequence through June 30, 1978 for the juvenile files and through December 31, 1978 for other files.

Our numbering system was divided into three sections being criminal, civil/domestic and probate/guardianships/adoption/mental illness. Commencing July 1, 1978 and January 1, 1979 we converted our system to computer docketing and the nine-digit numbering system, which is set up as follows: Case number example

The first two digits of the case number are used to indicate the year the case was filed. The third digit is used to designate the case type. The next series of digits is the actual sequential number of the case beginning from "00001" in that particular year. The last digit of the case number is called the "check-digit" and is used to verify the correctness of the previous digits and year.

Our office started with three case types: Criminal, Civil, and Probate. The Criminal case types contained all criminal actions and also contained paternity actions from April 6, 1891 to June 17, 1974. The Civil case types contained all civil matters. It also contained all domestic and paternity matters up until 1980. In 1980 the Civil and Domestic cases were separated. Paternity cases remained a part of Domestic cases from 1980 to 1982. Probate case types contained all probate, guardianship, adoption, and mental illness matters. Juvenile matters were set apart and were later separated into Juvenile Dependency and Juvenile Offender.

From 1982 to present, the case types
have been set up as follows:
1 =
2 =
3 =
4 =
5 =
Criminal
Civil
Domestic
Probate/Guardianship
Adoption/Paternity




6 =
7 =
8 =
9 =
Civil Commitment
Juvenile Dependency
Juvenile Offender
Execution (Judgment,
Lien & Receivership)

NOTE: PRIOR TO 1982 JUDGMENTS WERE LISTED UNDER THE CASE TYPE OF 5 AND JUVENILE MATTERS WERE LISTED UNDER THE CASE TYPE OF 0.

To view PDF PDF file documents you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed. Click on the icon below to download your free copy and step-by-step instructions:

Adobe Acrobat

This site is the official site of Spokane County Clerk's Office. Links to other sites, or links to this site by any other sites, do not imply any endorsement of, or relationship with, such other sites.