Public Access to Connecticut State Court Records

Located in southern New England, the State of Connecticut is home to over 3.6 million people who live and work across the state’s 5,028 square miles. The state capital is Hartford, but the most populous city in the state is Bridgeport. Yale University, established in 1701, is located in New Haven, Connecticut.

Connecticut’s court system consists of a Supreme Court, Appellate Court, Superior Court, and Probate Court.

The Supreme Court is the highest court in the State of Connecticut. The Connecticut Supreme Court can review decisions from the Appellate Court as well as cases involving state statutes and convictions that are capital felonies from the Superior Court. The Court is composed of seven justices, including a Chief Justice.

The Supreme Court of Connecticut’s mission is “to serve the interests of justice and the public by resolving matters brought before it in a fair, timely, efficient and open manner.”

Generally, a panel of five justices hears and decides each case. The Chief Justice may summon the court to sit en banc as seven justices in order to hear an important matter.Connecticut Supreme Court Justices are selected via the assisted appointment method.

The Connecticut Judicial Selection Commission screens candidates and submits a list of candidates to the Governor. The Governor appoints a justice from the list, who is then confirmed by the Connecticut General Assembly.

Supreme Court Justices in Connecticut serve eight year terms and must be renominated by the Governor and reappointed by the General Assembly to stay on the Court. To be eligible to be a Connecticut Supreme Court Justice, a person must be a state resident, licensed to practice law in the state, and under the age of 70, as retirement at 70 is mandatory.

The Connecticut Supreme Court has been involved with many important cases in U.S. jurisprudence, including Sheff v. O'Neill, Horton v. Meskill, and Rosado v. Bridgeport Roman Catholic Diocesan Corp.

The Connecticut Appellate Court was established in 1983 by amendment to the Connecticut State Constitution. The Appellate Court reviews decisions made by the Superior Court that are not sent directly to the Connecticut Supreme Court.

The Appeals Court is composed of nine judges, including a Chief Judge. As an intermediate appellate court, the Appellate Court usually has three judges hear and decide a case. The Court may also sit en banc.

These justices are appointed by the Governor from a list provided by the Connecticut Judicial Selection Commission and are confirmed by the Connecticut General Assembly. To be eligible to be an Appellate Court judge, a person must be a state resident, licensed to practice law in the state, and under the age of 70 because retirement at 70 is mandatory.

The Connecticut Superior Court is a trial court of general jurisdiction that hears all legal controversies in the state, except for those under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Probate Court. The Superior Court of Connecticut has four trial divisions.

The Civil Division of the Connecticut Superior Court handles civil matters, including cases involving landlord-tenant disputes, automobile or personal accidents, product or professional liability suits, and contract issues.

The Criminal Division hears cases involving crimes, including felonies, misdemeanors, violations, and infractions.

The Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven, Stamford-Norwalk, and Waterbury judicial districts have special housing sessions organized by the Housing Division. In all of Connecticut’s other judicial districts, housing matters are part of the regular civil docket.

The Family Division of the Connecticut Superior Court deals with cases relating to family relations and juveniles. The Family Division often handles cases relating to the dissolution of marriage, child custody, relief from abuse, family support payments, juvenile delinquency, child abuse and neglect, and termination of parental rights.

The Connecticut Probate Court has jurisdiction over matters regarding the estates of deceased persons, testamentary trusts, adoptions, conservators, commitment of the mentally ill, guardians of the persons, and estates of minors.

Connecticut has 54 Probate Court districts and six Regional Children’s Probate Courts. Each Probate Court has one judge. Judges are elected to four year terms by electors in their respective districts. To be eligible to be a Probate Court judge in Connecticut, a person must be an attorney.

The Connecticut Judicial Review Council is a branch of the Office of Governmental Accountability. The Council is “charged with investigating complaints of misconduct, disability, or substance abuse made against state judges, family support magistrates, or workers compensation commissioners.”

The Judicial Review Council consists of 12 members. Those 12 members are three Superior or Appellate Court judges, three attorneys, and six members of the public. The Council has the following alternate members: two alternate judges, two alternate attorneys, three alternate members of the public, three alternate family support magistrates, and three alternate workers' compensation commissioner members. Regular members serve four year terms and may not serve consecutive terms.

• Connecticut has 13 judicial districts.

• In 2022, over 233,000 cases were filed in the Connecticut Superior Court.

• 14,525 juvenile cases were added to the Superior Court in 2022.

• The Connecticut Supreme Court disposed of 119 cases in 2022.

UniCourt is your single source for state and federal court records, offering comprehensive court coverage and the most complete and accurate dataset available.

Every day, UniCourt collects all of the newly filed civil and criminal cases in the Connecticut Courts we cover and lets you search through those new case filings in our CrowdSourced Library™. UniCourt then allows you to track state court litigation and have real-time case alerts sent directly to your inbox. Additionally, UniCourt empowers you to download court documents on-demand without ever having to login to a government court database, and gives you unlimited access to download millions of free state and federal court documents in our CrowdSourced Library™.

UniCourt also gives you access to all federal court records across the State of Connecticut, including the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Connecticut, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

UniCourt’s industry-leading Legal Data APIs provide Enterprise users with on-demand, bulk access to structured data from Connecticut state and federal courts. Our Legal Data as a Service (LDaaS) collects, organizes, standardizes, and normalizes court data from Connecticut state courts and all federal courts, and makes it readily available via our UniCourt Enterprise API for business development, competitive intelligence, litigation strategy, and docket management.