What Is a Clay County Court Docket
A docket is the official chronological log of court activity in a case. In Clay County, the Circuit Clerk keeps the docket for every civil, criminal, family, probate, traffic, and small claims case filed in the Seventh Judicial Circuit. Each line is a dated entry. A line may note a filing, a motion, a hearing, an order, a continuance, a plea, a bond, a service return, or a final disposition. The docket is not the full case file. It is the index of events. The actual motions, exhibits, and orders sit behind the docket as the case documents.
Clay County court dockets also serve a second role. The word "docket" is used for the day-by-day list of cases on a judge's calendar. A Monday criminal docket, for example, is the slate of cases set for hearing that morning in a given division. Both meanings apply. Case.net carries the case-level docket. The individual division pages publish the calendar-level dockets the public sees in the courtroom. Both are public under Court Operating Rule 2 unless a case is sealed or confidential.
How to Find Clay County Dockets Online
The main tool is Missouri Case.net, the public case portal for the state judiciary. Case.net offers a Scheduled Hearings & Trials search that works as a public calendar lookup. Pick the date and the court, and the system returns the list of cases set. The same screen also offers case number search, litigant name search, file date search, and judgment index. The Missouri Courts Case.net help page walks through each mode and reminds users that Case.net is not the official court record.
- Open Missouri Case.net and accept the terms.
- Pick Scheduled Hearings & Trials when you want the day-by-day docket, or Case Number Search when you have a known case.
- Set the court filter to the Seventh Judicial Circuit / Clay County.
- Pick the date range or enter the case number or last name.
- Solve any CAPTCHA. Case.net blocks automated traffic.
- Open a result to see the docket entries, hearing lines, party list, and case status.
For dockets that are not posted on Case.net or for older Clay County cases filed before July 1, 2023, the Clay County Circuit Clerk FAQ asks requesters to fax 816-407-3899 with case numbers, identifiers, and return information.
Sample Clay County Docket Entry
A docket entry is short, dated, and built to log a single event. Each entry follows a pattern: when it happened, what happened, who filed it, and whether a document is attached. Clay County uses the same docket fields as the rest of the state under the Missouri case management system. The table below maps the common fields to what they show.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Entry Date | The date the clerk logged the event in the case file. |
| Event Type | Motion, order, hearing, plea, bond, service return, continuance, or disposition. |
| Party Filing | Plaintiff, petitioner, defendant, respondent, attorney of record, or court. |
| Document Link | PDF or image link if remote document access is allowed for the case type. |
| Hearing Date | Future court date set by the event, with division and time when posted. |
| Disposition Code | Plea, verdict, dismissal, default, or settlement label on closing entries. |
| Judge / Division | Numbered division and judge who entered the order or set the hearing. |
The fields match the public-index categories under Court Operating Rule 2: case number, file date, party name, calendar date, and judgment against. The rule lets the index include case title, case type, and status. Confidential data such as Social Security numbers, dates of birth, financial account numbers, and minor names are redacted before the docket reaches public view.
Clay County Divisions That Publish Dockets
The Seventh Judicial Circuit runs nine divisions out of the James S. Rooney Justice Center in Liberty. Three of those divisions post regular docket schedules online through the circuit court site. Each handles a different mix of work, so the docket day looks different in each room.
The first division publishes its docket through the Presiding Judge's page. The lead-in below points to the official division 1 page, which lists the docket areas and treatment court tracks.
The Division 1 page for Judge Shane T. Alexander, the Presiding Judge, lists the felony criminal docket, some circuit civil work, and the grand jury. Division 1 also carries all four treatment courts: Adult Substance Abuse Court, Veterans Court, Mental Health Court, and DWI Court.
The screenshot above shows the official Division 1 page where the docket schedule and treatment court information for Clay County court dockets live.
The Division 2 page for Judge Timothy J. Flook posts the civil docket, pretrial conferences, the probation violation docket, and a criminal docket. Division 2 mixes civil and criminal work, so the day's docket can shift between motion calls and bond hearings.
The Division 2 capture shows the standing docket schedule used to set civil pretrial conferences, probation violation hearings, and criminal matters in Clay County court dockets.
The Division 3 page for Judge Alisha O'Hara handles family work and protection orders. Its standing schedule lists Domestic Violence on the second Tuesday at 1:30 p.m., Parenting Court on the second Tuesday at 9 a.m., domestic relations motions, and bench trials.
The Division 3 capture shows the standing weekly and monthly schedule for the domestic violence and parenting court dockets in Clay County.
- Division 1 - Felony criminal, grand jury, and the four treatment courts.
- Division 2 - Civil, criminal, pretrial conferences, and probation violation docket.
- Division 3 - Domestic violence, parenting court, and family motions.
- Civil Department - Routes the underlying filings and the family case set into the division dockets through the Civil Department.
- Traffic Department - Sets the traffic docket from agency and municipal citations through the Traffic Department.
Docket vs. Full Case Record
The docket is short. The full case record is long. Knowing the split saves time when you are tracking a Clay County case.
| Docket | Full Case Record | |
|---|---|---|
| Format | Dated list of entries. | Petitions, motions, orders, exhibits, transcripts. |
| Access | Free and online through Case.net. | May need clerk request, fee, or in-person visit. |
| Use | Track case progress and hearing dates. | Legal review, evidence, certified copies. |
| Official? | Not certified. | Certified copies come from the Circuit Clerk. |
People often need the docket first and the file second. The docket points to the right case number. The clerk then pulls the paper or scanned file when a certified copy or a sealed document is needed. The Records Retention page describes Missouri Court Operating Rule 8 and how Clay County keeps and digitizes physical files.
How to Read a Clay County Docket
Docket entries use a lot of short labels. Common abbreviations include ARRG for arraignment, PT for pretrial, MTN for motion, ORD for order, CONT for continuance, DISMISS for dismissal, JDG for judgment, and SENT for sentence. A criminal docket may also show BOND, PLEA, and PROB for probation. A civil docket may show ANS for answer, SUMM for summons, SVC for service, and SAT for satisfaction of judgment.
Disposition codes tell you how a case ended. A plea of guilty closes a criminal case with a conviction line. A dismissal with prejudice closes a case and bars refiling on the same claim. A judgment for plaintiff closes a civil case with a money or equitable order. A dismissal without prejudice leaves the door open. The Clay County Criminal Department page explains the felony and misdemeanor steps that show up on the docket from charging through sentence.
Hearing lines show the next court date. A line might read "Pretrial Conference set 09/16/2025 9:00 AM Div 2." That tells you the division, the date, the time, and the type of hearing. Calendar dockets posted by each division add up these hearing lines into a daily list.