How to Get Court Records
Every Reeves record hunt starts with one question: which clerk holds the case? The answer depends on the court. The District Clerk keeps the 143rd Judicial District Court files. Those cover felonies, major civil matters, family and divorce cases, and delinquent-tax suits. Head one office over for the County Clerk. That office holds County Court at Law civil and misdemeanor records along with probate and guardianship material. A JP clerk keeps precinct traffic, evictions, and small claims. City Class C and ordinance matters stay with Pecos Municipal Court.
- Find the docket and confirm the court and case number.
- Write down the document title and filing date.
- Try the re:SearchTX document viewer when the case appears there.
- Call or email the custodian if the image is missing, gated, restricted, or old.
- Choose a plain copy for reading or a certified copy when authentication is needed.
- Send payment and a return address after the clerk confirms the request terms.
Reeves offers several ways in: online, phone, email, mail, and the in-person counter. Ask ahead about where public inspection is allowed. The county pages promise no specific terminal program. There is also a split worth knowing. Administrative judicial records outside a case file require a written custodian request under Rule 12. Adjudicative case documents, by contrast, go straight to the clerk.
Three Reeves Court Record Products
A docket, a document image, and a certified copy are three different things. The docket is the chronological index of filed and scheduled events. The image is the document itself. It may be the petition, indictment, return, motion, order, judgment, or exhibit. A certified copy is a clerk-authenticated version of that document.
| Product | What it provides | Where to obtain it |
|---|---|---|
| Docket or index | Case metadata, events, status, and hearings when available | County-linked search, re:SearchTX, or clerk |
| Filed image | The actual words, signatures, and terms of a filing | Portal purchase flow or holding clerk |
| Certified copy | Clerk authentication for formal use | Only the clerk holding the original file |
A screen print will not work as a certified copy. Labels on a docket entry rarely spell out every term of an order, either. So jot down the case number, case title, and filing date. Do this whenever a portal wants payment before showing the image. Those three fields are what Reeves County staff need. They pull the correct court record with them.
Types of Court Records
Court records in Reeves County come from more than one court. They also arrive in several formats. One case file may hold the opening pleadings, citations and returns, motions, notices, hearing entries, orders, judgments, and later post-judgment filings. Exhibits may sit with the clerk as well. A transcript of what was said in court is different. The court reporter keeps that, not the clerk.
- Felony indictments, criminal motions, plea papers, and judgments
- Civil petitions, answers, service returns, motions, and final orders
- Family, divorce, delinquent-tax, probate, and guardianship filings
- JP traffic, eviction, small-claims, and fine-only court files
- Municipal citation complaints, pleas, settings, and dispositions
- Appellate clerk records and separate appellate docket entries
Audio, video, exhibits, and transcripts may not appear in re:SearchTX. Ask the court whether the clerk, reporter, or another custodian holds the item. No Reeves transcript rate or turnaround time is published.
Reeves District Clerk Copy Route
Misty Thomas serves as Reeves County District Clerk. Her office sits on the second floor of the Reeves County Courthouse, 100 E. 4th Street, Pecos, Texas 79772. Call 432-287-0222 option 6 or email DistrictClerk@reevescounty.org with any record request. Mail for the office goes to P.O. Box 848, Pecos, TX 79772.
Reeves County District Clerk
143rd Judicial District Court records
100 E. 4th Street, second floor
432-287-0222, option 6
DistrictClerk@reevescounty.org
The office opens Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. One warning deserves attention. Services can be unavailable while the office has docket, so call ahead before driving over. Phone and email both work for questions about records or copies. Filing something new is different. Official filings cannot come by fax or email. Asking for a copy of an existing record can.
What a Court Record Contains
A court record starts with identifiers, then keeps a running account of every act taken in the case. re:SearchTX labels its detailed view Case Details. There you can find the case number and type, the parties, lawyers or judicial officers, filings, documents, and hearings for public participating records. Reeves County systems may show a different subset of these fields.
| Case identity | Cause number, case style, filing date, court, judge, category, and status. |
|---|---|
| Parties | Public plaintiff, petitioner, defendant, respondent, and attorney roles. |
| Chronology | Dated filings, notices, orders, hearings, resets, judgments, and appeals. |
| Filed documents | Pleadings and orders, subject to electronic coverage, fees, and restrictions. |
| Outcome | Disposition, judgment, sentence, dismissal, or post-judgment events. |
Fees, balances, bond data, and judgment sums show up only if the court system exposes them. Protected identifiers can be redacted. Reeves County publishes no universal cause-number format, so rely on the number printed on the court record instead of guessing at a code.
Reeves County Clerk Mail Route
Evangelina “Yvonne” Abila serves as Reeves County Clerk. Suite 101 at 100 E. 4th Street holds the county-held court records. The office publishes its contact points: 432-287-0222 option 3, countyclerk@reevescounty.org, fax 432-400-0822, and P.O. Box 867, Pecos, TX 79772.
The County Clerk page asks applicants to mail a notarized application. It also wants a copy of a valid driver's license and payment, using its linked application package. The form's title is not stated on the accessible page. Not every court-record request needs all of that. Ask which form applies, and send sensitive identification only when it is truly required.
A written request works best when it is specific. Name the court, the case number, the parties, the document name and date, the copy type, your contact details, and a return address. Reeves County posts no fixed processing time for court records and no tracking portal.
Certified Copies and Fees
Both main Reeves clerks publish $1-per-page copies plus an additional $5 certification charge. Search fees differ. Filing fees are not record-copy charges. The re:SearchTX cart may set its own document image price, so confirm the live portal amount separately.
| Service | Amount | Reeves office note |
|---|---|---|
| County Clerk plain copy | $1 per page | Certification adds $5 |
| District Clerk written or email copy | $1 per page | Certification adds $5 |
| District Clerk name search | $5 | Civil or criminal case search |
| County Clerk criminal search | $10 | Published search fee |
| Electronic document | Check current cart | Not the same as clerk certification |
A quick phone call saves trouble before you mail anything to the County Clerk. Ask them to confirm the page count and the postage. Have them cover any certification needs too. Ask what payment they take. For in-house service the office takes debit or credit cards, and certified online payments cover some court records. The District Clerk also accepts credit cards, though it does not spell out every card type it honors.
Older Reeves Court Records
Reeves County posts no retention schedule. It lists no microfilm range and no digitization cutoff for its court records. So older material is a live question. The statewide re:SearchTX system reaches back to 2016. That start date does not promise every Reeves docket from that point is included. The state has also pushed clerks toward system integration. Reeves has not published where that work stands.
When an old docket shows up without an image, ask the clerk a direct question. Does the file sit in storage, on paper, or on microfilm? Narrow the request: a tight date range, the exact court, the case style, and the type of document. A search fee may apply. Staff can quote retrieval time once they find the file. A blank electronic search, by the way, is not a finding that the Reeves court record never existed.
Public Access and Sealed Records
A public Reeves County docket can be rich in detail. Open one and you may see the case number, type, filing date, parties, court, judge, status, and hearing dates. That does not mean the filed images are open too. Access can be restricted even when the metadata is not. The Reeves District Clerk states plainly that adoptions are closed. Juvenile cases, CPS files, protective orders, sealed matters, and confidential family material may all be hidden. Personal identifiers can be redacted from what remains.
Texas access framework: Civil Procedure Rule 76a presumes covered civil court records open and sets the sealing standard. Judicial Administration Rule 12 governs judicial administrative records outside adjudicative case files.
Denied access? Ask which barrier you hit. It might be sealing, confidentiality, redaction, authorization, or simple portal coverage. Sealed material usually needs a judge's order. And skip the ordinary mail request; protected contents do not travel that route.
Reeves Transcripts and Exhibits
A transcript is the court reporter's product, not a certified clerk copy. For the 143rd Judicial District Court, the reporter is Donna Moore. Contact her for availability, pricing, and timing, because Reeves County publishes no transcript fee schedule.
Exhibits and hearing recordings often answer to a different office entirely. re:SearchTX may not carry audio, video, or physical exhibits at all. Give the court the cause number, the hearing date, and a description of the exhibit so staff can point you to whoever holds it.
Reeves Federal Court Records
Federal cases filed in the Pecos Division belong to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. They do not belong to Reeves County. Search those dockets through PACER rather than re:SearchTX or a county clerk. The federal District Clerk keeps a Pecos office at 410 South Cedar Street. The published phone is 432-445-4228.
Federal and state records stay separate even when the parties and facts overlap. Write down the federal case number before you ask for anything. PACER has its own charges. Federal copy procedures have nothing to do with the Reeves $1-per-page clerk schedule.
Reeves Document Purchase Flow
Buying a document inside re:SearchTX is a simple walk. Open Case Details and find the document. Select Add, check the cart, pay, then return to the document name. What you get is access to an image that is available. That purchase does not certify the image. It also does not prove every filing in the case is online.
Service-only filings may be missing. Confidential documents stay unavailable no matter what. If you can see a title but not the file, save the date and description. Then call the Reeves clerk. The case search page explains how to find the matching case first.