Search McKean County Court Records
The main online starting point is Pennsylvania UJS Case Search. McKean County links users to the Pennsylvania Judiciary Web Portal for public access to appellate, Court of Common Pleas, and Magisterial District Court docket sheets, Common Pleas and MDJ calendars, state and local rules, and ePay. UJS Case Search is a free public docket service, not a private paid search site.
Use the search method that matches the record you have. Participant Name and Organization searches work best with County = McKean. Docket Number searches work best when the number is exact. Citation Number searches need the citation format with the dash. Criminal cases may also be searched by OTN, SID, complaint number, or incident number. UJS may require current browser support, cookies, JavaScript, TLS 1.2, pop-ups, or PDF viewing.
- Open UJS Case Search and choose a search method such as Participant Name, Docket Number, Citation Number, OTN, Complaint Number, or Calendar Event.
- Choose McKean County when the county filter appears, especially for name, organization, or date searches.
- For a known docket number, enter the exact format. Common Pleas numbers begin with CP, and Magisterial District Court numbers begin with MJ.
- Open the matching docket and review case status, filing date, parties, events, charges, disposition, sentence, costs, or hearing dates.
- Contact the Prothonotary, Clerk of Courts, Register of Wills, Orphans' Court, or MDJ office when a full file or certified copy is needed.
| UJS Field | Type | Format Note |
|---|---|---|
| Search By | Dropdown | Includes Appellate, Attorney, Calendar Event, Citation Number, Complaint Number, Date Filed, Docket Number, Incident Number, Organization, OTN, Participant Name, and SID. |
| Docket Number | Text | Use CP for Common Pleas and MJ for Magisterial District Court docket formats. |
| Citation Number | Text | Traffic citations require the dash, such as the format A5368532-1. |
| County | Dropdown | Select McKean to narrow statewide results. |
| Scheduled Events Only | Checkbox | Useful for upcoming hearings, trials, conferences, or arraignments. |
McKean County Courts at a Glance
Pennsylvania's court system is the Unified Judicial System. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court, followed by the Superior Court and Commonwealth Court. The Court of Common Pleas is the trial court of general jurisdiction. McKean County is Judicial District 48, and the county's lower trial courts are Magisterial District Courts.
The official county court page says District Justices handle small claims, landlord-tenant disputes, driving violations, non-traffic violations, and criminal offenses that may be bound over to Common Pleas Court. Family Court handles divorce, child support, custody, dependency, delinquency, and Protection From Abuse orders. Orphans' Court handles adoptions, terminations, guardianships, and accounts in estate-settling disputes.
| Court or Office | Address | Phone | Case Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Court of Common Pleas | 500 West Main Street, Smethport, PA 16749 | 814-887-3323 | Civil, criminal, family, Orphans' Court divisions, and appealed lower-court matters. |
| District Judge Luther | 22 Davis Street, Bradford, PA 16701 | 814-368-5075 | MDJ traffic, non-traffic, landlord-tenant, small claims, and preliminary criminal cases. |
| District Judge Engman | 116 Fraley Street, Kane, PA 16735 | 814-837-7131 | MDJ cases in the Kane area. |
| District Judge Todd | 625 East Water Street, Smethport, PA 16749 | 814-887-5743 | MDJ cases in the Smethport area. |
The McKean County government homepage is one of the county-wide entry points captured in the image manifest.
The homepage is useful for confirming county department navigation before moving to a specific court or clerk record request.
Visit McKean County Courthouse
The primary courthouse is the McKean County Courthouse, 500 West Main Street, Smethport, PA 16749. The Pennsylvania courts county page gives the phone as 814-887-5571 and hours as Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Court Administration for the Court of Common Pleas can be reached at 814-887-3323, fax 814-887-2712. The jail is separate at 17013 Route 6, Smethport, PA 16749.
McKean County Courthouse
500 West Main Street
Smethport, PA 16749
814-887-5571
Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Court Administration
McKean County Court of Common Pleas
500 West Main Street
Smethport, PA 16749
814-887-3323
Fax: 814-887-2712
McKean County Jail
17013 Route 6
Smethport, PA 16749
814-887-2333
Use for current county custody questions.
The McKean County courts landing page links the Court of Common Pleas, Domestic Relations, Magisterial District Judges, Probation, and local rules.
That court landing page helps separate courthouse services from sheriff, jail, and elected-official record offices.
McKean County Court Record Types
Common public docket records can include docket number, court type, judicial district, case caption, filing date, case status, participants, attorneys, events, hearing times, judge or MDJ, charges or statutes, grading, pleas, dispositions, sentence, bail, fines, costs, restitution, and payment activity. UJS public docket sheets are viewable and printable, but full documents usually require an office request.
- Criminal records: Common Pleas criminal cases are maintained through the Clerk of Courts function, with MDJ preliminary and summary records at the lower-court level.
- Civil records: Complaints, answers, motions, praecipes, judgments, arbitration packets, continuance motions, and orders route through the Prothonotary.
- Family records: Divorce, custody, child support, dependency, delinquency, and Protection From Abuse records may have public-access limits.
- Orphans' Court records: Probate, estate, inheritance tax, guardianship, adoption, and account matters route through the Register of Wills and Clerk of Orphans' Court.
- Traffic records: Driving violations are mostly Magisterial District Court records, searched through UJS or PAePay when payable.
The McKean County Court of Common Pleas page is the official county source for local court structure, court administration contacts, UJS portal descriptions, courthouse history, and court responsibilities.
The Common Pleas page is also the best local source for the courthouse history and the way county court divisions are described.
McKean County Clerk Offices
McKean County uses a split clerk structure. Vicky Madine is listed as Prothonotary and Clerk of Courts at the courthouse, phone 814-887-3270, fax 814-887-3219. That office handles Common Pleas civil and criminal filing functions, fees and collections, jury selection, bail collection, public services for court-affiliated offices, and genealogy information involving divorces, custody issues, and criminal record searches.
Wendy Yaros is the Register of Wills and Clerk of Orphans' Court, phone 814-887-3260. That office handles wills, estate administration, inheritance tax, inventories, First and Final Accounts, marriage applications and licenses, adoption paperwork, guardianship paperwork, and Orphans' Court proceedings. Marriage licenses are by appointment only, and applicants are told to call the office.
| Office | Records | Phone |
|---|---|---|
| Prothonotary | Civil Common Pleas files, divorce genealogy information, custody-related searches where available. | 814-887-3270 |
| Clerk of Courts | Criminal Common Pleas filings, bail collection, criminal record searches. | 814-887-3270 |
| Register of Wills and Clerk of Orphans' Court | Probate, estates, inheritance tax, marriage licenses, adoptions, guardianships. | 814-887-3260 |
McKean County Public Access Rules
For court case information, UJS Case Search is usually the first stop. If a record is not online, call or visit the correct filing office. For agency records outside court case files, Pennsylvania's Right-to-Know Law provides an open-records route. Court records can still be unavailable online because they are juvenile, expunged, sealed, limited access, too recent, too old under retention rules, or not part of the public docket system.
Key Statutes:
Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law, 65 P.S. Section 67.101 et seq. - agency records are requested through an open-records process, but court rules still control nonpublic court records.
18 Pa.C.S. Section 9122 - adult criminal-history expungement eligibility in Pennsylvania.
18 Pa.C.S. Section 9123 - juvenile-record expungement authority in Pennsylvania.
23 Pa.C.S. Section 1303 - marriage licenses generally cannot be issued before the third day after application unless an exception applies.
McKean County Sheriff and Jail
Sheriff Dan Woods is listed on the county Sheriff's Office/Jail page. The sheriff phone is 814-887-3454, toll free 1-888-836-1950, and fax 814-887-5753. Jail phone is 814-887-2333. Sheriff duties include serving warrants, executing writs and orders, serving domestic-violence protection orders, handling complaints, prison transports, mortgage foreclosures, and courthouse security for criminal trials.
No official McKean County online jail roster or active warrant list was located in the research. Current county custody information should be checked through the jail, Pennsylvania VINE, or the DOC locator for state-sentenced inmates and parolees. The DOC locator does not include county-facility inmates. Personal jail mail now routes through JailATM in Jonesboro, Arkansas, while legal mail and approved publications can still use the local jail address.
The Pennsylvania courts McKean County page confirms the courthouse address, phone, and weekday hours.
Use the state judiciary page for court location confirmation, then use the sheriff and jail contacts for custody or service questions.
McKean County Traffic and Payments
Traffic cases in McKean County are primarily handled by Magisterial District Judges. UJS supports Citation Number, Docket Number, Participant Name, and scheduled-event searches. PAePay allows payment of traffic tickets, court costs, fines, restitution, and certain Common Pleas or MDJ amounts. The PAePay help page states that paying traffic citations online requires a guilty plea during the payment process.
Card payments through PAePay and PAePay Bail carry a 2.75% nonrefundable service fee. A court traffic record is different from a PennDOT driver record. The court record shows citation, docket, plea, disposition, fine, or warrant events when public. The PennDOT Individual Driver Records portal provides the driver-history file from PennDOT.
The Pennsylvania courts overview explains the statewide court pyramid and Unified Judicial System structure.
That statewide structure explains why traffic, Common Pleas, and appellate records may appear in the same UJS ecosystem but come from different court levels.
Recent McKean Court Procedures
McKean County adopted Local Criminal Rule 510 in June 2026 for administrative processing and identification. It requires qualifying defendants charged with third-degree misdemeanor or greater offenses to appear for fingerprints and photographs within 10 days at Bradford City Police Department, 18 Kennedy Street, Bradford, or McKean County Jail, 17013 Route 6, Smethport, unless another rule path applies. It also covers overnight, weekend, and holiday arrests, video arraignment and booking, private prosecutions, Central Court, and a $100 booking fee after conviction or ARD.
The research also found the 2025 McKean County 3G Program through Adult Probation, which includes community-service, garden, wood-project, fair outreach, donation, and produce components. No official county page for a standalone drug court, DUI court, veterans treatment court, or mental health court was located. Adult and juvenile probation should not be mislabeled as separate specialty courts unless a later official source says so.
The UJS Case Search page is the primary portal image source for public docket lookup.
UJS searches help locate docket events tied to charges, warrants, hearings, and dispositions, subject to public-access limits.
McKean County Court History
The current courthouse is the fourth McKean County courthouse. The first courthouse was completed in 1826, and the second in 1851. Both were brick Federalist-style buildings designed and built by Smethport native Solomon Sartwell. The second courthouse became inadequate after the Bradford oil boom, when county population rose from under 10,000 in 1874 to more than 45,000 by 1881.
The third courthouse was completed in 1881 for $80,000 and designed by Buffalo architect Milton Earl Beebe. It burned on February 12, 1940, with flames reported as high as 130 feet while firefighters from Smethport, Kane, Mount Jewett, Eldred, and Port Allegany responded. The current courthouse was dedicated June 14, 1942 on the same site. Local history also describes the courthouse's location between Main and King Streets, and between State and Church Streets, as civic symbolism.
The Pennsylvania public records page is the state-level source for court public-record paths.
Public-record rules and courthouse history meet in the same practical point: modern access depends on the right court office and the rules that control public release.
McKean County Court Records FAQ
Where do McKean County court record searches start?
Most public docket searches start with UJS Case Search. Use County = McKean when possible, then follow up with the Prothonotary, Clerk of Courts, Orphans' Court, or MDJ office for full files and certified copies.
Does McKean County have an online jail roster?
No official McKean County online jail roster was found in the research. Current county custody information should be checked by calling McKean County Jail, with Pennsylvania VINE and the state DOC locator used only for their proper coverage.
Which office handles marriage licenses?
The Register of Wills and Clerk of Orphans' Court handles marriage applications and licenses. Marriage licenses are by appointment only, and applicants are told to call 814-887-3260.
Are all court records public online?
No. Juvenile, expunged, limited-access, sealed, adoption, guardianship, confidential identifier, and some civil or family records may be restricted or absent from UJS results.