Nevada
Nevada Court Records: How to Search by County, Appellate Case Lookup, and How Sealing Works
Independently fact-checked against primary sources (last audited August 10, 2026). · 5 primary sources cited on this page. How we verify our legal content
Nevada has no single website that searches every trial court case in the state. The state's own judicial website, nvcourts.gov, runs a public Case Lookup tool, but it covers only the Nevada Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, the state's two appellate courts. For a trial-court case, meaning a criminal, civil, family, or traffic matter filed in a district or justice court, the search has to go through the county where the case was filed.
That county-by-county reality is the main thing to plan around before starting a Nevada court records search.
Information last verified on 2026-08-10. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.
This guide is part of a broader look at court records by state; for the mechanics of federal versus state versus county searches generally, see how to look up court records and are court records public.
The Appellate-Only Case Lookup, and Why It Won't Find a Trial Case
Nevada's statewide judicial website offers a tool called Find a Case, searchable by case number, caption or party names, or participant name. Its scope is limited to the Nevada Supreme Court and the Nevada Court of Appeals, meaning it will only return a result for a matter that reached one of those two appellate courts. A trial-level criminal charge, a civil lawsuit filed in district court, or a justice court matter will not show up here at all, no matter how the search is entered. Anyone searching for a case that has not been appealed needs to go to the county where the case was filed instead.
Searching by County: Clark and Washoe
Nevada's trial courts run their own separate online systems rather than reporting into one statewide tool.
Clark County, home to the Eighth Judicial District Court, maintains its own online case search covering district court records. Because Clark County is Nevada's largest county by far, its court system is often the first stop for anyone searching a Las Vegas-area case; contact the Clerk of the Eighth Judicial District Court directly for current search access, fee, and certified-copy details.
Washoe County is a genuine two-system trap worth calling out directly. The Washoe County Justice Court runs its own case search, reached through the county's own washoecounty.gov site, which links out to a separate online services portal and warns that the site may temporarily block an IP address if it detects unusual activity, a standard anti-scraping measure. The Washoe County Second Judicial District Court, a different court level entirely, runs a separate system of its own. Searching one does not search the other, so confirm which court level a case was filed in before assuming a search came up empty.
For any other Nevada county, contact that county's district court clerk directly to find out what online search options, if any, exist locally.
Sealing in Nevada
Nevada does not use the word expungement for adult criminal records. The operative process is called sealing, and it is governed by NRS 179.245. A person petitions the court where the conviction occurred, and if the court grants the petition, the record is sealed from public view.
NRS 179.245(1) sets the waiting period by offense category. Each period runs from the date of release from actual custody or, if later, from discharge from parole or probation. For the misdemeanor categories, the statute measures from release from actual custody or from the date the person is no longer under a suspended sentence, whichever occurs later.
- Category A felony, a crime of violence, or burglary of a residence under NRS 205.060: 10 years
- Category B, C, or D felony: 5 years
- Category E felony: 2 years
- Any gross misdemeanor: 2 years
- A violation of NRS 422.540 to 422.570, a misdemeanor DUI under NRS 484C.110 or NRS 484C.120, or a misdemeanor battery constituting domestic violence under NRS 33.018: 7 years
- Misdemeanor battery, harassment, stalking, or violating a temporary or extended order for protection: 2 years
- Any other misdemeanor: 1 year
Some convictions cannot be sealed at all. NRS 179.245(6) bars a petition for a crime against a child, a sexual offense, invasion of the home with a deadly weapon, a felony DUI under NRS 484C.110 or NRS 484C.120, and several boating-under-the-influence offenses.
The court also has to find that the petitioner was not convicted of, or charged with a still-pending, offense during the waiting period, apart from minor traffic violations. Nevada is not part of the multi-state wave of automatic Clean Slate-style record relief; sealing remains something a person has to petition for.
For a broader look at eligibility and the sealing process, see Nevada expungement laws, which this page does not duplicate.
Certified Copies
A certified copy of a Nevada court document comes from the clerk of the district or justice court where the case was filed, not from a statewide office. Fees and request procedures are set locally by each county, so confirm current details directly with that county's court clerk.
Using Nevada Court Records the Right Way
A county case search is built for checking your own matter or doing general public research, not for compiling a background file on someone else, and Nevada's fragmented county-by-county system makes it easy to search the wrong court and wrongly conclude no record exists. Under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, most arrests and civil judgments age off a consumer report after seven years, but criminal convictions are carved out of that limit under 15 U.S.C. section 1681c(a)(5) and can be reported indefinitely unless the record has been sealed. Anyone assembling public court records for a hiring or housing decision may be acting as a consumer reporting agency under federal law, and the FTC has enforced this directly: in 2023 it reached a $5.8 million settlement with TruthFinder and Instant Checkmate over marketing public-records reports for tenant and employee screening without following FCRA requirements. A county case search is not a substitute for an FCRA-compliant background check when the decision involves employment or housing.
Related Resources
Court Records by State covers the full 50-state picture. See also How to Look Up Court Records, Are Court Records Public?, Nevada Expungement Laws, Nevada Background Check Laws, Nevada Warrant Search, and Nevada Public Records Laws.
Disclaimer
This article explains how Nevada's court records tools are organized. It is general legal information, not legal advice. Sealing eligibility turns on the specific offense category and on exceptions in NRS 179.245 that this summary does not reproduce in full; consult the statute or a Nevada-licensed attorney before relying on a waiting period. Portal features and county systems change without notice; verify current details before relying on them.
Last updated: 2026-08-10. Portal facts and fees reflect their published status as of August 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a statewide Nevada court records search?
No. Nevada's own Case Lookup tool on nvcourts.gov covers only the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. Trial court records, including criminal and civil cases, must be searched through the county where the case was filed, such as Clark or Washoe County.
How do I search Clark County court records?
Clark County's Eighth Judicial District Court maintains its own online case search. Contact the Clerk of the Eighth Judicial District Court directly for current access details and fees.
Are Washoe County Justice Court and Second Judicial District Court records searched the same way?
No. They are two separate systems. The Washoe County Justice Court runs its own case search, and the Washoe County Second Judicial District Court runs a different one. Searching one does not search the other.
How long do I have to wait before sealing a felony conviction in Nevada?
It depends on the offense category under NRS 179.245(1). A category A felony, a crime of violence, or burglary of a residence requires 10 years from release from actual custody or discharge from parole or probation, whichever occurs later. A category B, C, or D felony requires 5 years, and a category E felony requires 2 years. Some convictions cannot be sealed at all under NRS 179.245(6), including sexual offenses, crimes against a child, and felony DUI.
Does Nevada call it sealing or expungement?
Sealing. Nevada does not use the term expungement for adult criminal records; the governing process is sealing under NRS 179.245.
Does Nevada have automatic record sealing like some other states?
No. Nevada is not part of the multi-state Clean Slate wave. Sealing remains a petition a person must file with the court.
Updates
Corrected the sealing section to state Nevada's actual statutory waiting periods under NRS 179.245, replacing an incorrect note that said the periods could not be confirmed.
Independently fact-checked against the cited primary sources
The Law Behind This Article
This article rests on the statutory provisions below, held in our own legal record and retrieved from the official source. Tap a section to read the operative text.
Nevada Revised Statutes, Chapter 179: SPECIAL PROCEEDINGS OF A CRIMINAL NATURE; SEALING RECORDS OF CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS; REWARDS; FORMS
§ 179.245Sealing records after conviction: Persons eligible; petition; notice; hearing; order; waiver of fees for certain victims of sex trafficking.In forcecited in 4 of our articles
1. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 6 and NRS 176.211, 176A.245, 176A.265, 176A.295, 179.247, 179.259, 201.354 and 453.3365, a person may petition the court in which the person was convicted for the sealing of all records relating to a conviction of: (a) A category A felony, a crime of violence or residential burglary pursuant to NRS 205.060 after 10 years from the date of release from actual custody or discharge from parole or probation, whichever occurs later; (b) Except as otherwise provided in paragraphs (a) and (e), a category B, C or D felony after 5 years from the date of release from actual custody or discharge from parole or probation, whichever occurs later; (c) A category E felony after 2 years from the date of release from actual custody or discharge from parole or probation, whichever occurs later; (d) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (e), any gross misdemeanor after 2 years from the date of release from actual custody or discharge from probation, whichever occurs later; (e) A violation of NRS 422.540 to 422.570, inclusive, a violation of NRS 484C.110 or 484C.120 other than a felony, or a battery which constitutes domestic…
Official text (excerpt) · last checked 2026-07-29 · Read the full text in our law library · Verify at leg.state.nv.us
Cited in 17 court opinions in our collectionLatest citing opinion in our collection: 2024
In the courts (editorial summary, independently checked):Sang Man Shin v. State (2009) upheld the NRS 179.245 bar on sealing sexual-offense records and held a pardon carries no right to expunction. State v. Cavaricci (1992) found no discretion to seal where later arrests broke the clean-record condition, but Tiffee (2021) held an eligible petitioner gets a presumption favoring sealing.
Opinions citing this section in our collection:
- State v. Cavaricci (Nevada Supreme Court 1992, 108 Nev. 411)✓Cavaricci won sealing of three 1984 convictions and later arrests, though his record showed at least seven incidents since 1984, including DUIs and battery with a deadly weapon. The court held those were not minor traffic violations, so NRS 179.245(3) gave no discretion to seal.
- Baliotis v. Clark County (Nevada Supreme Court 1986, 102 Nev. 568)✓A former felon whose records were sealed under NRS 179.245 refused to hand police the sealing orders in a private detective license check. The court held the statute lets him disavow the sealed events but cannot force licensing bodies to disregard what they know independently.
- Sang Man Shin v. State (Nevada Supreme Court 2009, 125 Nev. 100)✓Shin, pardoned years after pleading guilty to attempted lewdness with a minor, had his record sealed and then unsealed. The court held NRS 179.245(5)'s bar on sealing sexual offense records does not impinge on the pardons power, because expunction is not a civil right.
Identified automatically from the court opinions citing this section — not a ranking of which case controls.
Also relied on in: Nevada Expungement Laws: How to Seal Your Criminal Record (2025 Guide), Nevada Background Check Laws (2026 Guide), Nevada DUI Laws: Penalties, BAC Limit & License (2026)
United States Code Title 15
§ 1681cRequirements relating to information contained in consumer reportsIn forcecited in 54 of our articles
Except as authorized under subsection (b), no consumer reporting agency may make any consumer report containing any of the following items of information: Cases under title 11 or under the Bankruptcy Act that, from the date of entry of the order for relief or the date of adjudication, as the case may be, antedate the report by more than 10 years. Civil suits, civil judgments, and records of arrest that, from date of entry, antedate the report by more than seven years or until the governing statute of limitations has expired, whichever is the longer period. Paid tax liens which, from date of payment, antedate the report by more than seven years. Accounts placed for collection or charged to profit and loss which antedate the report by more than seven years. Any other adverse item of information, other than records of convictions of crimes which antedates the report by more than seven years.
Official text (excerpt) · last checked 2026-07-28 · Read the full text in our law library · Verify at uscode.house.gov
Cited in 383 court opinions in our collectionLatest citing opinion in our collection: 2026
In the courts (editorial summary, independently checked):Katz v. Donna Karan Co. (2017) addressed the FACTA truncation rule in 1681c(g) and affirmed dismissal for lack of Article III standing, treating material risk of harm as a fact question. Edward Seamans v. Temple University (2014) held the seven-year window in 1681c(a)(4) is extended for an education loan only until that loan is repaid.
Opinions citing this section in our collection:
- Katz v. Donna Karan Co. (Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit 2017, 872 F.3d 114)✓A shopper sued two stores whose receipts printed the first six digits of his credit card number; the Second Circuit affirmed dismissal for lack of standing, seeing no clear error in the finding that those digits show only the card issuer, not a material risk of identity theft.
- Edward Seamans v. Temple University (Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit 2014, 744 F.3d 853)✓A defaulted university loan kept appearing on a borrower's credit reports after he repaid it because the school never reported the delinquency date; the Third Circuit held the Higher Education Act suspends section 1681c(a)(4)'s aging-off rule only until repayment.
- Gonzales v. Arrow Financial Services, LLC (Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit 2011, 660 F.3d 1055)✓A debt buyer offered to settle health club debts over seven years old, saying that if it was reporting the account the bureaus would be told it was settled; the Ninth Circuit, treating those debts as unreportable under section 1681c(a)(4), called that implication misleading.
Identified automatically from the court opinions citing this section — not a ranking of which case controls.
Also relied on in: How Long Does a Felony Stay on Your Record? (2026), Alabama Background Check Laws (2026 Guide), Louisiana Background Check Laws (2026 Guide)
Search our full record of US law — 2.1 million sections, every state + federal →
Sources and References
- Nevada Courts, Find a Case (appellate Case Lookup)(nvcourts.gov).gov
- Nevada Courts, homepage(nvcourts.gov).gov
- Washoe County, Second Judicial District Justice Court Case Search(washoecounty.gov).gov
- Nevada Board of Pardons Commissioners, Sealing Records(pardons.nv.gov).gov
- Cornell Legal Information Institute, 15 U.S.C. 1681c, Requirements relating to information contained in consumer reports(law.cornell.edu)
- Federal Trade Commission, FTC Says TruthFinder and Instant Checkmate Deceived Users About Background Report Accuracy, Violated FCRA(ftc.gov).gov
- Nevada Legislature, NRS 179.245, Sealing records after conviction (waiting periods by offense category)(leg.state.nv.us)
- Nevada Department of Public Safety, Records, Communications and Compliance Division, Information on the Sealing of Nevada Criminal History Records(rccd.nv.gov)