San Diego County Superior Court Records

Search for public court records online in the Sacramento County Superior Court of California (SD Superior Court). Lookup case information you need and conduct searches by case number, case name, party, attorney, judge, docket entry, filing date, courthouse, case type, party type, party representation, and more. Get access to the court dockets, court documents, transcripts, and legal data on the parties, attorneys, law firms, and judges involved in court cases in San Diego County.

UniCourt’s case search gives you real-time access to a range of case types in California trial courts, including Civil Right, Contract, Criminal, Family, Forfeiture, Labor, Personal Injury, Probate, Property, and Small Claim. Along with streamlined access to court data, you can also get the latest court docket information, obtain case summaries, check case statuses, download court documents, view tentative rulings, and track lawsuits to get real-time alerts on new case updates.

About San Diego County Superior Court

The San Diego Superior Court, or alternatively the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego, is a court of general jurisdiction, serving over 3.2 million residents who live and work across the 4,261 square miles of San Diego County, California. This county is home to California’s second most populous city, San Diego. The Superior Court of San Diego County is the second largest court system in the state and can hear matters relating to criminal felonies, juveniles, families, probate and mental health, traffic, landlord tenant disputes, and civil issues.

Each trial court in California, including the SD Superior Court, is managed by a Presiding Judge. The Presiding Judge serves a two-year term and is elected by fellow judges. The Court Executive Officer then provides day-to-day oversight and administrative management. The Court is divided into Civil, Criminal, Family, Juvenile, Probate, Traffic, Appeals, and Jury Divisions.

To serve its large population, the San Diego County Superior Court operates out of the following seven locations across San Diego County: the Central Courthouse at 100 Union Street, San Diego, CA 92101, which can be reached by calling (619) 844-2700; the Hall of Justice at 330 West Broadway, San Diego, CA 92101, which can be reached by calling (619) 450-7275; the Juvenile Court at 2851 Meadow Lark Drive, San Diego, CA 92123, which can be reached by calling (858) 634-1600; the North County Courthouse at 325 South Melrose Drive, Vista, CA 92081, which can be reached by calling (760) 201-8600; the South County Courthouse at 500 3rd Avenue, Chula Vista, CA 91910, which can be reached by calling (619) 746-6200; the East County Courthouse at 250 East Main Street, El Cajon, CA 92020, which can be reached by calling (619) 456-4100; and the Kearny Mesa Traffic Facility at 8950 Clairemont Mesa Blvd, San Diego, CA 92123, which can be reached by calling (858) 634-1800.

The Court Executive Officer is Michael Roddy, located at the Central Courthouse. You can reach the Executive Officer’s office by calling (619) 844-2500.

The Presiding Judge is the Hon. Michael T. Smyth, located at the Central Courthouse on the tenth floor. You can reach the Presiding Judge by calling (619) 844-2100.

San Diego County Superior Court Divisions

Civil Division

The Civil Division of the San Diego County Superior Court handles non-criminal lawsuits among individuals and/or corporations brought to enforce, redress, or protect private rights. This division has jurisdiction over disputes involving money, title or possession of real property, or seeking compensation for a civil tort. The Civil Division also processes petitions to change one's name and gender, petition to change a child's name, and petitions seeking civil harassment restraining orders. This division also handles small claims, where individuals represent themselves in cases involving $10,000 or less.

The Civil Division operates out of all of the locations in the county.

Criminal Division

The Criminal Division of the SD Superior Court has jurisdiction over infraction, misdemeanor, and felony cases. This division conducts arraignments, criminal readiness, preliminary hearings, trials, motions, sentencing, probation hearings, and mental health proceedings.

Criminal cases in San Diego County are heard in the Central, North County, South County, and East County Courthouses.

Family Division

The Family Division has jurisdiction over matters involving divorce, legal separation, annulment, parentage, child custody, visitation, support (child and spousal), domestic violence restraining orders, and family related issues.

Family cases in San Diego County are heard in the Central, North County, South County, and East County Courthouses.

Juvenile Division

The Juvenile Division of the San Diego County Superior Court claims that “[t]he primary role of the Juvenile Court is to ensure public safety and to protect each youth under its jurisdiction.”

The Juvenile Division conducts proceedings involving children and youths under the age of 18, and nonminor dependents who are 18 to 21 years of age. The two primary kinds of cases heard at Juvenile Division court are: juvenile justice (delinquency) cases, where a youth is charged with an offense; and dependency cases, which involve allegations of child abuse and neglect. The Juvenile Division also hears cases involving adoption, emancipation, and a child’s application for permission to marry or domestic partnership.

The Juvenile Division operates from the Juvenile Court; the North County and East County Courthouses; and the Kearny Mesa Traffic Facility.

Probate Division

The Probate Division handles decedents' estates, trusts, guardianship of minors, and the conservatorship of adults who are unable to provide for their personal needs or manage their own financial resources.

The Probate Business Office and Courtrooms are located in the Central Courthouse and North County Courthouse. The Probate Business Office can be reached by calling  (619) 844-2676.

Appellate Division

The Superior Court Appellate Division handles any appeals that are filed. This division will review a record of what happened in the trial court and the trial court's decision to see if there was prejudicial error or no substantive evidence supporting the judgment made at the trial court.

Which court hears an appeal and at which location depends on the type of case that is being appealed.

Jury Division

The Superior Court of San Diego County Jury Division “summons qualified individuals to perform a crucial civic responsibility that provides justice for all – serving on a jury.” Jurors in San Diego County can be selected to serve on panels for criminal or civil trials at locations across the county.

Courthouses in San Diego County Superior Court

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San Diego Central Courthouse
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220 WEST BROADWAY, SAN DIEGO, CA 92101, USA
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San Diego East County Regional Center
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250 EAST MAIN STREET, EL CAJON, CA 92020, USA
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San Diego North County Regional Center
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325 SOUTH MELROSE DRIVE, VISTA, CA 92081, USA
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San Diego South County Regional Center
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500 3RD AVENUE, CHULA VISTA, CA 91910, USA

Facts and Statistics

  1. There are 135 official judicial positions in the San Diego Superior Court System and 19 official commissioner positions.
  2. In 2022, the SD Superior Court saw over 260,000 total filings, with the majority being traffic related.
  3. The San Diego Superior Court system has one of the largest, most expensive courthouses in the State of California, which was built in 2017 and cost $555.5 million to develop.
  4. Over 1,200 employees, including support staff, help the Superior Court operate daily.

Why use UniCourt to search for San Diego County Superior Court Cases?

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

Everyday of the week, UniCourt collects all of the newly filed civil and criminal cases in San Diego County Superior Courts and lets you search through those new case filings in our CrowdSourced Library™. You can also use UniCourt to track state court litigation and get real-time case alerts sent directly to your inbox. Further, 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™.

In addition to the Sacramento County Superior Court, UniCourt provides you with access to other state courts across California, including many of the largest counties across the state, such as the Los Angeles County Superior Courts, the Sacramento County Superior Courts, the Orange County Superior Courts, the Riverside County Superior Courts, and San Bernardino County Superior Courts.

UniCourt also gives you access to court records for all of the federal courts across the state of California, including the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

UniCourt’s industry-leading Legal Data APIs provide Enterprise users with on-demand, bulk access to structured data from California state and federal courts. Our Legal Data as a Service (LDaaS) collects, organizes, standardizes, and normalizes court data from California 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.

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Latest Court Cases from San Diego County Superior Court

Estate of Gary Gene Welch

San Diego County Superior Courts | San Diego Central Courthouse | Probate | 05/26/2023

Limited Conservatorship of Adrian Ayala Triana

San Diego County Superior Courts | San Diego Central Courthouse | Probate | 05/26/2023

Limited Conservatorship of Marjan Majd

San Diego County Superior Courts | San Diego Central Courthouse | Probate | 05/26/2023

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