Resources & Services

New York City Court Information

New York City has five types of courts:

NYC Supreme Court—Civil and Criminal
Criminal Court
Family Court
Civil Court
Surrogate's Court
eCourts

The Supreme Court, Civil and Criminal: The New York State Supreme Court is a trial court that hears civil and criminal cases. The Supreme Court has two branches: Criminal Term and Civil Term in each of the five boroughs. The Criminal Term of the Supreme Court handles various felony and misdemeanor cases, including murder, burglaries, conspiracies, weapons charges, and drug, and traffic cases. The Civil Term of the Supreme Court handles civil cases over $25,000 and hears medical malpractice cases, labor law disputes, motor vehicle cases, and other torts.

Criminal Court: The New York City Criminal Court handles misdemeanors and lesser offenses and conducts arraignments and preliminary hearings for felonies. For general information on the NYC Criminal Court system, call the NYC Criminal Court Information Line at 646-386-4500.

Family Court: The New York City Family Court hears cases that involve children and families. The Family Court has the authority to make decisions over cases involving:

• Abused or Neglected Children (Child Proceeding)
• Adoption
• Custody and Visitation
• Domestic Violence (Family Offense)
• Foster Care Approval and Review
• Guardianship
• Juvenile Delinquency
• Paternity
• Persons in Need of Supervision (PINS)
• Child and/or Spousal Support

For general information on the Family Court, call the NYC Family Court Information Line at 212-347-3700.

Civil Court: The New York City Civil Court hears civil cases involving amounts up to $25,000, as well as other civil matters that are referred to it by the Supreme Court. The Civil Court also hears small claims cases involving amounts up to $5,000 and housing-related civil cases.

Surrogate's Court: The New York City Surrogate's Court hears cases that involve the affairs of decedents and deals with matters of wills and estates. The Surrogate’s Court also handles adoptions.

Learn more about the NYC court system.

eCourts: eCourts is a free online case information service that allows users to find information on active and closed cases in Civil Supreme and Local Civil Courts, as well as future appearance dates for cases in Criminal, Family, and Housing Courts.

eCourts allows you to sign up for the eTrack case-tracking service that provides email updates and appearance reminders for Civil Supreme and Local Civil Court cases.

Learn more about the New York City criminal justice system.