Marshall County Trial Courts
The Marshall County Courts Department lists four local trial courts: Marshall Circuit Court, Marshall Superior Court No. 1, Marshall Superior Court No. 2, and Marshall Superior Court No. 3. The Indiana Judicial Branch explains that Indiana trial courts include circuit courts, superior courts, and city or town courts where created. The names are tied to state history and local practice, so the most useful Marshall County question is not "district court or county court" but which Circuit or Superior Court has the case.
The clerk accepts filings and enters judgments and orders for all four courts. A public records search begins with Indiana MyCase for non-confidential case information, while certified copies and documents not linked online are requested from the Marshall County Clerk. The courts and clerk operate around the downtown Plymouth courthouse block, with some pages listing 211 W Madison Street and the Circuit Court page listing 501 N. Center Street, Suite 301.
For local court-record work, the court assignment matters. It tells a reader where a hearing is scheduled, which judge or court staff may be involved, and which case-type codes may appear in the chronological case summary. It also helps when calling the clerk about copies or checking whether a document is public, sealed, expunged, or otherwise restricted.
Marshall County Court List
The county's published court pages provide the address, phone, judge, office floor, and visit rules below. Superior Court No. 3 did not have a separate direct phone captured in the inspected snippet, so the safer route is to use the county court page or clerk for routing questions.
| Court | Case Types or Role | Address | Phone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marshall Circuit Court | Broad civil, criminal, family, juvenile, probate, protective order, post-conviction, trust, and tax-sale matters | 501 N. Center Street, Suite 301, Plymouth, IN 46563 | (574) 935-8780 |
| Marshall Superior Court No. 1 | Local trial-court matters assigned under county rules | 211 W Madison St, Plymouth, IN 46563 | (574) 935-8740 |
| Marshall Superior Court No. 2 | Local trial-court matters assigned under county rules | 211 W Madison St, Plymouth, IN 46563 | (574) 935-8763 |
| Marshall Superior Court No. 3 | Local trial-court matters assigned under county rules | 211 W Madison St / courthouse complex, Plymouth, IN 46563 | Use county court page |
| County Clerk / Clerk of Circuit Court | Filings, judgments, orders, copies, certifications, marriage licenses, and traffic payments | 211 W Madison St, Plymouth, IN 46563 | (574) 936-8922 |
Marshall County Judges
The researched county court pages identify Judge Janette E. Surrisi for Marshall Circuit Court, Judge Tami L. Napier for Marshall Superior Court No. 1, and Judge Matthew T. Aldridge for Marshall Superior Court No. 2. The courts publish fax numbers and office-floor notes as well, but hearing-date and case-copy questions should still be tied back to the case number and assigned court.
Judicial assignment can affect where a person appears, where paper notices route, and which local rule applies to a case. The county also links local court rules and a Local Court Caseload Allocation Plan effective January 1, 2025, showing that case administration is updated through local rules rather than a static list of court rooms.
Marshall County Case Types
The Circuit Court page gives a useful local inventory of case-type labels and codes. These labels can appear in MyCase search results, docket lines, or court-copy requests. They are not just legal shorthand; they help narrow a search when a party name produces too many results.
| Category | Marshall County Examples |
|---|---|
| Civil | Civil tort, civil plenary, mortgage foreclosure, reciprocal support, tax sale, small claims, collections, and rent or ejectment matters. |
| Family | Domestic relations, divorce, grandparent visitation, paternity, child support, and protection-order matters tied to family cases. |
| Probate | Estate supervised, estate unsupervised, estate miscellaneous, guardianship, guardianship miscellaneous, and trust filings. |
| Juvenile | CHINS, delinquency, juvenile miscellaneous, status, paternity, termination, and child-protection categories. |
| Criminal and traffic | Criminal miscellaneous, felony or misdemeanor case activity, infractions, traffic tickets, post-conviction relief, bond, warrant, and sentence entries where public. |
Some categories are public only in part. Juvenile, adoption, mental health, sealed, expunged, and protected-person material may be excluded from public access even when the case type exists in the local court system.
Indiana Courts Compared
Marshall County does not have the same court map as states with separate county courts, justice courts, or district clerks. The comparison below reflects the research map for this Indiana county and avoids importing wrong-state court labels.
| Feature | Circuit / Superior Courts | City or Town Courts | Federal Courts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local role | Main Marshall County trial-court venue for filed local cases. | May exist where created by local government, but none were located as a Marshall County court-record venue in official county pages. | Separate federal civil, criminal, bankruptcy, and appellate records. |
| Records source | MyCase and Marshall County Clerk copies. | Use the issuing local court if a city or town matter exists. | PACER, PACER Case Locator, federal district or bankruptcy court. |
| Common matters | Civil, criminal, family, probate, juvenile, traffic, and protection-order records. | Local ordinance or traffic matters where created. | Federal crimes, bankruptcy, federal-question civil cases, diversity cases, appeals, and federal prisoners. |
| Clerk route | County Clerk / Clerk of Circuit Court. | Local court route if applicable. | Federal court clerk, not the Marshall County Clerk. |
Marshall County Case Flow
Case flow depends on the case type, but most court records begin with a filing or charging event, then develop through docket entries in the chronological case summary. Criminal records often move from arrest or investigation to a prosecutor filing, arraignment, hearings, plea or trial, disposition, sentencing, and possible appeal. Civil and family records usually begin with a complaint or petition, service, response, motions, hearings, orders, judgment, and post-judgment activity.
Local trial route: Filing or charge › Clerk case number › Circuit/Superior Court assignment › CCS docket entries › hearing or order › disposition or judgment › appeal to Indiana Court of Appeals or Indiana Supreme Court when allowed.
The public search trail is similar: locate the case in MyCase, read the CCS, check whether documents are linked, then ask the clerk for certified or unlinked public records. For federal cases involving Marshall County people or events, the route changes to PACER and the federal courts in northern Indiana.
Visit Marshall County Courts
The local court pages list court office hours as 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern, Monday through Friday, with a lunch closure from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. and closures on major holidays. Public parking is available on all three sides of the courthouse block and in parking lots north of the building, but the county warns jurors to arrive early because parking is limited.
Note: Marshall County court pages state that cell phones are not permitted in the courthouse, so plan before entering.
Federal Court Records
Federal records are separate from Marshall County Circuit and Superior Court records. Marshall County is within northern Indiana for federal judicial geography. Federal district court records are tied to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, bankruptcy records to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Indiana, and appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
Full federal docket and document access usually requires PACER registration or the PACER Case Locator. CourtListener may provide free opinions and selected dockets, but it is not a full replacement for PACER.
The U.S. District Court source is one of the federal court images assigned to this page.
That federal route applies only when the case is in federal court, not when a Marshall County Circuit or Superior Court case is being searched.
Bankruptcy matters use the Northern District of Indiana Bankruptcy Court.
County clerk copy fees and state MyCase searches do not retrieve federal bankruptcy filings.
Federal docket access may require a PACER account.
PACER registration is separate from any Indiana court or Marshall County clerk account.
The PACER Case Locator can search across federal courts.
Use it when the federal court is not known or when multiple federal districts may be involved.
Appeals from federal trial courts go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
Indiana state appeals remain in the Indiana appellate system instead.
For free-law research, CourtListener can be useful for opinions and selected docket material.
It should be treated as a supplement, not the official source for Marshall County court copies.