What a Chatham County Court Docket Shows
A docket is the court's running schedule. It lists each proceeding for a case in order: filings, motions, hearings, orders, and dispositions. In Chatham County, the court system publishes a date-based docket on the homepage. Open the page, pick a date, click View Cases By Date, and switch between the Criminal, Civil, and Recorders tabs. The result list reads like a daily court calendar with case-level metadata.
The proceedings tool is a calendar view, not a full case file. To pull pleadings, orders, or eFiled documents, jump to the re:Search Georgia portal that the Chatham courts link as Case Lookup. The portal is JavaScript-driven and some document features may need an account or terms acceptance. The homepage carries a disclaimer that the case management database reflects the documents physically filed with the clerks but is provided without warranty.
The Chatham County Court System homepage also links to Georgia Probate Records for probate filings and to the Municipal Online Payments portal for Recorder's Court traffic and ordinance citations.
How to Find Today's Chatham County Court Docket
The fastest path to today's docket is the date proceedings tool on the court homepage. The steps below match what the official tool exposes.
- Open courts.chathamcountyga.gov in a browser.
- Find the Court Proceedings for date input near the top of the page.
- Pick the date you need. The default is the current day.
- Click View Cases By Date to run the search.
- Choose the Criminal, Civil, or Recorders tab to filter by court class.
- Read the result list. Each row shows the case, the courtroom, the time, the judge, and the attorney.
- For the underlying case file or eFiled documents, click the Case Lookup link to re:Search Georgia and pull the case by number or party name.
For a Probate docket, use the Probate links on the court homepage and the Georgia Probate Records portal. Older State Court matters may need a written request and a small per-page copy fee.
Chatham County Court Docket Search Fields
The date proceedings search is short and direct. The form is a date and a category tab. The list of fields below matches what the official homepage exposes today.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Notes / Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Court Proceedings for | Date input | Yes | Pick the day of court proceedings. |
| View Cases By Date | Button | n/a | Runs the date search. |
| Criminal | Tab / filter | Optional | Limits results to criminal proceedings. |
| Civil | Tab / filter | Optional | Limits results to civil proceedings. |
| Recorders | Tab / filter | Optional | Limits results to Recorder's Court proceedings. |
The Recorders tab is useful because Chatham's Recorder's Court handles a large share of local traffic and ordinance dockets out of the Coleman Courthouse. Switch between tabs without rerunning the date search.
Chatham County Docket Result Columns
Each row on the docket result page packs a lot of detail. The columns are the same across the tabs, so once the layout is clear, the daily calendar reads fast.
| Column | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Name | Party or case display name. |
| Case No | Court case number. |
| Courtroom | Courtroom assignment for the proceeding. |
| Type | Event or case type, such as arraignment or motion. |
| Session | Court session grouping for the calendar. |
| Time | Hearing or session time. |
| Judge | Assigned judicial officer. |
| Attorney | Attorney listed for the proceeding. |
| StartTime | System start-time value shown alongside the Time column. |
| CourtSessionID | Internal session identifier. |
The proceedings list does not show case documents, financial fields, or redactions. Those sit inside the case file on re:Search Georgia or in the clerk's office. The Sheriff's 24-hour booking list can supplement the criminal docket when a defendant was just arrested and a first appearance has not yet hit the calendar.
Docket vs Full Case File in Chatham County
A docket is a list. A case file is the full record. The Chatham proceedings tool gives the docket view; re:Search Georgia gives the case file. The difference matters when you need pleadings, orders, or a disposition rather than just the day's schedule.
| Aspect | Docket View | Full Case File |
|---|---|---|
| Source | Chatham Court System homepage | re:Search Georgia (Case Lookup) |
| Best for | Finding today's hearings | Reading filings and orders |
| Search by | Date and court tab | Case number, party name, date range, case type |
| Documents | Not shown | Scanned eFiled documents where available |
| Account | None required | May require login for some documents |
Which Chatham County Courts Publish Dockets
Georgia uses six classes of trial court rather than a single district court. Chatham County hosts all of them. Each court class produces its own docket and feeds the date-based proceedings tool on the court homepage.
- Superior Court — felonies, divorce, equity, title to land, and broad civil matters. See the Superior Court page.
- State Court — misdemeanors, traffic bound over from municipalities, and civil cases not exclusively Superior. See the State Court page.
- Magistrate Court — civil claims of $15,000 or less, dispossessory, garnishment, warrant applications. See the Magistrate Court page.
- Probate Court — wills, estates, guardianships, marriage licenses, weapons carry, mental-health matters. See the Probate Court page.
- Juvenile Court — delinquency under 17 and CHINS/dependency under 18; access is restricted under O.C.G.A. 15-11-700 through 15-11-710.
- Recorder's Court — Chatham and Savannah traffic and ordinance citations. See the Recorder's Court page.
Smaller cities run their own municipal court dockets. Bloomingdale, Garden City, Pooler, Port Wentworth, Thunderbolt, and Tybee Island each hold a separate court. State Court takes bound-over misdemeanors from those courts.
Judges on the Chatham County Court Docket
The docket lists the assigned judge for each proceeding. Chatham sits in the Eastern Judicial Circuit. Chief Superior Court Judge John E. Morse Jr. presides along with Judges Timothy R. Walmsley, Benjamin Karpf, Lisa Goldwire Colbert, Tammy Stokes, and Christopher K. Middleton. State Court has Chief Judge Gregory V. Sapp, Judge Elizabeth E. Coolidge, and Judge Derek J. White. Probate Judge Thomas C. Bordeaux, Jr. handles the Probate Court. Chief Magistrate Mary Kathryn Moss has served since January 4, 2005, alongside three other magistrates. Recorder's Court lists Hon. Joe Huffman, Hon. Claire Cornwell-Williams, and Chief Judge Harris Odell, Jr.
The judge column on the result list helps when several courtrooms run hearings at the same time. The same case number can have multiple proceedings on different days under different judges. The session and StartTime columns sort the courtroom flow.
What Chatham County Docket Entries Contain
Each docket entry on the calendar is a single proceeding. The fields are case-level metadata. The full file holds the documents, the orders, the financials, and the dispositions. Common entries on a Chatham docket include arraignment, motion hearing, plea, sentencing, status conference, calendar call, bench trial, and jury trial.
Charge entries on Chatham booking lists use the Georgia statute code, a short description, and an F or M classification for felony or misdemeanor. Common abbreviations on the docket include CV for civil, CR for criminal, DR for domestic relations, and SCDR for small claims. A bond of $0.00 does not always mean release is possible because holds, probation, or state custody flags can still apply.
Note: A docket entry showing a charge is not a conviction; only a disposition line in the case file confirms the case outcome.
Accuracy of Chatham County Court Dockets Online
Online court data refreshes from clerk activity, so there can be a lag between a hearing and an updated docket entry. The Chatham homepage disclaimer says the case management database reflects the documents physically filed with the clerks but does not give a warranty of accuracy. The clerk's office is the official source when a docket entry looks off. For a case that needs to be confirmed, call the clerk that holds the case file.
For older bookings, call the jail at the Receiving and Discharge number rather than relying on the 24-hour or 72-hour booking list. The booking list ages out and is not a docket.