You are probably reading this because you don’t know whether you have a warrant, and you are trying to figure out how to find, search or locate a warrant or warrants. Here is everything you need to know about finding our if you have a warrant or not.
For traffic and misdemeanor warrants in California, if you hire a lawyer you do not have to go to Court. As a lawyer, I can also help you find your warrant.
Step One: Locate your Case Number
The first thing you have to understand is that every warrant comes from a case, and every case has a case number. If you want to find a warrant, first you need to find the case number.
Do I Have a Warrant: Links to Find Your Case Number
- Los Angeles Criminal Defendant Search (requires account/charges $1)
- Los Angeles Criminal Case Summary (requires case number/free)
- San Diego Sheriff Warrant Search (requires name, year of birth/free)
- Orange County Criminal & Traffic Case Search
- Riverside Criminal & Traffic Case Search (requires account/charges $1)
- San Bernardino Criminal & Traffic Case Search (free)
Every county in Southern California has a different format for case numbers, and each county has different numbering systems for traffic, misdemeanors and felonies. Once you have found your case number, you either want to either follow the link or put the case number into a separate case summary search engine.
If you can’t complete step one, you should probably talk to me before you give up. Don’t forget to look separately in Criminal and Traffic if your county has different search engines.
Once you’ve completed step one, come back here for step two, interpreting your case information.
Step Two: Interpreting Case Information
If you are at step two, you have found a case number, or numbers. If you are someone who has multiple cases, start at the newest and work backwards. The most common reason a case has a warrant is because the defendant did not show up for court. If you put in a case number and it has no entries, that means you never went to court and there either is or will be a warrant at some point in the future. Usually there is lag of several months between a missed court date and the issuance of a warrant, but issuing a warrant is standard for everything except the most minor traffic violations. So, if you have a case number and there is nothing about the case, yes, you have a warrant, or will have one.
If you enter a case number and there are entries under the case, it can be hard to tell whether or not there is a warrant out. If you get to this step and are stuck, it is a good time to consider talking to me.
Step Three: Go to Court (or Hire Me to Go For You)
If you have found your case number and determined that you have a warrant you are ready to go to Court OR hire me to go for you. Take your case number to the right court house and go to the Clerk’s office and ask them what the warrant is about. They will be able to tell you (or me).
At that point you can add the case on calendar, and that is also when it starts to get complicated. If you get this far, and you are worried about the consequences of making a court appearance, you should consider hiring me to go for you. For most post conviction warrants the fee is only 500, and you’ll probably spend at least a whole day spread out over multiple dates trying to fix the warrant yourself. If you are out of the area, the cost to travel to southern California will probably be more than the cost of hiring me to do it for you.
If you call me and have located your case number, I will give you a free fifteen minute phone consultation.