Finney County District Court
Kansas District Courts are trial courts of general jurisdiction. In Finney County, District Court handles civil lawsuits, felony criminal cases, misdemeanors filed in district court, domestic relations, divorce, child support, protection-related matters, juvenile cases, probate, small claims, state-law traffic cases, and appeals from Municipal Court. The court sits in the 25th Judicial District with Greeley, Hamilton, Kearny, Scott, and Wichita counties.
The local District Court contact point is the Finney County Courthouse, 425 N 8th Street, Garden City, KS 67846. The published main phone is 620-271-6120, fax 620-271-6140, and public hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central. The 25th Judicial District Finney page lists four district judge divisions and one magistrate judge for Finney County.
The courthouse is also the practical place where several record paths meet. A person may search online first, then need the clerk counter for a certified copy, a courthouse terminal for a public file not shown online, or phone-menu routing for traffic, criminal, domestic, civil, collections, and juvenile questions. District Court is therefore both a trial court and the local access point for many Finney County court records.
The Finney County District Court directory is the assigned local source for District Court contact routing.
The directory confirms the court's address, phone routing, fax, clerk contact, and service options used for local records work.
Finney County District Court Divisions
The researched local court page lists four numbered District Court divisions associated with Finney County and one magistrate judge. The divisions share the same courthouse contact information for public record routing, while case assignment depends on case type, judge assignment, and court administration.
| Court # | Type / Judge | Address | Phone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Division 1 | District Judge Richard L. Marquez | 425 N 8th Street, Garden City, KS 67846 | 620-271-6120 |
| Division 2 | District Judge Christopher D. Sanders | 425 N 8th Street, Garden City, KS 67846 | 620-271-6120 |
| Division 3 | Chief Judge Kristi M. Cott | 425 N 8th Street, Garden City, KS 67846 | 620-271-6120 |
| Division 4 | District Judge Rebecca J. Faurot | 425 N 8th Street, Garden City, KS 67846 | 620-271-6120 |
| Magistrate | Magistrate Judge Timothy R. Woods | 425 N 8th Street, Garden City, KS 67846 | 620-271-6120 |
District Court vs Municipal Court
Finney County does not have a separate county court or justice court in the researched State Court Structure Map. The relevant lower court is Municipal Court. Garden City Municipal Court handles city traffic, ordinance, parking, code, nuisance, fire, zoning, misdemeanor, and municipal bench-warrant matters within city limits. Municipal Court convictions can be appealed to District Court, so one incident may create municipal records first and district records later if appealed.
| Record point | District Court | Municipal Court |
|---|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | General trial jurisdiction for Kansas cases in Finney County. | Limited city jurisdiction for Garden City ordinance and city traffic matters. |
| Case types | Civil, criminal, domestic, juvenile, probate, small claims, state traffic, municipal appeals. | Traffic, parking, code, nuisance, zoning, fire code, and misdemeanor city cases. |
| Records access | Kansas Case Search, public portal, courthouse terminal, and Clerk of the District Court. | Garden City Municipal Court and municipal online payment or nCourt lookup. |
| Appeals | Appeals go to Kansas Court of Appeals or Kansas Supreme Court as law allows. | Municipal convictions may be appealed to Finney County District Court. |
| Main contact | 425 N 8th Street, 620-271-6120. | 301 N 7th Street, 620-276-1150. |
Finney County Case Flow
Case movement depends on the type of case. Civil cases begin with a petition or claim, then move through answer, hearings, orders, judgment, and any appeal. Criminal cases may begin with arrest, complaint, first appearance, charging review, arraignment, motions, plea or trial, disposition, sentencing, probation, and appeal. Probate cases begin with a petition and move through notices, hearings, fiduciary appointments, inventory, accounting, orders, and final settlement.
District case flow: Filing or citation › Clerk opens case › Hearing or judicial review › Orders and docket events › Disposition or judgment › Post-judgment action or appeal.
Municipal-to-district appeal flow: Garden City Municipal Court case › municipal conviction or judgment › appeal filed › Finney County District Court review.
Finney County District Court Records
District Court records can include petitions, complaints, answers, motions, orders, judgments, garnishments, liens tied to judgments, criminal complaints, charges, appearances, bond, plea entries, trial settings, sentencing, probation orders, divorce decrees, child-support filings, probate inventories, juvenile events, and state traffic dispositions. Records are public unless sealed, confidential, juvenile-restricted, expunged, or otherwise exempt.
Search public case data through Kansas Case Search. Use the public access portal for documents where available, then use the local clerk for older files, certified copies, and records that do not appear online. The Kansas court-record request page is the statewide request fallback assigned to this District Court page.
The statewide request page supports courthouse and clerk follow-up when a public online search is incomplete or when a certified record is needed.
Twenty-Fifth Judicial District
The 25th Judicial District links Finney County with Greeley, Hamilton, Kearny, Scott, and Wichita counties. This regional district structure matters because court administration, judges, court services, and community corrections can serve more than one county even when the case file is a Finney County District Court record.
The Kansas appellate structure sits above the District Court. The Kansas Court of Appeals hears most appeals from district courts and agency orders. The Kansas Supreme Court is the court of last resort and also hears some direct appeals in serious criminal and constitutional matters. Appeals are not new county trial files, but they can add higher-court records tied to the original Finney County case.
Regional court services can also affect what a record user sees after judgment. Probation, community corrections, juvenile detention, and public defense resources may be organized by district or region rather than by a single courthouse counter. The District Court case file remains local to the case, but related supervision or defense contacts may point to 25th Judicial District or Western Regional offices in Garden City.
Magistrate and Court Counters
Finney County's researched court page lists Magistrate Judge Timothy R. Woods. Magistrate judge services are part of the District Court structure, not a separate justice court page for this build. The local clerk phone menu helps route practical counter questions: Spanish, jury information, traffic/criminal, marriage license/domestic/child support, collections/small claims/civil lawsuits, and juvenile/minor matters.
For state traffic tickets, criminal matters, civil lawsuits, divorce, probate, and juvenile records, start with District Court channels. For Garden City ordinance and municipal traffic tickets, start with Garden City Municipal Court. For sheriff bookings, jail roster, and warrants, use the sheriff records channels rather than the District Court page.
This split prevents false negatives. A Garden City municipal citation may not appear where a state-law District Court ticket appears. A sheriff booking may show a charge before a prosecutor files a District Court complaint. A probate file may be a District Court matter even when property records tied to the estate are recorded later with the Register of Deeds. Matching the office to the record type is the main District Court search skill.