Kansas District Courts

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Ballotpedia:Trial Courts


Kansas District Courts

The Kansas district courts are the trial courts of Kansas. Created by the Kansas Constitution, the district courts have general original jurisdiction over all civil and criminal cases including:

  • Divorce and domestic relations;
  • Damage suits;
  • Probate and administration of estates, guardianships, conservatorships;
  • Care of the mentally ill;
  • Juvenile matters;
  • Small claims.

Kansas is divided into thirty-one judicial districts, with 163 district court judges. The number of judges varies from district-to-district. There is a district court in each county.[1]

In addition to online service, the state of Kansas now offers mobile access to court records and case information. Users can instantly find court records for any Kansas county district court via the app. Complete case histories can be searched by county, court type or case number. Access to the service is available at: www.kansas.gov/countyCourts/.[2]

Judicial selection

See also: Judicial selection in Kansas

Judges on Kansas' District Courts are selected in one of two ways:

  • Assisted appointment: a local judicial nominating commission consisting of non-lawyers and lawyers who live in the district present a list of three to five names to the governor who selects an appointment. Non-lawyer members are appointed by local county commissions and lawyers are elected by fellow lawyers in the judicial district. Newly appointed judges serve for at least one year, after which they must stand for retention in the next even-year general election. If retained, the judge serves a four-year term and must stand for retention every four years after that point to remain in office.[3][4]
  • Partisan election: judges are elected to a four-year term during regularly-scheduled partisan elections.[5]

The following districts select judges through assisted appointment:[6]

The following districts elect judges through partisan elections:[6]

Qualifications

To serve on this court, a judge must:[3]

  • have at least five years of active and continuous law practice in the state;[7]
  • be at least 30 years old; and
  • be a resident of the judicial district in question at the time of taking the oath of office and while holding office.

Chief judge

The chief judge in each district is selected by the supreme court.[8]

Vacancies

If a midterm vacancy occurs on a district court using the assisted appointment method, the position is filled as it normally would be had the vacancy occurred at the end of a judge's term. A local judicial nominating commission presents a list of nominees to the governor who picks an appointment. He or she then serves at least one year following his or her initial appointment and must stand for retention at the next statewide general election to remain in office.[3]

If a midterm vacancy occurs on a district court using partisan elections, the governor appoints a new judge to serve out the remainder of the preceding term, after which point he or she would need to win the position's partisan election to remain in office.[9]

Courts

District Court Counties Served
1st District Atchison and Leavenworth
2nd District Jackson, Jefferson, Pottawatomie and Wabaunsee
3rd District Shawnee
4th District Anderson, Coffey, Franklin, and Osage
5th District Chase and Lyon
6th District Bourbon, Linn and Miami
7th District Douglas
8th District Dickinson, Geary, Marion and Morris
9th District Harvey and McPherson
10th District Johnson
11th District Cherokee, Crawford and Labette
12th District Cloud, Jewell, Lincoln, Mitchell, Republic and Washington
13th District Butler, Elk and Greenwood
14th District Chautauqua and Montgomery
15th District Cheyenne, Logan, Rawlins, Sheridan, Sherman, Thomas and Wallace
16th District Clark, Comanche, Ford, Gray, Kiowa and Meade
17th District Decatur, Graham, Norton, Osborne, Phillips and Smith
18th District Sedgwick
19th District Cowley
20th District Barton, Ellsworth, Rice, Russell and Stafford
21st District Clay and Riley
22nd District Brown, Doniphan, Marshall and Nemaha
23rd District Ellis, Gove, Rooks and Trego
24th District Edwards, Hodgeman, Lane, Ness, Pawnee and Rush
25th District Finney, Greeley, Hamilton, Kearny, Scott, Wichita
26th District Grant, Haskell, Morton, Seward, Stanton and Stevens
27th District Reno
28th District Ottawa and Saline
29th District Wyandotte
30th District Barber, Harper, Kingman, Pratt and Sumner
31st District Allen, Neosho, Wilson and Woodson

[10]

See also

External links

Footnotes