Wisconsin Municipal Court Information

The court system of Wisconsin consists of both circuit courts and municipal courts. Circuit court handles a majority of criminal as well as civil cases, but it does not interfere with cases that come under the jurisdiction of a Wisconsin Municipal Court. The entire state of Wisconsin has 252 municipal courts operating within its boundaries. A total of 254 municipal judges preside over the municipal disputes of the state. Milwaukee has the largest court with three judges handling the entire workload. An equal number of court commissioners work on a part time basis as well. The Municipal Court of Milwaukee deals with almost 240,000 cases every year.

Formation of Municipal Courts

The law of Wisconsin entitles the municipalities to join together and form a court. The municipalities are not required to be geographically connected to each other or even be in the same county. There is no limit on the number of municipalities joining to form a single court. The voters of every participating municipality elect the judge for the area. The entire procedure for starting a municipal court can be viewed at http://www.wicourts.gov/about/organization/municipal/docs/startcourt.pdf. This page details general ordinances and statistics, as well as a list of commonly asked questions.

Jurisdiction

Wisconsin Municipal courts have exclusive jurisdiction over municipal ordinance violations. The most common kinds of cases handled by the municipal courts of Wisconsin are traffic violations as well as non-jury trials for first time drunk driving. Other offenses include truancy charges, drug abuse cases and violation of curfew. All requests for jury trials are transferred to the circuit court. Local rules do not allow the Wisconsin municipal courts to handle cases related to equitable relief.

Obtaining Information

Milwaukee Municipal Court can be accessed at http://www.ci.mil.wi.us/. Municipal court records are public and can be requested by writing to the Records Custodian of the court. Calling (414) 286-3834 may also help you obtain the required information.

The largest municipal court in the state operates from 951 North James Lovell Street (formerly known as North 7th Street), Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Calling (414) 286-3800 will enable you to obtain any court related information. 

Hearings for all custody cases are conducted at the County Criminal Justice Facility, 949 North 9th Street. All the municipal courts of Wisconsin are open 8:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. The courts remain closed on weekdays and on all scheduled holidays.

Case information for traffic and municipal violations can be obtained online as well. You can check them out by logging in to http://query.municourt.milwaukee.gov/home.asp. Data pertaining to contested parking citations can be viewed from the same website.

Online payment options are available at http://credit.municourt.milwaukee.gov/ and you can pay your fines here by using your credit card. The Municipal court of Milwaukee along with the other similar courts of the region offers the facility for paying by installments. Details of the procedure can be requested at (414) 286-2044.

Specific Wisconsin Municipal Court Information:

Waukesha Court