Love County District Court Overview
Oklahoma uses District Courts as its trial courts of general jurisdiction. The Love County District Court sits at the bottom of that system as the place where cases begin. It is a court of broad reach. The same court handles a felony, a divorce, an estate, and a small claim. There are no numbered District Courts here the way some states number their trial courts. Love County has one District Court, served by one Court Clerk.
The Court Clerk records, files, and keeps the permanent records of every District Court proceeding. That office is the records custodian for the court. It works with the civil, criminal, probate, juvenile, domestic-relations, and small-claims divisions. It also keeps an appearance docket for each case and the word-for-word transcripts filed by court reporters. To pull a Love County District Court file, you start with that office or the state portals it links to.
Love County District Court Records
Through: Court Clerk, Wendy Holland
405 West Main, Suite 201
Marietta, OK 73448
580-276-2235
Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 4:30
Love County Courts and Offices
More than one office plays a role in Love County court matters. The District Court and its Court Clerk handle the case files. The District Attorney files and prosecutes state crimes. The city runs its own municipal court for ordinance cases. Federal matters route out of the county to Muskogee. The table below lists each office, its role, and how to reach it.
| Court / office | Role | Address | Phone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Love County District Court / Court Clerk | General trial filings: civil, criminal, probate, juvenile, domestic, small claims, and District Court traffic; marriage licenses and protective orders | 405 West Main, Suite 201, Marietta, OK 73448 | 580-276-2235 |
| District Attorney, District 20 | Prosecutes state crimes across Carter, Johnston, Love, Marshall, and Murray Counties; victim and witness services | 405 West Main, Suite 301, Marietta, OK 73448 | 580-276-9441 |
| Marietta Municipal Court | City ordinance, city traffic, juvenile offenses, and other misdemeanor city violations | 700 S. Highway 77, Marietta, OK 73448 | 580-276-5569 |
| U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Oklahoma | Federal civil and criminal cases for Love County | 101 North 5th Street, Room 208, Muskogee, OK 74401 | 918-684-7920 |
All four offices keep separate records. A case filed with one will not show up in another office's files. For day-to-day court records, the Love County Court Clerk is the first stop. The Love County court records page covers the online search portals in depth.
District Court vs Municipal Court in Love County
Two trial courts touch Love County residents, and they do not overlap. The District Court is a state court with broad power. Marietta Municipal Court is a city court with narrow, local power. A speeding ticket can land in either one, depending on which officer wrote it and under what law. The comparison below sorts the two by the points that matter most.
| District Court | Marietta Municipal Court | |
|---|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | State trial court of general jurisdiction | City court of limited jurisdiction |
| Case types | Felonies, misdemeanors, civil, probate, family, juvenile, and traffic filed under state law | City ordinance, adopted state law, city traffic, and juvenile offenses |
| Where filed | Court Clerk, 405 West Main, Suite 201 | City court, 700 S. Highway 77 |
| Appeals | Oklahoma appellate courts | Appeal to the District Court |
The split matters when you search for a record. A municipal citation may never appear in a District Court search if it stays a city case. If you cannot find a ticket in the state portal, the Marietta court is the next place to look.
Note: Oklahoma abolished its Justice of the Peace courts in the late 1960s, so the lower court below the District Court in Love County is the municipal court, not a JP court.
How a Love County Court Case Moves
A case follows a set path from filing to any appeal. Where it starts depends on the charge or claim. A city ticket starts in municipal court. A state crime or a civil claim starts in the District Court. From there a case can climb to the appellate level if a party challenges the result. Oklahoma splits its top appeals by subject, so a civil case and a criminal case take different roads at the top.
Case flow: Marietta Municipal Court or Love County District Court filing › District Court trial › Court of Civil Appeals (civil) or Court of Criminal Appeals (criminal) › Oklahoma Supreme Court (civil last resort)
Most cases never leave the District Court. They end in a plea, a judgment, a dismissal, or a settlement. Only a fraction are appealed. Still, the path above shows where a Love County case could go if it does.
Divisions of the Love County District Court
The Love County District Court works through several divisions, and each one handles a class of case. The Court Clerk keeps the records for all of them. A reader searching online will see these same groups listed as case types. Knowing the division helps you pick the right filter and read the right docket.
- Civil: money suits, contract disputes, liens, and other non-criminal claims.
- Criminal: felony and misdemeanor charges filed by the District Attorney.
- Probate: estates, wills, guardianships, conservatorships, and trusts.
- Juvenile: youth cases, which are commonly confidential or restricted.
- Domestic relations: divorce, custody, child support, and paternity.
- Small claims: lower-dollar civil disputes with a simpler process.
- Traffic: state traffic citations filed in District Court under the TR prefix.
Probate is part of the District Court under Oklahoma law. Title 58 gives the District Court power over wills, estates, and guardianships. Juvenile and family files can carry sealed or redacted details, so not every record in these divisions is open to the public. For hearing dates and docket entries, the Love County court dockets page explains the daily reports.
The District 20 District Attorney
State crimes in Love County are prosecuted by the District Attorney for the 20th Judicial District. That district covers five counties: Carter, Johnston, Love, Marshall, and Murray. The DA decides what charges to file, carries cases through the District Court, and runs victim and witness services. The office also supervises some defendants after a plea and works on juvenile and domestic-violence matters.
Melissa Handke is the current District Attorney. The District 20 DA website lays out the office's divisions and the counties it serves. The screenshot below shows that homepage.
The official District 20 District Attorney site describes its criminal, victim services, supervision, child support, juvenile, and bogus-check work across the five-county district.
That site makes clear the DA office is multi-county, so its work reaches well beyond Love County alone. The DA local office sits in Suite 301 of the same Marietta courthouse as the Court Clerk.
Governor Kevin Stitt appointed Handke to the post on August 3, 2023, after Craig Ladd retired. She had served as first assistant district attorney since 2021 and as an assistant district attorney since 2015. The Governor's announcement details that appointment and her record in the district.
The official Governor's appointment announcement for the 20th District DA confirms her start date and prior service. The image below shows that release.
The appointment matters for record searches because the DA's name and office appear on criminal filings in the District Court. Cases the office prosecutes run through the Love County Court Clerk's files.
Oklahoma Appeals Above the District Court
Oklahoma has an unusual top tier. Most states have one high court. Oklahoma has two. The Oklahoma Supreme Court is the court of last resort for civil cases. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals is the court of last resort for criminal cases. Between the District Court and the Supreme Court sits the Court of Civil Appeals, an intermediate court that handles many civil appeals first.
For a Love County litigant, the path depends on the case. A civil appeal can move to the Court of Civil Appeals and then, in some matters, to the Supreme Court. A criminal appeal goes to the Court of Criminal Appeals. The Supreme Court also holds administrative authority over the District Courts statewide, which is why the Court Clerk answers to the state court system.
This two-court design is rare. Only a handful of states split their last word between a civil high court and a criminal high court. It changes how an appeal is framed from the start. A lawyer files a civil matter and a criminal matter in different appellate tracks, and the deadlines and rules differ. For someone searching records, the practical point is narrower. A District Court case stays in the Love County Court Clerk's files no matter where any later appeal goes.
Note: Civil and criminal appeals in Oklahoma end at two different high courts, so the correct last-resort court depends on whether the case is civil or criminal.
Marietta Municipal Court and Federal Court
Below the District Court, Marietta Municipal Court handles city cases. It hears ordinance violations, city traffic, juvenile offenses, and other misdemeanor city matters adopted by the City Council. Fines can be paid online, in person at City Hall, or by phone. A bench warrant on a city citation may sit with this court rather than the District Court, so a missed city date is a separate channel to check.
Federal cases are not Love County District Court records at all. Love County falls in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, which covers 26 counties from a courthouse in Muskogee. Federal crimes, federal civil-rights claims, and diversity civil suits route there. The Eastern District is described as entirely Indian country, a fact that shapes federal criminal jurisdiction in eastern Oklahoma.
The official Eastern District court-info page lists Love among the district's counties and gives the Muskogee courthouse details. The screenshot below shows that page.
Bankruptcy for Love County also routes to the Eastern District, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court at Muskogee. None of these federal files appear in the District Court search. For a court case tied to a state charge or a local dispute, the Love County District Court and its Court Clerk remain the right place to look.