Search Grant County District Court

Grant County District Court

The Grant County District Court is the county's Kansas trial court. The county page describes it as the court where criminal and civil jury trials are held and states that it has general original jurisdiction over all civil and criminal cases. The same local source lists divorce and domestic relations, probate and administration of estates, guardianships, conservatorships, juvenile matters, care and treatment of mentally ill persons, damage suits, and small claims within the court's scope.

Grant County is part of the 26th Judicial District with Haskell, Morton, Seward, Stanton, and Stevens counties. Kansas district courts are the state's trial courts, while the Kansas Court of Appeals and Kansas Supreme Court handle state appeals. The District Court office and Clerk of the District Court are located on the second level of the Grant County Courthouse in Ulysses.

Grant County Court Table

Grant County does not have a long list of separately numbered district courts in the research. The court structure is local District Court, district magistrate judge function within the district-court system, Ulysses Municipal Court for city ordinance cases, and separate state or federal appellate and federal-trial courts for matters outside county trial jurisdiction.

Grant County Judges

The Grant County District Court page lists one resident district magistrate judge and three district judges for the district. The local judicial officers are Hon. Mike Winner, Magistrate Judge; Hon. Clint B. Peterson, Chief Judge; Hon. Bradley E. Ambrosier, District Court Judge; and Hon. Linda P. Gilmore, District Court Judge. The clerk's office is the practical contact for case-file questions, not the chambers of a judge.

A district magistrate judge is part of the Kansas district court system and may handle limited matters assigned by law and local procedure. The research identifies Hon. Mike Winner as the Grant County magistrate judge. A district judge has broader trial-court authority within the judicial district. The chief judge handles administrative leadership for the district in addition to judicial work.

The Kansas district courts overview is the state-level source for understanding how district judges and district magistrate judges fit into Kansas trial courts.

Grant County Jurisdiction

District Court jurisdiction in Grant County is broad. The local court page says the court has general original jurisdiction over civil and criminal cases. In practical terms, that means many serious local disputes and prosecutions begin there rather than in a city court. Civil case files may include petitions, answers, motions, service returns, orders, judgments, and hearing records. Criminal files may include complaints or informations, bond orders, appearance records, pleas, motions, warrants, judgments, sentencing orders, probation terms, fines, costs, and restitution.

Family and domestic cases also run through District Court. Divorce and domestic-relations records are court files held by the Clerk of the District Court when the divorce was filed in Grant County. Probate and administration of estates are handled in District Court as well, along with guardianships and conservatorships. Juvenile matters and care-and-treatment proceedings are included in the court's jurisdiction, but public access to those records is often restricted because of minor, medical, or confidential personal information.

District Court vs Municipal Court

Kansas does not use the county-court and justice-court split found in some other states. In Grant County, the more useful comparison is District Court versus Ulysses Municipal Court. The District Court is the county trial court for state-law and general civil, criminal, domestic, probate, juvenile, mental-health, and small-claims matters. The municipal court is the judicial branch of city government and handles violations of City of Ulysses ordinances.

When a citation or notice does not make the court clear, use the issuing location and agency as clues. The research gives a strong traffic split: outside Ulysses city limits means District Court, while inside the city limits means Ulysses Municipal Court.

Grant County Case Flow

Case flow depends on the case type, but the court-record path is usually the same: a case opens by filing or charging document, events are added to the docket, hearings or deadlines occur, the judge enters orders, and the file closes by judgment, dismissal, sentence, settlement, or final order. The docket or register of actions is the chronological list of those events. A document image, if public and available, is not always the same as the docket entry.

Criminal flow: Law-enforcement referral › County Attorney filing decision › Complaint or information › First appearance › Arraignment › Pretrial hearings › Plea or trial › Disposition › Sentencing › Appeal when allowed.

Civil flow: Petition filed › Service of process › Answer or default › Motions › Discovery or settlement activity › Trial or dispositive order › Judgment › Collection, post-judgment action, or appeal.

Probate flow: Petition filed › Notice to interested persons › Appointment or estate order › Inventory and administration › Accounting or final report › Final settlement or closing order.

State and Federal Courts

Grant County District Court is a Kansas state court. Federal cases from Grant County do not become local District Court cases just because the parties live in Grant County. Federal criminal prosecutions, federal-question civil cases, diversity cases, habeas or post-conviction filings, and many federal civil-rights suits belong in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas. Bankruptcy matters go to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Kansas, not Grant County District Court.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas source is the federal trial-court entry point for Kansas federal cases.

That distinction matters because a Grant County state case and a Kansas federal case use different clerks, portals, filing systems, and appeal routes.

The District of Kansas provides federal court-record guidance at its court records page.

That federal source is useful only when the case is in federal court; it does not replace the Grant County Clerk of the District Court for county case files.

The federal court's CM/ECF case information source explains electronic filing and access for federal cases in Kansas.

CM/ECF is part of the federal electronic case system, while Kansas district court records are searched through Kansas Judicial Branch channels.

Federal Access Points

The District of Kansas CM/ECF login is one federal access point for attorneys and authorized users in federal litigation.

Use it only for federal District of Kansas cases, not for Grant County District Court filings, copies, or hearing questions.

The national PACER court lookup helps users identify federal courts and electronic filing systems.

PACER supports federal case access, while Kansas CaseSearch and the Grant County clerk support state District Court access.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit is the federal appellate court for Kansas federal cases.

That route is separate from Kansas state appeals, which move through the Kansas Court of Appeals and Kansas Supreme Court.

Grant County Appeals

Appeals from Kansas district courts generally move to the Kansas Court of Appeals and, when review is granted or required, to the Kansas Supreme Court. An appeal is not a new trial in the same way a District Court case is a trial-court matter. It usually reviews the record, legal issues, orders, and preserved claims from the lower court.

Kansas Courts announced in 2025 that public appellate case information and public appellate documents can be searched through an appellate public access portal, with documents filed on or after March 13, 2025 available through that system according to the research. That appellate access is useful after a Grant County District Court case moves beyond the trial court. For trial-level copies, certified orders, and older case-file questions, the local Clerk of the District Court remains the starting point.

Magistrate and Local Courts

The local court structure includes a district magistrate judge, not a separate justice of the peace court. The district magistrate judge works within the Kansas district court structure, and Grant County's listed magistrate judge is Hon. Mike Winner. When a case record names the magistrate judge, the record is still a District Court matter unless the record itself identifies another court.

Ulysses Municipal Court is the lower local court named in the research. It is at 115 W Grant Ave, Ulysses, KS 67880 and handles violations of City of Ulysses ordinances. The City of Ulysses page identifies the Municipal Court as the judicial branch of city government. Municipal Court staff listed in the research include Sarah Britton, Municipal Court Clerk; Peggy Alford, Judge; and David Black, Prosecuting Attorney.

Note: City ordinance cases, city traffic tickets, and municipal payments should not be assumed to appear in a Grant County District Court file.

Grant County Court Search

Grant County does not publish a county-run online case database in the research. State district court case information and case records can be searched through Kansas CaseSearch or through courthouse public terminals. For courthouse access in Grant County, use the District Court and Clerk of the District Court at 108 S. Glenn, Second Level, Ulysses, KS 67880. For copies, provide the case number, party names, filing date range, case type, and specific document name.

The District Court page links the local courthouse to the state court system, and the Clerk of the District Court is the county contact for filing, copies, and case questions. Public access still has limits. Sealed, expunged, juvenile, adoption, mental-health, confidential personal, and some domestic records may be unavailable or redacted. For non-court county records, use the County Clerk/Freedom of Information Officer. For land and recorded-property files, use the Register of Deeds.