Carlo Esqueda

Clerk of Circuit Court and Register in Probate

Dane County Courthouse
Room 1000
215 S Hamilton St.
Madison, WI 53703
Map to the Courthouse

Phone: (608) 266-4311
Fax: (608) 267-8859
TTY: Call Wisconsin Relay 711

Hours:
7:45 AM to 4:30 PM
Closed all County holidays

Customers should arrive in time to complete all business by 4:30 PM

All filings and requests through the mail require a self addressed stamped envelope to return incorrect and/or processed paperwork and receipts to you. Please ensure all required documents are properly notarized before filing with the court.

Annual New Case Filings

The table below shows the annual case filings by type and year. See the past year archive for previous year statistics.

Case Type 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Civil / Family
  Civil * 4,457 4,879 5,923 6,553 6,870 5,695
  Family 2,584 2,519 2,597 2,673 2,684 2,719
  Paternity 822 1,035 916 1,001 871 852
  Total    7,863 8,433 9,436 10,227 10,425 9,266
Criminal / Traffic
  Civil Forfeiture 4,773 4,815 5,076 4,709 4,266 4,232
  Civil Traffic 24,029 25,741 28,013 29,469 29,312 28,462
  Complex Forfeitures 60 74 24 25 56 34
  Criminal Felony 2,982 2,468 2,378 2,036 2,174 2,409
  Criminal Misdemeanor 4,581 4,428 3,936 3,713 3,792 3,369
  Criminal Traffic 3,059 4,298 4,696 4,190 1,894 1,577
  Total    39,484 41,824 44,123 44,142 41,494 40,083
Juvenile **
  Juvenile CHIPS 301 376 297 334 249 249
  Juvenile Injunction 57 81 48 69 71 45
  Juvenile Civil Comm. 99 177 123 63 51 147
  Juv. Civ. Law & Ord. 269 237 225 184 201 151
  Juv. Delinquency 1,009 988 955 791 800 812
  Pet. Waiv. Juv. 44 35 20 27 24 11
  Term. of Paren. Rts. 82 124 126 116 131 124
  Total    1,861 2,018 1,794 1,584 1,527 1,539
Probate
  Adoption (Juv. Adopt - JA) 184 189 200 179 138 176
  Adult Guardianship 259 227 206 261 248 243
  Juvenile Guardianship 222 213 226 203 174 212
  Mental 337 390 394 385 372 381
  Probate 909 924 856 855 824 831
  Total    1,911 1,943 1,882 1,883 1,756 1,843
Small Claims
  Total    13,876 14,692 13,820 13,266 12,087 11,268
TOTAL 64,935 68,836 71,031 71,077 67,233 63,999

* Civil figures do not include filing of liens, state tax warrants, oaths and bonds. As of 4-94, civil garnishments were no longer assigned a separate case number.

** Juvenile figures reflect petitions filed, not actual new cases.

Government of Dane County