, Press Release

Court Date Notifications and Reminders for Criminal Cases Now Available via Text and Email

The Judicial Branch has launched a new service to subscribe to criminal court date notifications and reminders via email or text.

Article contents

The N.C. Judicial Branch has launched a new court date notification service allowing you to quickly and easily subscribe to up-to-the-minute criminal court date notifications and reminders via email or SMS/text messages at www.NCcourts.gov/services. Subscribers are immediately notified of court date, room or session changes, as well as upcoming court date reminders seven days and one day in advance of the court date. 

The court date notifications system is the latest addition to the suite of online services offered as part of eCourts, the larger initiative to modernize the North Carolina court system. 

"The service provides a fast, convenient means to be notified of criminal court date changes and reminders," said Judge Marion R. Warren, director of the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts. "Court technology and mobile services are modernizing the way the public does business with our courts."

To Subscribe
Anyone can subscribe to court notifications for criminal cases at www.NCcourts.gov/services. To subscribe, a user must provide the following requirements:

  • A valid North Carolina criminal court case number
  • The county in which the case was recorded
  • Valid contact information (email address or cell phone number)
  • Agree to the terms of use

Subscribing to notifications for more than one case is allowed, however, it must be done individually for each case. When subscribing to notifications, the potential subscriber will receive an initial opt-in message. For both email and SMS/text messages, the user must opt in to confirm

Once opted in for a court case, subscribers will receive a message anytime the criminal court date, room or session changes. Subscribers also will receive reminder messages seven and one calendar day(s) prior to the scheduled court date. Once subscribers have opted in for notifications on a court case, they will remain opted in until they opt out. If a case is closed/disposed and they have not manually opted out, they will remain subscribed to that case, such that if it is reopened in the future and the court date/time/session is changed, they will resume getting notifications.

Court notifications are convenience notifications only and not legal notices. Subscribers are responsible for appearing in court on the scheduled date if they are required to do so, regardless of whether they have received any email or text notifications. Notifications for a given case are dependent on the local processes and any data entered in the county courthouse for that case.

To Unsubscribe
Each message a subscriber receives will provide a means of opting out for that case. For emails, an unsubscribe link will opt out from receiving further emails for that case. For SMS/text messages, texting STOP at any time to 82483 will globally opt out of all future text notifications about any/all cases from the N.C. Judicial Branch.

Email subscribers may view terms of use, privacy and disclaimer information from any email, while SMS/text message subscribers may text HELP at any time to 82483 to link to the program terms of use. The email address or mobile phone number provided will be part of the subscription record which is not public information and will not be used by the courts for any purposes other than these notifications.

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