How to find your Durham County court date and case online

Start with the papers from the magistrate

'DUI' is what people search for; North Carolina's charge is driving while impaired, DWI, under G.S. 20-138.1, and like every criminal charge it comes with a court date set at the initial appearance.

If you were released on a written promise to appear, nccourts.gov describes it as “a written agreement that you will come to court on your court date.” The same date is on an unsecured or secured bond order. Keep every paper you were handed at the jail: the name as it is written there, the date and the case number are what the Portal and the clerk will ask for. The Durham Clerk's page says you can search “by name, case number, attorney, and more.”

Look the case up on the eCourts Portal

Durham County moved to eCourts on Monday, April 29, 2024, as one of ten Track 4 counties, alongside Alamance, Chatham, Franklin, Granville, Guilford, Orange, Person, Vance and Warren. From that day the public uses the Enterprise Justice (Odyssey) Portal “instead of legacy systems to access indexes, abstracted case information, and case documents.” The rollout finished on October 13, 2025, so the same site now covers all 100 counties. The Portal is at portal-nc.tylertech.cloud/Portal.

1. Open the Portal and pick a search

   nccourts.gov's Court Dates page offers “Search for Court Date” through the Portal and a link to view calendars by county. The Court Dates tool is built to show “the date, time, and location of a court appearance, citation number, and more.”

2. Search by name or case number

   Use the name exactly as it appears on your release order. A case number from the paperwork narrows the result to one case.

3. Read the hearing entry

   The Portal shows hearing dates and abstracted case information for Durham cases, and it is also where payments are made for offenses that can be paid, which a DWI cannot.

4. If nothing comes up, call

   The Durham Clerk's own instruction: “contact your attorney. If you do not have an attorney, you may access the online PORTAL or call the Clerk's Office.”

There are eCourts kiosks at the Durham County Courthouse, and nccourts.gov notes that you can look up any criminal or traffic case “at the public terminals located in each clerk of court's office, or by contacting a clerk of court's office and asking staff to look it up for you.” The Durham County page on nccourts.gov also links the criminal court calendars.

The Clerk's criminal and traffic office, Room 1300

The Clerk of Superior Court's Criminal & Traffic division is on the first floor of the Durham County Courthouse, Room 1300, phone (919) 808-3002. The main clerk's number is (919) 808-3000. The courthouse is open Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM, and closed on weekends. This guide found no automated court-date phone line for Durham on the nccourts.gov Court Dates page; the numbers above and the Portal are the published routes.

One naming point that confuses people reading older forms: Durham is Prosecutorial District 16 and District Court District 16, renumbered from 14 effective January 1, 2024, under a Superior Court order signed December 11, 2023. Local rules that still say “Fourteenth Judicial District” refer to the same court.

Why a DWI cannot be paid online

nccourts.gov lets you “waive” some traffic offenses, “such as minor speeding violations and equipment violations,” by paying the fine and costs before the court date, and warns that if you do, “you will be treated as if you were found guilty or responsible as charged.” DWI is not on that menu. The Administrative Office of the Courts publishes the list of “TRAFFIC OFFENSES FOR WHICH COURT APPEARANCE IS MANDATORY” under G.S. 7A-148, effective December 1, 2020, and item 15 is “Driving while subject to an impairing substance. [G.S. 20-138.1].” Driving by a person under 21 after consuming (G.S. 20-138.3), driving with an open container after drinking (G.S. 20-138.7) and impaired driving in a commercial vehicle (G.S. 20-138.2) are on the same list.

That is why the Portal's payment feature and the courthouse's mail-in payment address do not settle a DWI. The case is heard in Durham County District Court by a judge without a jury, a bench trial, and it ends in a dismissal, a not-guilty verdict, or a conviction followed by a sentencing hearing under G.S. 20-179. Durham's Administrative Traffic Court, which sits in the Traffic Courtroom on the 3rd floor from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on scheduled dates, is “designed to dispose of infractions and minor traffic offenses quickly”; as its page says, “This is not a trial court.” A DWI is a misdemeanor that goes before a district court judge. This guide's court page walks through how a Durham DWI case moves through district court, from the first setting to sentencing.

If you miss the date, and getting to 510 South Dillard Street

All entry to the courthouse is through the main entrance at 510 South Dillard Street, with ramp access from the Mangum Street (west) side. Everyone passes through security run by the Sheriff's Office: “Visitors must remove all metal objects and belts prior to going through the metal detector,” and firearms, knives of any size, scissors and pepper spray are prohibited. A bilingual volunteer works the lobby three days a week from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., and Trial Court Administration at 919-808-3217 or 919-808-3018 arranges interpreters, including sign language.

Courthouse hours

Monday–Friday, 8:30 AM–5:00 PM

Parking deck

DCo Justice Center Garage, 502 S Dillard Street, next to the courthouse

Deck rates

$2.00 per hour, $10.00 per day; cash or credit/debit card at the kiosks

Other county decks

Queen Street Garage, 115 N. Queen Street; Main Street Garage, 500 E. Main Street

Accessible parking

on each level of the deck, with accessible entry from the third level by elevator

Bus

GoDurham, all routes from Durham Station; fare-free (the agency's news page says through June 2027); 919-485-RIDE (7433)

The next post in this series looks at where many cases begin: DWI checkpoints in Durham, what the law requires and the 2026 enforcement calendar.

Court costs from the AOC chart in effect January 1, 2026; eCourts dates from nccourts.gov; statutes current through S.L. 2026-30.