Understanding the Tulsa County Courtrooms
Do you have a pending case in Tulsa County and you’re not sure which courtroom to go to? My name is Carl Birkhead. I’m a Tulsa family law attorney with Wirth Law Office in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I’ve been practicing law for about seven years now, mainly doing family and criminal law. I want to help you to make law easy by telling you a little bit about how the court systems work here and help you navigate where to go.
So most of the videos that I shoot, try to make them fairly open-ended so that way they can apply to any country. This one isn’t going to be like that. This is specifically for Tulsa County. So if you’ve got court in Creek or Wagner or Payne, Pawnee, Oklahoma County, wherever, skip this one. It doesn’t apply to you. If you’ve got family or criminal court here in Tulsa, listen up. I want to try to help you a little bit.
Navigating Family Law Courtrooms
It seems like Tulsa County plays musical courtrooms sometimes, especially when you’re dealing with family law and criminal law. As an example, in a family case, if it’s a divorce or a paternity case, you’re going to start up on the sixth floor. It’s 605, I think it is, where you have the parenting plan conference. Every case starts there, but not every case is going to end there. The only way that you’d end up back up there is if you’re at a trial.
I’ve had trials up there, or if you’re on just a very specific child support docket. We’re not going to get into that right now, because ultimately what you’re going to end up seeing is after that conference, you’re going to be back down on the third floor, most likely, in one of the FD dockets. There are some exceptions to that rule. I know that there’s also an FD docket up on the sixth floor in 601, I think. But this kind of just emphasizes my point that you might not always know where to go.
Challenges in Criminal Law Courtrooms
The best thing that you can do is call your lawyer. Make sure that you get with your lawyer. You guys have a game plan to figure out what courtroom you’re going to, depending on what kind of hearing you’re at. If you can’t get a hold of your attorney, check OSCN. You can find your case there, and it’ll usually tell you what courtroom you need to go to. Same thing with criminal cases. I have this a lot with my criminal cases, because my misdemeanors, they’re either going to be in 158 or 173.
It depends on which kind of case it is, and they’re always changing it. I mean, just as recently as this week, my colleague and I were in 173, thinking we had court in there. Didn’t see our client on the docket. Didn’t see our client in the courtroom. Had to go and talk to the prosecutor. Found out that it was supposed to be in 158. Had to jump over there. Couldn’t find the client over there. Turns out it was a clerical error, and the client was supposed to be in 173 in the first place.
Staying Connected with Your Attorney
If you’re confused right now, I was too. That’s what I mean when I say it gets very confusing, and the best thing that you can do is just to keep in touch with your attorney. Check OSCN. Make sure you know what room number you’re going to be in, and make sure that you get with your attorney as soon as possible to ensure that you guys are on the same page and you end up in the same courtroom.
As long as you and your lawyer can connect, you get with the judge, and if you’re not in the right place, they will direct you where to go. I know that this sounds confusing, and I’m not even trying to bag on anybody. There’s a method to the madness, for sure. I just want to help you guys to make sure that you get to the right place so that way you don’t end up with a warrant out because you were in the right courthouse but in the wrong courtroom.
Low-Cost Initial Strategy Session
If you have questions about this or you’re just not sure how to navigate where to go, please give us a call. My name is Carl Birkhead. I practice family and criminal law with Wirth Law Office, and I want to help you to make law easy. You can reach us at 918-879-1681. Let’s schedule a low-cost initial strategy session to address your concerns and help you find the best path forward in your legal journey.
