The General District Court is a court of limited jurisdiction which hears matters involving adults charged with traffic violations, criminal misdmeanors, civil suits and small claims cases. It also conducts preliminary hearings in felony cases.
This court does not conduct jury trials; all cases are heard by a judge.
All preliminary hearings and civil matters are heard in the Fairfax County Courthouse. Misdemeanors and traffic violations are also heard there, with some exceptions: Cases under local laws of the Town of Vienna, Town of Herndon, or City of Fairfax are heard in a courthouse inside of that jurisdiction. Please see the Contacts page for more information about those courthouses.
Below are some frequently-addressed topics regarding doing business with our Court. For more topics in each division of the Court, click on the name of the division to go to their homepage.