Due to this autonomous nature of the trial courts, historically there has been little uniformity in many of the administrative operations within the judicial system. Employment of court personnel, funding, use of technology and many aspects of court operations are handled at the local level. As a result, court structure and court related services have varied widely from county to county. Recently, however, more unified administrative and recordkeeping procedures have been implemented. As a result, Indiana now has a uniform case numbering system for every case filed in the state, a uniform schedule of retention for court records, uniform microfilming standards and a uniform recordkeeping process mandated for every trial court in the state.
All counties have a circuit court.
In addition, some counties may have superior courts, county courts or both. Marion County, which has no county courts, is the only county with municipal courts and distinct small claims courts. St. Joseph County is the only county with a specialized probate court which also has juvenile jurisdiction. Legislation also exists enabling cities and towns to establish city and town courts. In the majority of instances, city and town courts process traffic matters.