Access Quitman County Circuit Clerk Records

About the Quitman County Circuit Clerk

The Circuit Clerk is an elected county officer in Mississippi. In Quitman County the post is held by Teareathrea Keeler. The office sits inside the Quitman County Courthouse at 220 Chestnut Street in Marks, the county seat. It shares the building with the Chancery Clerk and other county offices, but the Circuit Clerk works from a separate suite. Most circuit court business in Quitman County passes through this counter at some point.

The clerk keeps the official record of cases tried in Circuit Court. That work covers filing new papers, logging every event in a case, issuing court process, collecting filing fees, and helping the public find what is public. The clerk also issues marriage licenses, a duty Mississippi gives to circuit clerks rather than to a separate vital records counter. Hours were not published in county sources, so call before a visit.

Quitman County Circuit Clerk Duties

The office is built around the Circuit Court, the main trial court in Quitman County. The Mississippi Judiciary Circuit Court page explains that circuit courts hear felony prosecutions, large civil lawsuits, and appeals from the County, Justice, and Municipal courts. The clerk creates and guards the file for each of those matters. Quitman County falls in Circuit District 11.

Day to day, the office files pleadings, manages the case index, issues summonses and other process, schedules matters on the docket, and collects court costs. It also serves as the place where the public asks for copies. Marriage licenses are a separate but steady part of the workload. The main jobs break down like this.

• Circuit criminal files: indictments, informations, pleas, sentencing, and probation orders.
• Circuit civil files: lawsuits, jury matters, judgments, and executions.
• Appeals that move up from Justice Court and Municipal Court.
• Marriage licenses and the recorded marriage license records.
• Certified and plain copies of records the office holds.

Older paper files that predate the electronic system also live with the clerk. If a case cannot be found online, the counter is the next step. Staff can tell a visitor whether a file is public, sealed, or restricted before any copy is made.

Circuit Clerk vs Chancery Clerk

Quitman County splits its court records between two clerks across the courthouse. The Circuit Clerk handles criminal felonies, big civil suits, appeals, and marriage licenses. The Chancery Clerk handles the equity side: divorce, custody, wills, estates, guardianships, conservatorships, and land. Sending a Quitman County request to the wrong clerk is the most common delay, so the table below maps each record to its keeper.

The two offices sit in the same courthouse, a few suites apart. For divorce, probate, land, and other equity files, the request goes to the Quitman County Chancery Clerk instead. A quick call settles any doubt about which counter owns a file before paper or postage is spent.

Note: marriage licenses come from the Circuit Clerk, but a certified divorce decree comes from the Chancery Clerk where the divorce was granted.

Request a Quitman County Certified Copy

A certified copy is a clerk-stamped copy that proves a record is a true match to the original on file. Courts, employers, and agencies often require one where a plain printout will not do. The Quitman County Circuit Clerk issues certified copies of the files it holds. The steps below work for a circuit case file, a marriage license record, or another circuit record.

1. Identify the case. Have the party names and the case number ready, or the date and type of record if the number is unknown.
2. Confirm the clerk. Make sure the record is a circuit matter and not a chancery matter, since each clerk holds a different set of files.
3. Call ahead. Phone the office at 662-326-8003 to confirm the current copy fee, the certification fee, and accepted payment.
4. Submit the request. Ask in person at Suite 4, or mail a written request with the record details and your contact information.
5. Pay and collect. Pay the quoted amount, then pick up the certified copy or have it mailed back to you.

The office did not publish a copy fee in county sources, so the phone call in step three matters. Quoting the fee first avoids a returned request or a short payment. Bring a photo ID for in-person pickups.

Quitman County Records Request Fields

No local Quitman County clerk request form was located in official sources. A plain written letter still works as long as it gives the clerk enough to find the file. Include each item below so staff do not have to call back for missing details. A complete Quitman County request is the fastest request.

Ask the clerk for the current fee and payment method before mailing money. Sending a request without a confirmed amount can stall the order while staff wait for the balance.

Quitman County Records Through PAMEC

Mississippi runs court records online through one statewide system. It is called Mississippi Electronic Courts, and the public side is reached through PAMEC. All circuit and chancery courts now file on this single platform, so Quitman County circuit cases that are electronic can be viewed there. The county does not run its own free case search, which makes PAMEC the main online route for Quitman County circuit filings.

Viewing is not free or open. A reader registers at the PAMEC registration site and logs in to view documents. State Judiciary reporting on the statewide e-filing rollout lists a $10 annual registration and 20 cents per page. Sensitive categories such as sealed cases, domestic matters, and certain protection orders are not available remotely. Those files still require the clerk, a public terminal, or attorney-of-record access.

For older or restricted records, the in-person and mail channels carry the load. The general rule under the Mississippi Public Records Act is that public records are open for inspection unless a law makes them confidential, though court files follow court rules on top of that statute.

Quitman County Circuit Clerk Fees

Quitman County did not publish a local copy or certification fee in the sources reviewed, so the most honest answer for those lines is to call the office. The fees that are documented come from the statewide PAMEC schedule and from the state health department for marriage record copies. The table mixes the confirmed state figures with the local items that must be verified by phone.

Marriage record copies can come from two places. The county-issued license record stays with the Circuit Clerk, while the state copy comes from the Mississippi State Department of Health for covered date ranges. The state route is useful when the requester is out of the area, but the county clerk remains the source for the original license record.

Note: do not mail a fixed sum for a local clerk copy without confirming the amount, since an underpayment can hold up the order.

Federal Court Records Are Separate

Not every case from Quitman County lands in the Circuit Clerk's files. Federal cases run on their own system and are not searched through the county clerk or PAMEC. The federal prosecutor's role for this region is described on the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi page, which handles federal criminal and civil litigation for the district that includes Quitman County.

So a federal indictment or a federal civil suit will not appear at the Suite 4 counter in Marks. Those dockets live in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, with Quitman County assigned to the Oxford Division, and are pulled through the federal PACER service rather than from the county clerk.

For free background reading on federal matters, the research points to one no-cost option. CourtListener is a free legal database, shown on the CourtListener home page, that publishes selected federal opinions and docket material. It is a research supplement to PACER, not a people-search aggregator.

For state criminal and civil matters, though, the path still starts with the Circuit Clerk. The office holds the felony files, the major civil suits, the appeals from the lower courts, and the marriage licenses that define Quitman County circuit work. The full trial-court picture sits on the Quitman County Circuit Court page.