Madison County Circuit Clerk Office

About the Madison County Circuit Clerk

Anita Wray serves as the Madison County Circuit Clerk, an office voters fill at the county level. The Circuit Clerk is the records custodian for several trial courts at once, not just one. That makes the office the first stop for most people who want a court file, a certified copy, or a marriage license in Madison County.

The clerk keeps marriage licenses, jury lists, civil and criminal trial dockets, professional licenses, and judgment rolls. The office also maintains all court records, filings, papers, court costs, fees, fines, and assessments for the Circuit Court, the County Court, and the Youth Court. Beyond court files, the Circuit Clerk works as the county voter registrar, assists with elections and absentee voting, and receives candidate qualifying papers.

The county profiles the office and its marriage-license rules on the official Circuit Clerk page. That page is shown below.

It names the clerk, lists the office duties, and sets out what each party must bring to apply for a marriage license, which makes it a useful starting point before any visit.

What the Circuit Clerk Does in Madison County

The Circuit Clerk does far more than file paperwork. The office draws and qualifies jurors, mails summonses, and pays jurors for their service. It records medical and other professional licenses, collects criminal and restitution fines set in court, and keeps the running account of court costs and assessments for three separate courts. The clerk also runs the voter rolls and the candidate qualifying process for the county.

The Circuit Clerk maintains its own site, which frames these duties in plain terms. The Circuit Clerk website appears below.

It groups the work into court records, jury service, fine collection, and election duties, which mirrors how the counter staff actually route a request. The core responsibilities break down like this.

• Voter registration, elections, and absentee voting for the county.
• Drawing and qualifying jurors, mailing summonses, and paying jurors.
• Keeping marriage licenses, jury lists, and judgment rolls.
• Maintaining civil and criminal trial dockets for Circuit, County, and Youth Court.
• Recording licenses for doctors and certain other professionals.
• Collecting criminal fines, restitution, court costs, fees, and assessments.

Several terms turn up again and again at the counter. A short glossary helps a first-time visitor speak the office's language.

Registrar

The official who keeps the county voter rolls; the Circuit Clerk holds this role.

Judgment roll

The index of enrolled judgments that can act as a lien.

Certified copy

A copy carrying the clerk's seal, accepted as official for legal use.

Assessment

A court-ordered charge added to a fine, tracked by the clerk per case.

The Chancery Clerk's Separate Role

Madison County splits clerk duties between two elected offices, so the Circuit Clerk does not hold every record. Ronny Lott serves as the Chancery Clerk, and that office is the county treasurer, auditor, clerk to the Board of Supervisors, custodian of all land records, and clerk to the Chancery Court. Anyone searching for a deed, a probate file, a divorce, or a commitment record needs the Chancery Clerk, not the Circuit Clerk.

The Chancery Clerk receives and records warranty deeds, deeds of trust, powers of attorney, and other land records, and builds the subdivision, sectional, and direct and reverse indexes that make those records searchable. The same office processes homestead exemption applications, delinquent real estate tax records, tax sales and redemptions, and tax deeds. It also records military discharges, provides county-wide notary service, and accepts passport applications.

The county describes this office and its land-record search links on the official Chancery Clerk page. That page is shown here.

As clerk to the Chancery Court, the office assigns cases to one of three chancellors, keeps the docket and minute books, issues process, and handles civil commitments for mental health and drug or alcohol matters. Probate, wills, and estate files sit with this office, and those records are covered in detail on the county probate records page.

Circuit Clerk Office Locations and Counters

The phrase "go to the courthouse" does not work in Madison County, because the Circuit Clerk runs two counters in two buildings. Circuit criminal and civil files, along with elections, live at 146 W. Center Street, 1st Floor, in Canton. County Court civil and criminal files, plus marriage licenses, are handled at 229 N. Union Street. Picking the wrong door can mean a second trip across town.

The county lays out the split on its Circuit Clerk office locations page. That breakdown is shown below.

The 146 W. Center Street building also houses the Chancery side, so a single trip there can reach Circuit Court records and the Chancery Clerk. Marriage-license applicants, by contrast, must go to the County counter at 229 N. Union Street. The full marriage-license process and certified-copy steps appear on the county marriage and divorce records page.

How to Request a Certified Copy

A certified copy carries the clerk's seal and is the version courts, agencies, and lenders accept as official. An uncertified printout is fine for a quick read, but it will not stand in for the real thing in a legal proceeding. The Circuit Clerk issues certified copies of filed court documents, and the steps below keep a request moving.

1. Identify the court and case. Have the party names ready, and the case or cause number if you know it, since that speeds the search.
2. Decide whether you need a certified copy or a plain copy, and how many copies you want, because each certified copy adds a fee.
3. Go to the right counter. Circuit criminal and civil records are at 146 W. Center Street, while County Court records and marriage licenses are at 229 N. Union Street.
4. Submit the request with payment. In person, bring exact cash or a card, noting that card payments add a 2.3 percent fee. By mail, send a money order with the name and case number.
5. Pick up the certified copy at the counter, or wait for it to arrive by mail when you request a mailed copy.

If you do not know the fine, assessment, or case number for a criminal matter, call the office before mailing anything. Staff can confirm the amount and the case number so the payment posts to the right file.

Records Request Form Fields

Whether a request goes in at the counter or through the mail, the clerk needs enough detail to find one file out of many. Listing each item before you submit avoids a follow-up call. The table below shows what a Circuit Clerk records request should include and why each field matters.

A name-only search is enough when the case number is unknown, though common names can return several matches. Adding an approximate filing year or the second party's name narrows the result quickly.

Madison County Circuit Clerk Fees

The Circuit Clerk publishes a 2025 fee schedule that covers filings, searches, copies, marriage services, and expungements. The amounts below come from that schedule and apply to the most common requests. Filing fees are charged per case, while search and copy fees are charged per name or per page.

Criminal fines, fees, and assessments are unique to each case and cannot be paid by phone. In person, the office takes exact cash or a card with a 2.3 percent surcharge. By mail, send a money order that lists the defendant's name and the case number.

Ways to Reach Madison County Court Records

No single database holds every Madison County court file, so the clerk's office points to several channels depending on the court and the age of the record. Modern case files, land records, and older paper files each follow a different path. Matching the request to the right channel is the fastest way to find a record.

Remote electronic access runs through Mississippi Electronic Courts, the statewide system. The MEC landing page is the login and search gateway for participating Circuit, County, and Chancery matters, and members of the public register before searching from home. For Chancery Court, the county notes that all filings and new cases from January 2010 forward are available only through MEC or through public terminals in the Chancery Clerk's office. The broader walkthrough for searching by court and date runs through the county court records search resources.

The remaining channels cover the records MEC does not, and the office staff route requests across them.

• Public terminals in the Chancery Clerk's office for post-2010 Chancery case files.
• The DuProcess Official Records Inquiry for deeds, deeds of trust, plats, and other land records.
• In person at the Circuit Clerk counters on Center Street and Union Street, and at the Chancery Clerk office.
• By mail, using a money order for criminal fines and assessments.
• By phone at 601-859-4365 to confirm a fine amount or case number before paying.
• Through a formal public-records request under the Mississippi Public Records Act when a record is administrative rather than a court file.

Mississippi treats public records as open unless a law creates an exemption, under the Public Records Act in Title 25, Chapter 61 of the state code, summarized by the Mississippi Ethics Commission. Sealed cases, youth-court files, adoption records, commitments, and expunged matters fall outside ordinary public access.