Benton County Circuit Clerk

About the Benton County Circuit Clerk

Kathy Graves serves as the Benton County Circuit Clerk. The Circuit Clerk is an elected county officer. The office sits inside the Benton County Courthouse in Ashland, the county seat. Voters across the county choose the clerk, and the post carries a four-year term like other elected county roles in Mississippi.

The Circuit Clerk is the official keeper of Circuit Court records. The clerk serves the court, the public, and the attorneys who file cases. Most felony files, civil jury suits, and recorded judgments pass through this office. Marriage licenses and voter registration run through it too. The contact block below has the current address, phone, mailing box, and hours for everyday requests.

What the Circuit Clerk Does in Benton County

The Circuit Clerk wears many hats in Benton County. The office serves as clerk of the Circuit Court and keeps the court docket. It enters a complete record of each Circuit Court suit. It also files all trial documents and stores them for the long term. When a jury reaches a verdict, the clerk receives it and reads it in open court.

Jury work is a large part of the job. The clerk notifies citizens picked for jury duty and prepares the juror list for attorneys. Beyond the courtroom, the office issues marriage licenses, keeps marriage records, registers voters, and records judgments to the judgment roll. The core duties are listed below.

• Keep the Circuit Court docket and a full record of each suit
• File trial documents and issue subpoenas for the court
• Notify jurors and prepare juror lists for attorneys
• Receive jury verdicts and read them in open court
• Issue marriage licenses and keep marriage records
• Record judgments to the judgment roll
• Register voters and handle related election duties

Which Clerk Holds Which Benton County Record

Benton County uses a split clerk system. The Circuit Clerk and the Chancery Clerk are two separate offices with two separate record sets. Sending a request to the wrong office is the most common reason a search stalls. The first question is always simple. Which court heard the case?

Felony criminal files, civil jury suits, appeals from lower courts, the judgment roll, subpoenas, jury matters, and marriage licenses route to the Circuit Clerk. Divorce, custody, adoption, probate, guardianship, conservatorship, land title, and recorded deeds route to the Chancery Clerk, Marlene McKenzie. The state court system explains this division of trial courts in plain terms.

For a side-by-side view of the state's trial structure, the Mississippi Judiciary publishes a court structure overview that maps each court level.

That overview confirms the Circuit and Chancery split that shapes every Benton County records request. The table below sorts the most common records by office.

When a matter belongs to equity or land, start with the Benton County Chancery Clerk instead. The two offices share a building but not their files.

How to Search Benton County Circuit Records

Circuit Court records can be reached two main ways. The first is online through Mississippi Electronic Courts, known as MEC. The second is in person at the clerk's counter. Benton County Circuit Court went live on MEC on February 10, 2025, so digital filings now build over time. Older paper files may still need a courthouse visit.

Remote public viewing runs through the Public Access portal, called PAMEC. A reader locates the right court through the Mississippi Electronic Courts landing page, then registers through PAMEC online registration. An annual user fee applies before full search and viewing are unlocked. Confirm the court reads "Circuit Court of Benton County" before you search.

The Mississippi Judiciary describes Circuit Court jurisdiction over felonies, large civil suits, and appeals on its Circuit Court page.

That page is a useful primer before you open a Circuit case search. One caution matters here. The Delta Computer Systems site holds Chancery cases and deeds, not Circuit files. Do not rely on Delta for felony, civil jury, judgment roll, subpoena, or jury records, because the Circuit Clerk is the custodian of those. For non-digitized, sealed, certified, or older cases, call the Circuit Clerk at 662-224-6310. A broader walkthrough of access channels lives on the county court records page.

Note: Remote viewing through PAMEC is not the same as official courthouse access, and only the clerk's certified records carry legal weight.

How to Request a Certified Copy

A certified copy carries the clerk's seal and signature. Courts, lenders, and government agencies accept it as proof, while a plain printout is not accepted in court. Benton County does not publish a dedicated certified-copy order form, so the request runs through the clerk directly. The steps below keep the process simple.

1. Identify the case number and the court that heard the matter, since Circuit and Chancery files are separate.
2. Gather the party names, the filing year if known, and the exact document you need.
3. Contact the Circuit Clerk by phone at 662-224-6310, by email, in person, or by mail to confirm the copy is available and ask the current fee.
4. Submit the request with payment, in person at 190 Ripley Avenue or by mail to PO Box 262, Ashland, MS 38603.
5. Pick up the certified copy at the counter or wait for it to arrive by return mail.

Benton County Circuit Clerk Records Request

Benton County does not post a separate court-record request PDF or certified-copy form. The official county pages offer only a general contact form. That form carries a few basic fields and does not label them as required, list fees, or state a processing time. Its fields are shown below so you know what to expect when you reach out online.

Because no dedicated request form exists, spell out the details inside the message or in a written request. A complete request moves faster and avoids a follow-up call. Include the items below.

• Case number, if you have it
• Full names of the parties
• Document type and filing year
• Number of copies and whether they must be certified
• Your name, mailing address, and phone number

Benton County Circuit Clerk Fees

Benton County does not publish a certified-copy or plain-copy fee for the Circuit Clerk in its official pages. Fees are set by the office and can change, so confirm the current amount before you send payment. The figures that are published in official Mississippi systems are listed below for context. The Benton-specific copy fees are marked as not published.

The Mississippi Judiciary explains record copy costs and access on its records page.

That same records FAQ sets the statewide context for the rates in the table that follows.

The PAMEC and MEC rates apply to online public access across Mississippi courts. The appellate minimum applies to Supreme Court and Court of Appeals records, not to the local Circuit Clerk counter. Treat all of these as state context until the clerk quotes the Benton figure.

Benton County Marriage and Judgment Records

Marriage licenses are a Circuit Clerk function in Benton County, not a Chancery duty. The office issues the license and keeps the record of marriages. Couples apply at the courthouse counter. Benton County did not publish a marriage application form or a license fee, so call the Circuit Clerk for the current requirements and cost before you go.

The judgment roll is another Circuit Clerk record. When a court enters a money judgment, the clerk records it to the roll. That entry can affect credit, property, and liens, so a roll search matters in title and collection work. Recorded judgments are public unless a statute or court order limits access.

Note: The Circuit Clerk holds marriage licenses and judgments, while divorce decrees belong to the Chancery Clerk, so confirm the court before requesting either.

Benton County Circuit Court E-Filing

Mississippi moved its trial courts onto a single electronic filing system. Benton County Circuit Court joined that system, Mississippi Electronic Courts, on February 10, 2025. Attorneys file documents through MEC, and the clerk processes them into the official record. The shift is part of a statewide rollout that the Judiciary has now completed for its courts.

Public users do not file, but they can view many records remotely through PAMEC after registration and the annual fee. Coverage builds forward from the go-live date, so the oldest Circuit files may not appear online yet. For those records, the clerk's counter remains the surest route. Anyone unsure whether a file is digital should call 662-224-6310 before driving to Ashland.