Access the Copiah County Circuit Clerk

About the Copiah County Circuit Clerk

Derrick Cubit serves as the Copiah County Circuit Clerk. The office works out of the Copiah County Courthouse in Hazlehurst. A Circuit Clerk is the clerk of the Circuit Court, which is the county's main law court. This is an elected county office, and voters across Copiah County choose who fills it.

The county describes the role in plain terms. The Circuit Clerk provides services to the Circuit and County Courts and to the public. That work spans voter registration, election information, jury duty, and marriage licenses. For court users, the clerk is the keeper of the case file and the place certified copies come from.

The official county profile for the office lists the clerk's duties, contact details, and mailing box. You can review the duties on the Copiah County Circuit Clerk page before you call or visit.

That page confirms the clerk's name, the courthouse address, and the office phone line for Copiah County court records questions. Use the contact card below to reach the office directly.

What the Copiah County Circuit Clerk Does

The Circuit Clerk supports nearly every step of a circuit case. The office takes in filings, tracks the docket, issues court process, and reads jury verdicts in open court. It also runs duties that have little to do with court files, such as voter rolls and marriage licenses. That mix makes the office a busy front door for the public.

These are the core duties the county lists for the Copiah County Circuit Clerk:

• Keeps the general docket with party names, pleas, indictments, and appeals from inferior courts.
• Keeps the court's orders in the minute book and maintains the execution docket.
• Records the complete proceedings of each suit and files trial documents.
• Issues subpoenas and other court process.
• Receives jury verdicts, reads them in open court, and issues juror checks and certificates.
• Handles voter registration, election information, jury duty, and marriage licenses.

Records the Copiah County Circuit Clerk Keeps

The clerk's files trace a case from start to finish. The general docket lists the parties in each matter, the pleas entered, the indictments returned, and papers sent up from inferior courts on appeal. The minute book holds the court's orders. The execution docket tracks judgments that must be collected.

Beyond those books, the office holds a complete record of the proceedings in each suit. Pleadings, motions, trial exhibits, verdicts, and final orders all land here. Felony files, circuit civil files, and appeals from Justice Court or municipal court flow through the same clerk. Because of that scope, the Circuit Clerk is the right first stop for most Copiah County criminal and circuit civil court records.

Copiah County Circuit Court is now part of the statewide electronic court system. Voluntary attorney e-filing began in July 2020, mandatory e-filing followed days later, and a paperless court-records order took effect on January 1, 2022. Many newer files live in that system, while older or sealed files may exist only at the counter.

Marriage Licenses at the Copiah County Circuit Clerk

Marriage licenses in Copiah County come from the Circuit Clerk, not the Chancery Clerk. Both parties should plan to appear at the office and show proof of age and identity. The clerk issues the license and files a Statistical Record of Marriage with the Office of Vital Records at the Mississippi State Department of Health.

The current county page sets the filing fee at $37 per marriage record prepared. An older county FAQ still lists $21 and names a former clerk, so that figure is out of date. For certified copies of an existing marriage record, the Mississippi State Department of Health vital records office is another channel, and its certified copy fee is $17.

Note: Fee amounts and age or consent rules can change, so confirm the current marriage license cost and ID requirements with the Copiah County Circuit Clerk before you visit.

Elections and Jury Records in Copiah County

The Circuit Clerk also carries the county's election and jury work. Voter registration runs through this office, along with election information that residents request. Jurors report to the Circuit Clerk, and the office issues their checks and certificates of service when needed.

That local role connects to the broader picture of the county the courts serve. The county publishes population, income, and housing data that help explain its caseload and its jury pool.

You can review that county snapshot on the Copiah County demographics page, which links to Census and economic resources.

Those figures put the clerk's election and jury duties in context for anyone studying Copiah County court records and public service rolls.

Copiah County Circuit Clerk Fees

Copiah County does not publish a full court copy and certification fee list in its official sources. The marriage filing fee is clear, but plain-copy and certified-copy court charges were not located online. The honest answer is to ask the Circuit Clerk for the current amount before you send money.

Note: Court copy and certification charges are not posted in official Copiah County sources, so the listed amounts that exist here are only the fees the county and state actually publish.

How to Request a Certified Copy

A certified copy carries the clerk's seal and proves a record is a true court document. Courts, agencies, and other states often will not accept a plain printout in its place. The steps below outline the usual path at the Copiah County Circuit Clerk.

1. Find the case. Gather the case number if you have it, plus the names of the parties and the rough date of filing.
2. Reach the office. Call (601) 894-1241, send mail to P.O. Box 467, or visit the courthouse counter at 100 Caldwell Dr.
3. State what you need. Name the document, the number of copies, and that you want them certified rather than plain.
4. Pay the fee. Ask the clerk for the current copy and certification cost and the payment methods the office accepts.
5. Collect the record. Pick the copies up in person or have them mailed to the address you provide.

What to Include in a Copiah County Records Request

Copiah County does not publish a dedicated court-records request form in its official sources. There is no county fill-in sheet to download for case copies. The practical route is a clear written request, by mail or in person, that gives the clerk everything needed to find the file. The table below is a recommended checklist of fields to include, not a county form.

The county forms page carries other PDFs, such as voter registration and passport applications, but no court-copy request sheet.

You can browse those documents on the Copiah County forms page to confirm which sheets the county does post.

Ways to Reach the Copiah County Circuit Clerk

There is more than one way to get a record from this office. Some requests fit a quick phone call. Others need a counter visit or a mailed letter. Pick the channel that matches the record and how soon you need it.

• In person at 100 Caldwell Dr. for circuit files, jury matters, and marriage licenses.
• By phone at (601) 894-1241 for quick questions and copy fees.
• By email at derrick@copiahcountyms.gov for written requests and follow-up.
• By mail to P.O. Box 467, Hazlehurst, MS 39083 for letters and payments.
• Online through the statewide electronic court system for eligible electronic cases.

The county also keeps a page of local government and community links that helps residents reach related offices.

That Copiah County community links page points to city, school, and emergency contacts that sit outside the Circuit Clerk's records.

Searching Copiah County Court Records Online

Copiah County Circuit and Chancery cases run on Mississippi Electronic Courts, the state's e-filing and case management system. Public users reach those files through Public Access Mississippi Electronic Case Management, often called PAMEC. Remote viewing is real, but it is not open and free to everyone.

PAMEC requires registration and a login. Document viewing can carry per-page fees, and restricted cases such as sealed or sensitive family matters are not available remotely. When the portal cannot serve you, the counter request remains the fallback. You can read about the system on the Mississippi Electronic Courts page and set up access through PAMEC registration.

Note: A PAMEC login lets you view many electronic case files, but certified copies and older paper files still come from the Copiah County Circuit Clerk.

When to Use the Copiah County Chancery Clerk

Copiah County splits its clerk work between two offices. The Circuit Clerk handles the law court, while a separate Chancery Clerk handles equity and family matters. Sending a request to the wrong office is the most common reason people lose time here.

Land records, deeds, wills, estates, guardianships, conservatorships, adoptions, mental commitments, youth-court files, and divorce decrees all sit with the Chancery Clerk. That office also serves as the county's record keeper and offers genealogy searches from the county's formation in 1823 to the present. For those matters, start with the Copiah County Chancery Clerk rather than this office. For the law court itself, the Copiah County Circuit Court page explains what the trial court handles.

The Copiah County Chancery Clerk page lists its land, will, and estate records in full detail.

Public Access to Copiah County Court Records

Mississippi law starts from open access. The state's public-records policy says government records must be open for inspection unless the law provides otherwise, and that moving to computers must not erode that access. For court files, access begins with the office that holds the record, which for the law court is the Circuit Clerk.

Not every file is open, though. Sealed cases, youth-court records, adoptions, and many family matters are restricted by statute or court rule. Personal identifiers may be redacted. If a government office wrongly denies a public record, the Mississippi Ethics Commission can take a complaint, but judicial records carry their own limits and exemptions.

You can review the policy in Miss. Code Section 25-61-1 and the complaint process on the Mississippi Ethics Commission public records page. When a record is not online, a clear written request to the Copiah County Circuit Clerk remains the surest route.