Tate County Circuit Clerk Records

About the Tate County Circuit Clerk

Kenda Blount serves as the Tate County Circuit Clerk. The county courts page names her as the clerk of the County and Circuit Courts. This is an elected county office based at the Tate County Courthouse in Senatobia. The clerk is the legal keeper of the records filed on the law side of the Tate County court system. That role makes the office a key stop for case lookups, certified copies, and several licenses the state asks counties to track.

The Circuit Clerk does far more than store paper. The office takes in lawsuits and criminal charges, issues court process, draws and qualifies juries, and keeps judgments and executions. It also issues marriage licenses, records medical and professional licenses, and runs voter registration and county election duties. Each of those tasks creates a record that the public may need to find later.

What the Circuit Clerk Handles

The Tate County Circuit Clerk page describes a wide set of duties tied to the County and Circuit Courts. The office receives and files all lawsuits, indictments, motions, and related papers in civil and criminal cases. It issues summonses and subpoenas, draws jurors, and qualifies juries for Tate County trials. The clerk also keeps the record of judgments and executions and handles several license and election functions. Core responsibilities include the following.

• Filing lawsuits, indictments, motions, and process in Circuit and County Court cases
• Drawing jurors and qualifying juries for civil and criminal trials
• Recording judgments, executions, and case dispositions
• Issuing marriage licenses and keeping the county marriage records
• Recording medical and other professional licenses
• Managing voter registration and county election duties

Two Clerks Serve Tate County

Mississippi splits county clerk work between two elected officials, and Tate County is no exception. The Tate County Circuit Clerk runs the law side, which covers felony and civil Circuit Court cases, jury matters, marriage licenses, and voter records. The Chancery Clerk runs the equity side. Tim Hale is the Chancery Court Clerk, the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, and the County Auditor. His office is divided into Land Records, Court Records, and Taxes.

That division decides where a record lives. Divorce decrees, probate and estate files, guardianship and conservatorship matters, sanity or commitment hearings, land deeds, and county board minutes are all Chancery Clerk records, not Circuit Clerk records. The Chancery Clerk also receives formal county public information requests. Mississippi's equity court handles these domestic and estate matters, and the state judiciary explains that jurisdiction on its Chancery Court overview.

Knowing this split keeps a request from bouncing between counters. A person seeking a marriage license goes to the Circuit Clerk, while the same person seeking their divorce decree goes to the Chancery Clerk one office away. Both clerks sit inside the same courthouse on Ward Street.

Note: Chancery Clerk records cover divorce, probate, guardianship, land, and county board minutes, so route those requests to Tim Hale rather than the Circuit Clerk.

Search Tate County Court Records

Tate County court files run through Mississippi Electronic Courts, known as MEC. The public access portal for these Tate County records is called PAMEC. The county FAQ tells users to register online to view the Circuit Clerk's civil court cases, and it gives the same route for Chancery Court records. PAMEC is not a free anonymous search. A user must pick an account type, pay an annual fee, and accept the terms before viewing non-restricted documents, docket sheets, and notices.

Tate County Circuit Court cases live in the Seventeenth Circuit MEC environment. Tate County Chancery Court cases live in the Third Chancery MEC environment. Anyone who does not want an online account can use the free public terminals in the clerk's office instead. Registration begins on the PAMEC registration page, where the first step is choosing a user type.

The Seventeenth Circuit e-filing rollout brought these case files online for the public. The Mississippi judiciary covered the change in its Tate Circuit Court e-filing release.

That milestone is why the clerk now points most searchers to PAMEC first and to the public terminals second. The PAMEC access terms spell out the fees and the rules that come with an account.

How to Request a Certified Copy

A certified copy carries the clerk's seal and proves a document is a true copy of the Tate County court record. Banks, employers, and other courts often demand a certified copy rather than a plain printout. The clerk that holds the case issues its certified copy, so the office you visit depends on the record type. The steps below follow the route most county residents use.

1. Find the case. Note the case number or the full names of the parties so staff can pull the right file.
2. Pick the correct clerk. Marriage, felony, and civil Circuit Court records go to the Circuit Clerk; divorce, probate, and land records go to the Chancery Clerk.
3. Choose your method. Use a free public terminal, ask staff to print, or mail a written request to the courthouse.
4. Pay the copy and certification fees. Add the per-page charge to the certification charge for the total.
5. Collect the copy. Pick it up at the counter, or include a self-addressed stamped envelope so the office can mail it back.

Divorce decree copies show how the pricing works in practice. The county FAQ says a public-terminal copy runs less than a staff-printed copy, and both add a flat certification charge. The Tate Chancery Court joined statewide e-filing in 2015, a step the judiciary announced in its Tate Chancery e-filing news release.

That move means many recent decrees can be located on a terminal before any copy is printed and certified. Older files may still need a staff search at the counter.

Tate County Circuit Clerk Fees

Fees for records and services are set and published rather than negotiated. The figures below come from the Tate County FAQ and the state PAMEC terms. Court filing fees for new cases are set by statute and change with the case type, so confirm a current filing fee with the clerk before you file. The copy and access charges that touch most public records are listed here.

The PAMEC per-page charge has a catch worth knowing. The system bills for the pages a search returns even when nothing is viewed, printed, or downloaded, and a search with no match still counts as one page. Billing runs on a quarterly cycle. Civil paper service checks or money orders are made payable to the Tate County Sheriff's Department.

Note: PAMEC charges by the pages a search returns, not just the pages you open, so a no-match search still carries a one-page fee.

Marriage Licenses in Tate County

The Tate County Circuit Clerk issues marriage licenses and keeps the county marriage records. A couple applies at the Circuit Clerk's office in the courthouse, and the office keeps the record after the license is returned. Confirm the current fee, any age or identification rules, and whether both applicants must appear in person before the visit, since those local details are not all published online.

The state offers a second route for certified copies. The Mississippi State Department of Health can search county marriage records and provide a certified copy for vital-record use. MSDH explains its ordering channels on its marriage records page. A divorce record is a different file held by the Chancery Clerk, and the steps for both licenses and decrees appear on the county marriage and divorce records page.

Public Information Request Fields

Many Tate County records are posted online at no cost. When a record is not published, the county uses a Public Information Request form. The completed form goes to Tim Hale, Chancery Court Clerk, at the Tate County Courthouse, 201 South Ward Street, Senatobia, MS 38668. This route follows the Mississippi Public Records Act, Miss. Code Section 25-61-1, which makes public records open for inspection unless the law says otherwise. The form asks for the kind of detail listed below.

Under the act, county offices may require a written request and may charge the actual cost of searching, copying, and mailing a record. Court case files still flow through the clerk that holds them, while the public information route covers other county records that are not already online.

Tate County Land Records and Minutes

Land records and county board minutes sit on the Chancery Clerk side, yet Tate County residents search them often enough to plan for. Tate County keeps a copy of its land records online and at public terminals in the clerk's office. The county also publishes Board of Supervisors minutes online, with the original minutes recorded in the Chancery Clerk's office on the first floor of the courthouse.

• Land records search through the county RecordsUS portal at recordsus.myomnitech.com
• Free public terminals in the Chancery Clerk's office for deeds and court files
• Board of Supervisors minutes published through the county website
• Copies printed from the RecordsUS site carry a watermark

The push to put these files online is part of a statewide effort. The Mississippi judiciary announced that electronic filing reached every county in the state, a milestone covered in its statewide e-filing completion release.

For Tate County, that completion is why both clerks now lean on MEC, public terminals, and online county tools instead of a single homegrown database. Older paper files and full case histories still bring people to the courthouse counters.