Access Clay County Clerk Records

Clay County Clerk Records

Clay County's court clerk is the Clerk of the District Court, Melissa Stellner. The office is in Room 204 of the Clay County Courthouse and serves the District Court side of the county's record system. Court users contact this office for district court case searches, docket questions, copies, certified court documents, divorce decrees, probate files, criminal case files, civil filings, limited actions, small claims, and traffic cases that belong in District Court.

This role should not be blended with the elected Clay County Clerk. The County Clerk, Kayla Wang, handles county administration, elections, meeting minutes, budget work, real estate information, vital-statistics research services, and other county-government functions. Those services matter for general county records, but District Court case files route to the Clerk of the District Court.

The separate county-government clerk office is described on the Clay County Clerk page.

Clay County Clerk Roles

Two clerk names appear in Clay County sources. The distinction is practical. A person looking for a certified divorce decree, a probate case file, a criminal docket entry, a civil judgment, or a District Court payment issue should contact the Clerk of the District Court. A person looking for county board minutes, elections, candidate filings, commissioner district information, real estate information, or county budget records should contact the elected County Clerk.

The County Clerk staff directory lists Kayla Wang and county clerk staff, while the District Court directory lists the court clerk and court staff.

The elected county clerk staff listing appears in the Clay County Clerk staff directory.

Request Clay County Clerk Records

The Clay County District Court open-record procedure is the local request channel when a court record cannot be found online, when a copy is needed, or when certification is required. The procedure says the requester must complete the Records Request Form and mail $12 before the search is processed. The payment goes to Clerk of the District Court, 712 5th St., Ste. 204, Clay Center, Kansas 67432.

1. Search Kansas CaseSearch first if public case information may be enough.
2. Use the Clay County Open Record Request Form when the portal is incomplete or copies are needed.
3. Describe the record with titles, dates, court name, party name, date of birth, and social security number if available.
4. Choose the correct record type, such as Probate, Divorce/Child Support/Custody, Civil/Limited Action, or Criminal/Juvenile/Traffic.
5. State the number of copies desired and whether certified copies are needed.
6. Mail the $12 search fee to the Clerk of the District Court before expecting the search to be completed.

Phone contact remains useful when the requester does not know whether the record is a District Court case, a municipal citation, a county administrative record, or a state vital record. The District Court phone is 785-632-3443.

Clay County Request Form

The online form captures requester contact details, record category, description, copy count, and a certification tied to Kansas public-record law. It also notes that a form may be submitted by email, but the $12 payment must be mailed before the record search is done.

The local web form is the Clay County District Court Open Record Request Form.

Clay County Clerk Fees

The verified Clay County fee for a District Court record search is $12. The form and procedure make the timing clear: the search will be processed after the court receives the mailed payment. The research did not locate official Clay County amounts for plain copies, certified copies, or certification beyond the search fee. The form says a fee schedule is posted in the Clerk of the District Court office, so copy-cost questions should be confirmed before mailing payment.

Certified Clay County Copies

Certified copies prove that the copy came from the court record. Divorce decrees, probate orders, civil judgments, and some criminal dispositions often need certification when they are used for legal, financial, licensing, or administrative purposes. A requester should not assume that a screen print from CaseSearch is the same as a certified copy from the Clerk of the District Court.

1. Identify the case number if available, or gather the party names, record title, and approximate filing date.
2. Confirm the record is a District Court record rather than a County Clerk, municipal court, KDHE, or driver-record item.
3. Submit the Clay County record request form and state that certification is needed.
4. List the number of certified copies requested.
5. Mail the $12 search fee and ask the clerk for any additional copy or certification charge.
6. Use the certified copy issued by the court, not a portal summary, for formal use.

Note: Marriage and divorce certificates from KDHE are state vital records, while divorce decrees are certified by the court that filed the case.

Clay County Clerk Access Rules

Kansas public-record law supports access, but court records also have electronic-access and confidentiality limits. K.S.A. 45-230 is built into the Clay County request form because it restricts commercial use of names and addresses from public records. Kansas Supreme Court Rule 22 also limits public electronic access to certain court records and documents, even when courthouse access or a clerk request may still be available.

The commercial-use certification on the request form is tied to K.S.A. 45-230.

Restricted records can include juvenile records, sealed or expunged records, adoption records, care and treatment records, and personal identifiers such as social security numbers or financial account data. If a record does not appear in a public portal, the reason may be access control, not absence of a case.