Who We Are & What We Do
There are 100 Clerks of Court in the state of North Carolina—each
elected from one of the 100 counties. The Clerk of Court's term of
office is four years.
The Clerk is a judicial official whose primary
responsibility is to maintain the official court records in both the
District and Superior courts as well as implement the laws passed by the
North Carolina General Assembly. The office is guided by the
Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) in Raleigh who supply all
necessary forms, office supplies and equipments for the Clerk's office.
the County must furnish the office space and the furniture for the Clerk
and staff members.
The Clerk's office is the official record
keeper for the courts. All lawsuits, civil actions, criminal,
proceedings or other matters brought before the Court are filed in the
Clerk's office. These records must be secured and maintained in a safe
place not only for current use but for reference purposes and future
examinations of all proceedings involving a person or persons.
Maintaining a criminal history on someone is one purpose while having
records available for genealogical study is another. No matter what the
purpose, all records must be exact and factual when processed and filed
by the Clerk.
The Clerk is the Judge of Probate and has
exclusive jurisdiction in the probate of wills and settlement of a
deceased person's estate. The Clerk also receives and invests money on
behalf of a minor who has no parent or guardian or when instructed by
the Court to receive money on behalf on the minor due to a court
settlement or litigation.
The Clerk's office provides a depository for
people to place their will for safekeeping at no charge. Also, many
Clerk's offices are the official passport office for their county.
Their are many services provided to the
citizens of each county by their Clerk of Court. I have attempted to to
list some of the more frequently used services below. For additional
information about the court system and its operations, visit the State
of North Carolina's official Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC)
website listed in the Links section below.
Filing of all civil actions, issuance of
warrants, orders for arrest, summonses, show cause orders, and
subpoenas. Probate of wills, adoptions, name changes, guardianships,
trusts, foreclosures, condemnations, boundary disputes, incompetency
determinations, partition of land, estate administration and many other
proceedings.
Fees/Schedules
Please contact Clerk's office for current court schedules.
All Fees and costs related to the Clerk's
office are set by the N.C. General Assembly and can be ascertained by
contacting the Clerk's office prior to filing any papers or documents.
