Lincoln County Circuit Clerk

About the Lincoln County Circuit Clerk

The Circuit Clerk is an elected office that serves the trial court handling felony prosecutions, civil suits, and appeals from the lower courts. Christy Sheppard is the current Lincoln County Circuit Clerk. She won a special-election runoff on December 2, 2025, defeating Jackie Bates by 2,098 votes to 2,061 after all 28 precincts reported. Sheppard, a former Justice Court clerk, was sworn in on December 10, 2025, by 14th Judicial District Judge Michael Taylor in the Circuit Court courtroom.

The official record of that race is worth seeing before you assume which name appears on a document. The runoff totals are posted in the Daily Leader coverage of the election.

One quirk matters for anyone reading older paperwork. Several Circuit Clerk fee sheets and the marriage-license instruction PDF still print the name of the prior clerk, Dustin R. Bairfield, in their headers. The official county page and the current Delta contact page both identify Christy Sheppard. The fee figures on those older PDFs remain the posted amounts, but the office identity has changed.

The transition was covered when the new clerk took the oath. The oath-of-office report confirms the courtroom ceremony and the leadership change.

The office sits inside the Lincoln County Courthouse and keeps standard weekday hours. Letitia Rice serves as a deputy clerk and is one of the staff contacts listed for the office.

What the Circuit Clerk Does in Lincoln County

The Circuit Clerk handles the paperwork that keeps the Circuit Court running. The office receives and files lawsuits, indictments, motions, and related papers in civil and criminal cases. It also issues the orders that move a case forward and keeps the records of what the court decides. Because the same office issues marriage licenses and registers voters, its public-facing work reaches well beyond courtrooms.

Core duties of the Lincoln County Circuit Clerk include the following.

• Receive and file civil and criminal Circuit Court pleadings.
• Issue process such as summonses and subpoenas.
• Draw jurors and qualify juries for Circuit Court terms.
• Keep judgments, executions, and the judgment roll.
• Issue marriage licenses and maintain marriage records.
• Record medical and professional licenses.
• Handle voter registration and election duties.

Many of these tasks overlap with criminal procedure. A felony case may begin with an initial appearance in Justice Court, then reach the Circuit Clerk by indictment or bind-over, at which point the office opens the formal case file.

Ways to Reach Lincoln County Circuit Clerk Records

There is no single free portal that returns every Circuit Court document. The office uses a mix of an older online index, a statewide electronic system, and in-person service. Picking the right channel depends on whether you need an index lookup, a full document, or a certified copy.

The Delta Computer Systems landing page is the usual online starting point for circuit civil and criminal lookups. It warns that online data is uploaded often but may lag behind courthouse activity, that omissions may not be shown, and that only official courthouse records control. It also notes that judgment roll, civil, and criminal cases are now filed through Mississippi Electronic Courts. The clerk's Delta contact page lists the office address, phone, fax, and email in one place.

That contact page is the quickest way to confirm the current phone, fax, and email before you send a request. The access channels below cover the rest of the ways to obtain a circuit record.

• Mississippi Electronic Courts: the statewide e-filing system for Circuit, Chancery, and County trial courts. The 14th Circuit information page lists a Lincoln County go-live date of February 22, 2021.
• In person, Room 205: the office is paperless, and the fee sheet states there is no charge to view records on an office tablet.
• Email scan request: ask the office to scan a case to the website when it is not yet posted, which usually takes one to two days.
• Mail or fax: send a written request to the courthouse address or to the office fax at 601-835-3482.
• Public-records request: identify the case name, case number if known, party names, record type, and the copies or certification you need.

Note: The Mississippi Public Records Act supports access to non-confidential records, but court files follow court rules and clerk procedure rather than ordinary agency practice.

How to Request a Certified Copy

A certified copy is a clerk-certified document suitable for official use, such as proving a judgment, a marriage, or a case outcome. An uncertified printout from the online index is a convenience copy and is not the same thing. When a court, an agency, or a lawyer asks for a certified copy, it must come from the clerk that holds the record.

1. Identify the case by cause number, party names, and the year it was filed, then confirm the Circuit Clerk holds it rather than another court.
2. Contact the office by phone, email, fax, or in person at Room 205 to confirm the record is available and ask whether it must be scanned first.
3. Submit your request with the document details and the number of certified copies you need.
4. Pay the copy and certification fees, which can be handled at the counter or arranged for a mailed request.
5. Pick the document up in person or wait for it to arrive by mail.

For background checks, the office charges per name and can verify by phone call or walk-in. Build in extra time when a case is older and not yet scanned to the website.

Lincoln County Circuit Clerk Request Form Fields

A clear request moves faster than a vague one. Whether you write, email, or hand the request across the counter, include the details that let staff find the exact file. The table below lists the information the office relies on to pull a Circuit Court record.

Note: Court files may have redactions for Social Security numbers, account numbers, minor names, and other protected identifiers before release.

Lincoln County Circuit Clerk Fees

The posted Circuit Clerk fee sheet sets the charges for copies, filings, and several common services. Some of those PDFs still carry the prior clerk's name in the header, but the amounts remain the posted figures. The schedule below reflects the fee sheet maintained by the office.

Passport applicants also pay a separate U.S. Department of State application fee of $110 by check or money order. Faxes over 200 pages and unusually large email files may cost more based on the time involved.

Marriage and Professional Licenses in Lincoln County

Marriage licenses are a signature service of the Circuit Clerk, not the Chancery Clerk. Both parties must appear together at the office, bring proof of identification such as a driver's license, and pay the $36 license fee. Mississippi removed the blood test and the waiting period as of July 1, 2012, so a couple can usually leave the same day with a license.

Age rules apply. Both parties should be 21, and anyone under 21 needs parent consent. If either person was married before, the clerk needs to know the date of the divorce. The office also keeps the marriage index, which can be searched online by groom or spouse name, bride or spouse name, marriage date, or book and page, though images of marriage records are not posted online.

Beyond marriage, the office records medical and professional licenses and carries voter registration duties. Divorce decrees, by contrast, are not Circuit Clerk records. Those belong to the Chancery Court, and certified divorce documents come from the Lincoln County Chancery Clerk, which also handles probate, guardianship, and land records.

Common Lincoln County Circuit Clerk Forms

The clerk publishes a set of forms used most often by litigants, attorneys, and people applying for licenses. Some are full documents, while others are instruction sheets that explain a process. The current set is gathered on one page so visitors can download what they need before coming to the counter.

The full list lives on the Circuit Clerk online forms page, which collects the indigency, counsel, civil, marriage, arraignment, and fee documents in one place.

Reviewing the right form ahead of time prevents a wasted trip. The most useful documents on that page include the items below.

• Marriage License instruction sheet, which lists the $36 fee and the identification and consent rules.
• Affidavit of Indigency, used by criminal defendants who cannot afford counsel.
• Application for Appointment of Counsel for eligible defendants.
• Civil Cover Sheet for opening a civil action.
• Waiver of Arraignment and related criminal procedure forms.

Online Filing and Mississippi Electronic Courts

Trial-court filings in Lincoln County run through Mississippi Electronic Courts, the statewide e-filing and document system for Circuit, Chancery, and County Courts. The 14th Circuit court information page lists the Lincoln County Circuit Court at 301 S First Street, Room 205, with a go-live date of February 22, 2021, and weekday hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The system handles new civil, criminal, and judgment-roll filings.

Public access to electronic documents can be split between paid remote viewing and free in-person terminals. Reporting has noted that the public can view documents through the electronic system by subscribing and paying a per-page fee, or can read filings on public terminals at the courthouse without that viewing fee. Treat any fee figure as subject to current court rules and confirm it before relying on it.

For records that are not online, the fallback chain is simple. Call the Circuit Clerk at 601-835-3435 for civil, criminal, and marriage records, visit Room 205 during business hours, or send a written request by mail or fax. A broader look at every court level and search tool sits in the county court records overview.