Kemper County Chancery Clerk Office

About the Kemper County Chancery Clerk

Sherline D. Watkins serves as the Kemper County Chancery Clerk. The position is an elected county office, and the clerk works from the courthouse in De Kalb, the county seat. The Chancery Clerk wears several hats at once. The office is the recorder of land and lien documents, the keeper of chancery court files, and the county treasurer who handles money after the Board of Supervisors approves it.

Mississippi splits its court clerk work between two offices, and Kemper County follows that pattern. The Chancery Clerk covers land, probate, divorce, estate, and county board records, while the Circuit Clerk covers circuit and county court litigation, criminal history, and marriage licenses. People who walk into the wrong office lose time, so the routing below matters before any request goes out.

What the Kemper County Chancery Clerk Records

The duties of the Kemper County Chancery Clerk run wider than most people expect. The office records the minutes and orders of the Board of Supervisors, the body that governs county business. As county treasurer, the clerk prepares claims dockets and payroll, then writes and signs checks only after the Board approves the spending. On the property side, the office records and stores deeds and mortgages and maintains the indexes that let researchers find a document years later.

• Records Board of Supervisors minutes and orders
• Serves as county treasurer, preparing claims dockets and payroll and signing checks after Board approval
• Records and stores deeds and mortgages and maintains the record indexes
• Records construction liens, condominium liens, federal tax liens, lis pendens, and military discharges
• Stores and disposes of older land rolls and tax receipts after their active use ends
• Acts as Clerk of Chancery Court for estates, guardianships, conservatorships, divorces, custody, adoption, property disputes, and equity matters

Chancery Court is Mississippi's equity court. Because the Chancery Clerk is the clerk of that court, the same office that records a deed also opens an estate file and dockets a divorce. Authority for the court's reach comes from Mississippi Code Section 9-5-81, which sets chancery jurisdiction over equity and related matters.

Records Routed to the Kemper County Chancery Clerk

The county's own guidance sorts public records by office. Divorce, estate, land, delinquent-tax, and board-minute records go to the Chancery Clerk. Criminal history, civil litigation, and tax-lien records go to the Kemper County Circuit Clerk, the other half of the split clerk system. Each clerk page covers only its own records, so a request aimed at the wrong office is usually returned or rerouted.

Within the Chancery Clerk's share, the file types are broad. Estate and probate matters include wills, letters of administration, inventories, and guardianship filings, and they are tracked through the Kemper County probate records the chancery court keeps. Land records include deeds, mortgages, and the lien filings listed above. Family files include divorce, custody, and adoption, though sensitive child, financial, and adoption material is often sealed or redacted. The county's routing guide spells out which counter holds which record.

Note: Adoption files, mental-health commitments, and minor-related records may stay confidential even when the surrounding estate or chancery docket is otherwise open to the public.

Board of Supervisors Minutes and Orders

Board minutes and orders are Chancery Clerk records, which ties county government paperwork to the same office that handles land and probate. The Board of Supervisors meets at the Courthouse Annex, 230 Main Avenue, De Kalb, a different building from the main courthouse on Main Ave. Meetings fall on the first and third Monday of each month at 10 a.m. If a Monday is a holiday, the meeting shifts to Tuesday.

Anyone who wants to appear before the Board must notify the Board Office no later than noon on the Wednesday before the Monday meeting. Backup information and exhibits are due by that same deadline. The Board of Supervisors page publishes the meeting location and schedule, and the Chancery Clerk holds the minutes and orders the Board adopts.

That treasury role also explains why the same office signs county checks. The Chancery Clerk prepares the claims docket and payroll, then issues payment only once the Board votes its approval. Researchers looking for proof of a county action, a recorded order, or a vote on a road, contract, or budget item therefore start with the Chancery Clerk rather than a separate records department.

How to Request a Certified Copy or Recorded Document

A certified copy carries the clerk's seal and proves a document is a true copy of the office record. Courts, title companies, banks, and government agencies often require one, while a plain copy is fine for personal reference. The steps below work for a recorded deed, a chancery order, an estate document, or board minutes.

1. Confirm the record belongs with the Chancery Clerk. Land, lien, estate, guardianship, divorce, and board-minute records are chancery records; criminal and circuit litigation files are not.
2. Gather identifying details. Have the party or owner names, the approximate filing or recording year, the case or instrument number if known, and the exact document type you need.
3. Choose a channel. You can use Mississippi Electronic Courts for participating chancery cases, visit the courthouse counter, mail the request to the P.O. box, or call the office first.
4. Submit the request and pay the copy and certification fee. Ask the clerk for the current amount before you send payment, since fees are set locally.
5. State whether you need certified or plain copies, then pick the document up at the counter or have it mailed back to you.

Note: Older land rolls, tax receipts, and archived files may sit in storage or microfilm, so ask the clerk whether the record is in active office files before traveling for it.

Kemper County Chancery Clerk Request Fields

Kemper County links an official Public Records Request Policy that governs how the public asks for county records. The policy PDF is published by the county, though its field-level text is not posted in plain form. The items below reflect what a usable chancery records request generally needs so the clerk can find and release the right file.

Ways to Access Kemper County Chancery Clerk Records

The Chancery Clerk does not run a single open public search portal for every record, so several channels matter. Mississippi Electronic Courts is the statewide e-filing and case system, and Kemper County Chancery Court has used chancery e-filing since November 27, 2017. Public access through that system can be gated, meaning full case and document views may require registration or a subscription rather than a free anonymous search.

• Online: Mississippi Electronic Courts for participating chancery cases, with access details on the 10th Circuit court information page.
• In person: the Chancery Clerk counter at the courthouse, 123 Main Ave, De Kalb.
• Mail: written requests to P.O. Box 188, De Kalb, MS 39328.
• Phone: the Chancery Clerk direct line, 601-743-8368, before any visit.
• Policy: the county Public Records Request Policy and the Mississippi Public Records Act.

The county's Public Records Request Policy sets the local process for administrative records. Statewide backing comes from the Mississippi Public Records Act, Miss. Code Section 25-61-1, summarized on the Mississippi Ethics Commission page. That law favors inspection of public records, but it does not override sealing orders, adoption and juvenile confidentiality, medical privacy, or the login rules of electronic court systems.

Note: A public-records request is one route, but for an open chancery file you may also inspect or copy the record at the courthouse counter when it is public and not sealed.

Kemper County Chancery Clerk Fees

Specific copy, certification, and recording fees are not posted in the official Kemper County sources reviewed for this office, so the amounts below are left open on purpose. Mississippi clerks set and collect these charges locally, and inventing a number from another county would mislead. Confirm each amount with the Chancery Clerk before you send a request or payment.

Because the office handles deeds, mortgages, liens, and military discharges as well as chancery court files, recording charges and copy charges can differ by document type. A quick call to 601-743-8368 confirms the current cost, accepted payment methods, and whether a self-addressed stamped envelope speeds a mailed return.