Yalobusha County Chancery Clerk Office

About the Yalobusha County Chancery Clerk

Donald Gray serves as the Yalobusha County Chancery Clerk. The official county description calls this one of the most diverse offices in Mississippi government, and the workload backs that up. The clerk's duties are governed by state statutes, court rules, and the procedures of the State Department of Audit and the Department of Finance and Administration. The job blends court work, land records, county minutes, and county money in a single elected office.

As in the Circuit Clerk's office, the two-district setup shapes how you reach the right desk. Yalobusha keeps a First District office in Coffeeville and a Second District office in Water Valley. A file lives in one district, not both. Confirm the district before you call, write, or visit, since a request sent to the wrong town only delays the answer.

What the Chancery Clerk Does in Yalobusha County

The Chancery Clerk fills four roles at once. As clerk of the Chancery Court, the office handles the equity and family side of the docket. As clerk of the Board of Supervisors, it records the county's official minutes. As treasurer, it tracks county money. As public recorder, it files and indexes the documents that show who owns land and who holds a claim against it.

The duties below come from state law and county practice.

• Clerk the Chancery Court for estates, guardianships, conservatorships, divorce, custody, adoption, property disputes, and equity matters.
• Serve as clerk of the Board of Supervisors and record the official board minutes.
• Act as county treasurer, prepare claims dockets and payrolls, and write checks after Board approval.
• Record and index deeds, mortgages, construction and condominium liens, federal tax liens, lis pendens, and military discharges.
• Store and dispose of older land rolls, tax receipts, and county records after active use.

This range is why one office answers questions about a divorce file, an estate, a deed, and a county check. The criminal docket, the civil law cases, and the marriage record sit with the separate Yalobusha County Circuit Clerk. Sorting the two offices apart is the quickest route to the right counter.

Land Records and the Public Recorder

As public recorder, the Chancery Clerk holds the county's land record. That includes deeds that transfer property, mortgages that secure a loan, and the various liens and notices that attach to a title. The office records each document, files it in the right index, and keeps it available for search. A title company, a lender, or a buyer leans on this index to confirm clear ownership before a sale closes.

Recording paperwork uses words that rarely come up elsewhere. The short glossary below covers the terms a reader meets most often in the recorder's index.

Deed

The signed document that transfers ownership of real property from one party to another. The recorded deed is the public proof of who owns the land.

Lien

A legal claim against property for an unpaid debt or obligation. A recorded lien can block a clean sale until it is paid or released.

Lis pendens

A recorded notice that a lawsuit is pending over a piece of property. It warns buyers and lenders that the title is in dispute.

How to Request a Certified Copy

A certified copy carries the clerk's seal and certificate. Courts, lenders, and agencies accept a certified copy as proof, while a plain copy works for personal reference. Use the steps below to ask the Chancery Clerk for one, whether the record is a court file or a recorded land document.

1. Find out which judicial district holds the record, Coffeeville in the First District or Water Valley in the Second District.
2. Gather the case or document details: party names, a case or book-and-page reference if you have one, and the filing year.
3. Call the Chancery Clerk in that district to confirm the copy fee, the certification charge, and the accepted form of payment.
4. Put the request in writing, by mail or in person, and name the exact document and how many certified copies.
5. Pick the copies up at the counter or ask the clerk to mail them once payment clears.

Note: A deed, a divorce decree, and an estate order each print differently, so tell the clerk the record type at the start to avoid a second trip.

Yalobusha County Chancery Clerk Records Requests

Yalobusha does not publish a standard records-request form. The county forms page lists only birth-certificate, disabled-parking, employment, homestead, motor-boat, and voter forms, with nothing for court files, land records, or probate. So a request is a written or phone request, not a fill-in template. The table sets out what to include so the clerk can find the record on the first pass.

There is no online intake form for chancery copies, so the counter, the phone line, and the mailing address remain the working channels. Keep the written request short and specific. A clear record type and a district help the office pull the file faster.

Yalobusha County Chancery Clerk Fees

No official Yalobusha source publishes the Chancery Clerk's recording, copy, certification, or filing fees. Rather than print a number that could be wrong, the table records the documented status and points to the office that can quote the live charge. Confirm the amount and the payment method before you mail money or drive in.

Why Yalobusha Clerk Fees Are Not Online

Yalobusha is a small, rural, two-seat county. The Chancery Clerk runs a working office in each district rather than a large records center with a self-service website. The office carries court files, the land index, county minutes, and county finance, but it does not post fee sheets or request forms for download. A phone call, not a web page, gives the current answer.

Call ahead before you travel. The staff can tell you whether a file is held in Coffeeville or Water Valley, whether a public index terminal is open, and what a copy or a recording will cost. A short call up front beats a long drive to the wrong district.

Online Access and Public Records

Chancery cases in Yalobusha generally enter Mississippi Electronic Courts, the statewide filing and case-management system known as MEC. Registered users reach many filings through Public Access to MEC, called PAMEC, after a separate login. The public view may carry per-page charges and may not show every document, since adoption, minor, and mental-commitment matters are often restricted.

For land records, board minutes, and county financial records, which are agency records rather than court filings, the Mississippi Public Records Act, set out in Miss. Code Ann. § 25-61-1, supports a request to the office that holds the record. The statute, hosted by the Mississippi Ethics Commission, makes public records open for inspection unless a law provides otherwise. When the online channel falls short, the clerk counter remains the surest source. A closer look at Yalobusha County probate records covers the estate side of the Chancery Court docket.

For online court access, the statewide MEC and PAMEC helpdesk handles registration and login. The helpdesk address is PO Box 117, Jackson, MS 39205, the phone is 601-576-4650, and the email is helpdesk@mec.ms.gov. Keep in mind that recorded land documents, deeds, mortgages, and liens are indexed by the recorder rather than filed as court cases, so a land-record search usually means the Chancery Clerk's index, not the court case system. For an older deed or an estate that predates the digital records, ask the clerk about archival availability before you assume the file is online.