Benton County Circuit Clerk Office
Missouri does not use a district clerk structure for Benton County. The court-record office is the Benton County Circuit Clerk. The official county page identifies the Circuit Clerk as Susan Porter and gives the office address as 316 Van Buren Street, Warsaw, MO 65355. The phone number is 660-438-7712, the fax number is 660-438-5755, and posted office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The Circuit Clerk is the first local counter for circuit-court case-file questions, docket questions, certified court copies, and filings that are not handled electronically. The office handles civil, criminal, family, dissolution, probate, traffic, judgment, and other circuit-court records when those records are public or available to the requester under court access rules.
Benton County Circuit Clerk
Clerk: Susan Porter
316 Van Buren Street
Warsaw, MO 65355
660-438-7712
Fax: 660-438-5755
Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Benton County Clerk Record Split
The strongest Benton County clerk detail is the office split. A request can fail or slow down if it is sent to the wrong custodian. The courthouse address appears across official county pages, but the legal keeper changes by record type. Circuit-court case records go to the Circuit Clerk. Marriage licenses and recorded instruments go to the Recorder of Deeds. Election and county-board records go to the County Clerk.
| Office | Use This Office For | Official Route |
|---|---|---|
| Circuit Clerk | Circuit-court case files, dockets, judgments, divorce decrees, probate files, certified court copies. | Circuit Clerk page |
| Recorder of Deeds | Marriage licenses, recorded marriage returns, deeds, military discharges, tax liens, UCC documents, recorded-copy certification. | Recorder page |
| County Clerk | Election, county commission, and county administrative records, not circuit-court case-file custody. | County Clerk page |
The manifest source for the Benton County County Clerk page is included because it helps show that the County Clerk is a separate county office, not the Circuit Clerk.
This image supports the local custodian split and helps prevent sending court-copy requests to the election and county-board records office.
Request Benton County Certified Copies
A certified copy is usually needed when the copy must prove an official court action, such as a divorce decree, judgment, probate order, letters, disposition, or other filed court document. Case.net can help identify a case, but a certified copy comes from the custodian of the court file. For Benton County circuit-court records, that custodian is the Circuit Clerk.
- Identify the case number if known, or gather full party names, case type, and filing year.
- Search Missouri Case.net for public case details if the file is likely to be indexed online.
- Call or visit the Circuit Clerk to confirm the document name, copy availability, certification process, and current cost.
- Ask whether the request can be handled by mail or fax, since the Circuit Clerk publishes a fax number but no local court-copy request form was found.
- Provide payment only after the Circuit Clerk confirms the amount and acceptable payment method.
- For restricted files, ask whether party status, attorney involvement, or a court order is required.
Benton County Request Form Fields
No Benton County court-record request form, certified-copy PDF, or local web request form was located in the official county sources. A requester should still prepare the information that a clerk normally needs to find the right file and document. The items below are not captured Benton County form labels. They are the practical details supported by the research file's request guidance.
| Information to Prepare | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Case number | Best if known | Use the exact Missouri case number from Case.net, a summons, ticket, order, or filing. |
| Party names | Yes | Provide plaintiff, defendant, petitioner, respondent, decedent, or other party names. |
| Case type | Helpful | State whether the request is civil, criminal, probate, dissolution, traffic, judgment, or family-related. |
| Document name | Yes | Ask for a decree, judgment, order, docket sheet, letters, disposition, or other specific document. |
| Copy type | Yes | State plain copy or certified copy and the number of copies needed. |
| Requester contact | Yes | Provide phone, mailing address, or other contact method accepted by the clerk. |
Benton County Clerk Fee Sources
The official Recorder fee schedule is the strongest local fee table found, but it is not a complete Circuit Clerk court-fee schedule. Use it only for recorded instruments, marriage-license costs, UCC recordings, and certified recorded copies. Court-case certified-copy charges, filing fees, and court-copy totals must be verified with the Circuit Clerk because the research did not locate a Benton County court-fee schedule.
| Item | Official Benton County Fee or Note |
|---|---|
| Marriage license and certified copy | $51.00 license plus $9.00 certified copy; $60.00 total cash only. |
| Real-estate recording first page | $24.00. |
| Real-estate recording additional pages | $3.00 per page. |
| UCC recording, one to two pages | $24.00. |
| UCC recording, three pages | $27.00. |
| UCC each additional page | $3.00. |
| Certified recorded copy first page | $9.00. |
| Certified recorded copy additional page | $1.00. |
| Court-case certified copies | Fee not located in official Benton County court sources; verify with the Circuit Clerk. |
Benton County Clerk Forms
The official county pages did not provide a Benton County court-record request form, marriage-license web application, or certified-copy PDF. The Recorder page functions as the fee and contact instruction page for recorded documents. The Circuit Clerk page functions as the local court-record contact page. For self-represented court filings, Missouri Courts maintains a statewide forms page, but the research instructs users to verify current filing needs with the local court before filing.
- Court-record request form: not located in official Benton County sources.
- Certified court-copy request form: not located in official Benton County sources.
- Marriage-license web application: not located in official Benton County sources.
- Recorder fee and contact page: available through the official Recorder of Deeds page.
- State self-represented forms: use the official Missouri Courts forms route, then confirm local filing details with the Circuit Clerk.
Benton County Clerk Access Rules
Public access starts with the custodian. Court case files are handled by the Circuit Clerk and searched online through Case.net when public entries are available. Marriage licenses and recorded instruments are handled by the Recorder. County administrative records fall under Missouri Sunshine Law procedures, including custodian and fee rules in Section 610.023, RSMo.
That Sunshine Law source is useful, but it should not be treated as a shortcut around court access limits. Juvenile, adoption, mental-health, sealed, expunged, protected-address, and restricted family materials may be closed or partly redacted. A public docket entry may exist even when a document image is not available to the general public.
The manifest source for Missouri Sunshine Law custodian and fee rules is included because clerk requests often begin by identifying the correct public-record custodian.
This image supports the access-rules section while keeping the distinction between administrative public records and court case records clear.