Access Shelby County Clerk Records

Shelby County Circuit Court Clerk

Wendy B. Graney is the Shelby County Circuit Court Clerk. The Kentucky Court of Justice Shelby County page and the county's Circuit Clerk page list the Shelby County Judicial Center as the court office for local Circuit and District Court matters. KCOJ states that the Office of Circuit Court Clerk is the starting point for requesting copies of case records from that county.

The Circuit Court Clerk is the court records custodian for Kentucky Circuit, Family, District, and Business Court records. In Shelby County that means court files for felonies, civil actions, divorces, adoptions where accessible, District Court traffic and misdemeanor matters, probate filings, small claims, preliminary hearings, and other trial-court records begin with the Judicial Center counter or the statewide KCOJ online tools.

The manifest source for county contact context is the Shelby County telephone directory.

The directory supports the local office-contact theme, but case-file copies still route through the Circuit Court Clerk rather than a general county directory listing.

Shelby County Clerk Duties

The county Circuit Clerk page describes duties that are directly tied to court records. The office receives lawsuits and court documents, records legal documents for court cases, provides court documents and materials, attends court during trials, schedules juries, receives and disburses money, maintains the jury system, administers oaths, handles affidavits, and issues driver licenses, permits, and non-driver IDs. Not every duty is a records request, but many records questions start at the same counter.

• Receives court filings and case documents for local trial-court cases.
• Maintains Circuit, Family, and District Court records for Shelby County.
• Schedules and supports jury operations connected to court proceedings.
• Receives and disburses court money, including eligible payments.
• Provides certified copies when a public or authorized case record can be copied and certified.
• Directs archived records requests when a court file has moved to the State Records Center.

Circuit Clerk vs County Clerk

Kentucky separates court-record custody from county-clerk functions. The Circuit Court Clerk handles court case files. The Shelby County Clerk handles marriage licenses, county legal records, land-related instruments, motor vehicles, elections, delinquent taxes, and other county-clerk services. This distinction is important because the County Clerk's eCCLIX system is a legal-records and document-image system, not the Shelby court case search system.

Certified Shelby County Copies

A certified copy is a court copy that includes official certification by the clerk. It may be needed for appeals, agency filings, name-change proof, divorce decree proof, estate administration, background issues, or other formal uses. The right request should identify the case, party names, court division, document type, and whether plain or certified copies are needed. If the file is sealed, expunged, confidential, juvenile, adoption-related, or otherwise restricted, the clerk may be unable to provide public access.

1. Identify whether the case was in Circuit Court, Family Court, or District Court.
2. Gather the case number if known, plus party names, approximate filing date, and the document needed.
3. Call or visit the Shelby County Circuit Court Clerk to ask whether the file is available locally.
4. State whether a plain copy, certified copy, docket entry, decree, order, or full file is needed.
5. Pay the required copy and certification fees using an accepted court payment method.
6. If the file is archived, get the file locator or case locator number before contacting the State Records Center.

Note: KCOJ states that archived State Records Center files cannot be searched by name or Social Security number.

Shelby County Archived Records

The KCOJ court-record request instructions state that the local court clerk is the starting point for case-record copies and for determining whether a court record is available. If a case file has been transferred to the State Records Center, the local clerk must provide the file locator or case locator number. The requester then contacts state.records@ky.gov or 502-564-3617. This step is not optional because the State Records Center does not perform name-only searches.

Some older court records may also involve the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, but the KCOJ research says the local clerk is the first office that can advise as to a court record's location or availability. For Shelby County, the safest workflow is local clerk first, then State Records Center or KDLA only if the clerk routes the requester there.

Shelby County Clerk Fees

Shelby court payments and copy charges follow Kentucky Court of Justice rules. The KCOJ Shelby page says court payments may be made by cash, personal check, money order, credit card, or debit card, and phone payments by debit or credit card are accepted with possible fees. Court bonds can only be paid in cash. KYeCourts also posted a fee-change notice tied to Supreme Court administrative orders effective July 1, 2026.

Shelby County Open Records

Shelby County's open-records process is useful for county-government records, sheriff or jailer records where the correct custodian accepts the request, and other non-court agency records. It is not the primary route for Circuit, Family, or District Court case files. The Shelby County open records page cites the Kentucky Open Records Act, KRS 61.870 through KRS 61.884. Completed requests go to Shelby County Fiscal Court at 501 Main Street, Suite 1, Shelbyville, KY 40065, and questions can go to cje.admin@shelbycoky.com.

The manifest source for this fallback process is the official Shelby County open records page.

That source is useful when the requested record belongs to county government rather than the court case-file system.

Shelby County Clerk Search Routes

For public court case information, use the KYeCourts guest login and the KCOJ docket search before calling for copies. The guest login provides free public case information after the checkbox or captcha entry step, while the docket search helps locate court dates by county, division, date, courtroom, and subdivision. The docket site warns that results are not an official docket and must be verified with the official court record.

For county legal records, the Shelby County Clerk eCCLIX system is separate. It requires an account and password assigned by the County Clerk, special software to view images, and access fees for data and images. Public records and indexes are viewable free in the County Clerk's office. That is useful for land or legal instruments, but it should not be used as a court case-file substitute.