Clerk of Courts

Maintaining Records for Our County Court System

The Fayette County Clerk of Courts powers and duties include, but are not limited to, the following... general powers to administer oaths, take affidavits, and issue executions upon any judgment rendered in the county court, including a judgment for unpaid costs, power to issue and sign all writs, process, subpoenas, and papers issuing out of the court, and to attach the seal of the court to them, power to approve all bonds, sureties, recognizances, and undertakings fixed by any judge of the court or by law. The clerk files and safely keep all journals, records, books, and papers belonging or appertaining to the court, records its proceedings, performs other duties that the judges of the court may prescribe, and keeps a book showing all receipts and disbursements, which shall be open for public inspection at all times.

The clerk prepares and maintains a general index and a docket, all of which shall be the public records of the court. In the docket, the clerk enters at times of the commencement of an action, the names of the parties in full, the names of the counsel, and the nature of the proceedings. Under proper dates, the clerk notes the filing of the complaint, issuing of summons or other process, returns, and pleadings subsequent thereto. The clerk also enters all reports, verdicts, orders, judgments, and proceedings of the court, clearly specifying the relief granted or orders made in each action.

The clerk receives and collects all costs, fees, fines, penalties, bail, and other moneys payable to the office or to any officer of the court and issues receipts therefore, and disburses the collected costs, fees, fines, penalties, bail, and other moneys to the proper persons or officers and takes receipts therefor.

For more information on the powers and duties of the Clerk of Court see the Ohio Revised Code