Search Union County Circuit Court Records

What the Union County Circuit Court Handles

The Circuit Court is the felony and major civil court for Union County. On the criminal side it hears felony prosecutions, the cases that carry the longest possible sentences. On the civil side it takes the larger lawsuits, the ones that ask for damages above the limits set for the lower courts. Jury trials happen here. So do many of the cases that begin somewhere smaller and then climb to a higher court.

The court also serves as an appeals stop. When a case is decided in Justice Court or Municipal Court, the losing side can take it up to Circuit Court for a fresh look. Criminal matters that start as a misdemeanor or a preliminary charge can be bound over to the Circuit Court once a grand jury returns an indictment. Because of this mix, a single name can appear in lower-court records first and in Circuit Court records later.

Mississippi has County Courts in some counties, but no official source found during this research showed a separate Union County County Court. For Union County, the felony and high-value civil docket sits with the Circuit Court, and the equity and family docket sits with Chancery Court.

Union County Circuit Court Location and Contact

The Circuit Court and the Circuit Clerk share the same address on the courthouse block in New Albany. The Circuit Clerk keeps the case files, sets the public counter hours, and answers most questions about how to find a record. A short call ahead of a visit confirms the right entrance, since the courthouse block carries more than one street address.

The Circuit Clerk's office is the front door for felony and civil case files, jury records, and the marriage licenses issued under Mississippi practice. Older files that are not in the electronic system may need a staff search, so giving the office a name, a year, and a case number when known speeds the request.

Circuit Court vs Justice Court vs Municipal Court

Union County uses three different trial courts for criminal and civil matters, and they do not overlap much. The Circuit Court takes the felonies and the big civil suits. Justice Court and Municipal Court are the lower courts, where most traffic tickets, misdemeanors, and small disputes begin. The table below lines up the three so it is clear which court holds which kind of case.

Because traffic and misdemeanor matters usually open in Justice or Municipal Court, a person can have a case that never reaches Circuit Court unless it is appealed or bound over. That is the most common reason a Circuit Court search comes back empty when a lower-court file actually exists.

Note: A Union County matter heard only in Justice or Municipal Court will not appear as an original Circuit Court case, so check the lower court first for traffic and misdemeanor records.

The Third Circuit District and the District Attorney

Union County's Circuit Court is part of the Third Circuit Court District. The district covers seven counties across north Mississippi, and the same District Attorney's Office prosecutes felony cases for all of them. The District Attorney is Ben Creekmore, and the Union County Assistant District Attorney named in the office's staff list is Paul "Mason" Wages. The DA files and prosecutes the felony charges that land in Circuit Court, and the office also runs pretrial reporting for New Albany cases. The official site for the office is the Third Circuit District Attorney.

The seven counties in the district share judges and prosecutors but keep their own clerks and case files. The table shows which counties make up the Third Circuit District.

The New Albany office of the District Attorney sits near the courthouse on North Camp Avenue. It is a separate office from the Circuit Clerk, so a question about a charge goes to the DA, while a question about a case file goes to the clerk.

Searching Union County Circuit Court Records Online

Union County Circuit Court went live on Mississippi Electronic Courts, known as MEC, on September 26, 2022. MEC is the statewide electronic filing and case system used by the Third Circuit District. The public side of MEC is reached through PAMEC, a login that lets a member of the public view filed documents and case information without filing capability. A user who does not have a PAMEC login can register through the PAMEC online registration page.

Online court files in Mississippi follow privacy rules that keep sensitive identifiers out of the public view. The state's electronic filing practice limits how Social Security numbers, birth dates, the names of minor children, financial account numbers, and home addresses appear in filings. Those protections trace back to the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure, published by the Mississippi College law library.

Some documents in MEC are restricted to attorneys of record. If a public user sees a message that permission is denied, the system does not recognize the user as counsel on that case. The newest case events and the full docket of flags, such as bench warrant issued, capias pending, plea pending, and case sealed, are visible through the system. For a closer look at reading those entries, the Union County court dockets page walks through the flag labels. Records that never made it into the electronic system can still be requested from the Circuit Clerk by phone or at the counter.

What Union County Circuit Court Records Show

A Circuit Court file is a running record of everything that happens in a case. It opens with the charging document or the complaint and grows with each motion, order, and hearing. Reading one is easier once the common fields are clear, and the list below covers the data points most files carry.

• Case number and the court where the matter is filed
• Parties, such as the State and a defendant, or a plaintiff and a defendant
• Filing date and the presiding judge when shown
• Status flags like trial pending, plea pending, bench warrant issued, or case sealed
• Docket entries listing motions, orders, hearings, and judgments
• Financial entries for costs, fines, restitution, and bond

Public access in Mississippi rests on the state's open-records policy, which presumes records are open for inspection unless a law provides otherwise. The governing rule is the Mississippi Public Records Act. That presumption does not override a sealing order, a youth-court confidentiality statute, or the attorney-of-record limits built into the electronic system, so some documents stay closed even when the case index is visible.

How a Case Moves Through the Union County System

A criminal or civil matter does not always stay in one court. Many cases start in a lower court and climb upward, while a felony case can be filed straight into Circuit Court after a grand jury acts. The flow below shows the path a typical appeal or felony case follows from the bottom of the system to the top.

Case flow: Justice Court or Municipal Court › Union County Circuit Court › Mississippi Court of Appeals › Mississippi Supreme Court

At the first level, Justice Court and Municipal Court handle traffic, misdemeanors, small claims, and preliminary criminal matters. A losing party there can appeal up to Circuit Court, where the case is heard again. Felony charges reach Circuit Court when a grand jury returns an indictment and the matter is bound over.

From Circuit Court, an appeal goes to the state appellate level. The Mississippi Supreme Court receives the appeal and may assign it to the Mississippi Court of Appeals for decision. That two-court appellate setup is why a Union County case number can show an appeal flag long before any final ruling is posted.

How Union County Chancery Court Differs

The Circuit Court is only half of the trial-court picture in Union County. The other half is Chancery Court, which handles a completely different set of cases. Chancery Court is the equity court, and its docket covers divorce, child custody, child support, land and title disputes, probate, estates, guardianships, and conservatorships. A felony or a major money lawsuit is a Circuit Court matter, while a divorce or an estate is a Chancery Court matter.

The two courts also use two different clerks. The Circuit Clerk keeps Circuit Court files, while the Chancery Clerk keeps Chancery Court files and the county land records. A person searching for a will, a deed, or a divorce decree is looking for Chancery records, not Circuit records. Matching the case type to the right court and the right clerk is the single most useful step before any Union County court records search.