Meade County Circuit Court Clerk Role
The Kentucky Court of Justice Meade County page identifies Ellen F. Lindsey as Circuit Court Clerk. KCOJ states that Circuit Court Clerks manage Circuit, Family, District, and Business Court records. For Meade County, that means the Circuit Court Clerk is the local starting point for court case records, court-date questions, certified copies of case documents, fine and fee payment questions, bond payment instructions, and file-location questions for cases heard in the county.
KCOJ is explicit that the Administrative Office of the Courts does not maintain local case files and cannot provide case-file access. The clerk of the court that heard the case is the access point. In Meade County, the Office of Circuit Court Clerk is at 516 Hillcrest Drive, Suite 4, Brandenburg, KY 40108. The phone number is 270-422-4961, fax is 270-422-2147, and hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Office of Circuit Court Clerk
Clerk: Ellen F. Lindsey
516 Hillcrest Drive, Suite 4
Brandenburg, KY 40108
270-422-4961
Fax: 270-422-2147
Mon-Fri 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Meade County Clerk Role
The County Clerk is a different office. The official local page names Susan Masterson as County Court Clerk and lists marriage licenses, county records, land and legal records, elections, passports, motor-vehicle work, and related local services. The County Clerk physical address is 516 Hillcrest Drive, Brandenburg, KY 40108. The mailing address is 500 Courthouse Drive, PO Box 614, Brandenburg, KY 40108. Phone is 270-422-2152, fax is 270-422-2158, and email is susan.masterson@ky.gov.
The split matters because a divorce decree, felony file, traffic case, or probate court docket belongs with the Circuit Court Clerk. A recorded marriage license, deed, mortgage, will, settlement, or Fiscal Court order belongs with the County Clerk legal-records system. A person searching Meade County marriage records may need the County Clerk, while a person searching the full case file for a divorce must use the Circuit Court Clerk.
| Need | Correct Meade County Office | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Circuit, District, Family, or Business Court case file | Circuit Court Clerk | KCOJ routes local court case records to the clerk of the court that heard the case. |
| Divorce decree or family case copy | Circuit Court Clerk | Divorce is a Circuit/Family Court matter. |
| Marriage license or certified marriage copy form | County Clerk | Marriage licenses are issued through the county clerk office. |
| Wills, settlements, deeds, mortgages, Fiscal Court orders | County Clerk | These are recorded legal-record categories listed by the clerk. |
| General county open-record request | Meade County Fiscal Court | The Fiscal Court web form handles non-court county records. |
Request Meade County Court Records
KCOJ's request guidance gives a practical fallback chain. Online tools can help find a case, find a court date, or pay eligible fines and costs, but official copies and file review start with the clerk. For a Meade County case, requesters may visit the Circuit Court Clerk in person, call 270-422-4961, or use fax when the clerk directs that method. If a case is old, the clerk may need to determine whether the file is in the office, stored at a state record facility, or unavailable under retention schedules.
A certified copy is different from a search result or an informal printout. Certification means the clerk issues the copy as an official court record for use in another legal, licensing, employment, school, benefits, or agency setting. The request should identify the exact document when possible, such as a final judgment, sentencing order, divorce decree, order of dismissal, probate order, or docket sheet. If the case number is unknown, party names, filing year, case type, and judge or court division can help the clerk narrow the search.
- Identify the court level, case type, party names, and any case number from KCOJ tools or prior papers.
- Call or visit the Circuit Court Clerk to confirm the file location and copy process.
- Ask whether the record is public, restricted, sealed, or available only to a party or by court order.
- Confirm the current copy or certification fee because a Meade court-copy fee schedule was not located in official research.
- For offsite files, obtain case and file locator numbers before contacting the State Records Center.
Note: State Records Center requests cannot be searched by name or Social Security number, so the clerk's locator information is required first.
Meade County Open Records Form
County government records that are not court case files use the Meade County Fiscal Court open-records request. The form can be submitted online, and the county also accepts requests by mail to Meade County Fiscal Court, 516 Hillcrest Drive, Suite 12, Brandenburg, KY 40108, or by email at openrecordsrequest@meadeky.gov. The county states it will respond within five working days.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Name / Last Name | Text | Yes | Requester name fields. |
| Address, City, State, Zip | Text | Yes | Mailing address fields. |
| Phone Number and Email Address | Phone / email | Yes | Contact fields for response. |
| Commercial request | Radio | Yes | Yes or no under Kentucky open-records rules. |
| Records | Textarea | Yes | Describe the records specifically to speed the search. |
| Residency statement | Checkbox / list | Yes | Requester must fit one listed Kentucky resident category or authorized role. |
| Signature agreement | Radio / checkbox | Yes | Electronic signature agreement. |
| Receive an email copy | Checkbox | No | Optional copy of submission. |
Meade County eCCLIX Records
The County Clerk legal-records page is the local source for eCCLIX. It states that legal records and delinquent property taxes can be viewed at the Meade County Courthouse, and land records can be viewed there or online through eCCLIX. The online database categories include wills, deeds, mortgages, marriage licenses, settlements, and Fiscal Court orders. These are not the Circuit Court Clerk's court case files.
Coverage is strong for older in-office research and more limited for online images. Most courthouse documents are maintained from 1795 to present. Most document indexes are available back to 1798, with few exceptions. Online document images are available for most instrument filings from January 2004 to the current date. Online indices and images require an account and password assigned by SMI, special image-viewing software, and access fees. In-office viewing of public records and indices is free.
That coverage can be useful for marriage, probate, and property-history research, but it should not be used as a substitute for a court case request. A will recorded in the County Clerk system may identify an instrument and image, while the District Court probate file may contain petitions, orders, notices, and hearing entries. A marriage license image may support a family-history search, while a certified marriage certificate must come through the clerk's certified-copy process.
The Western District of Kentucky source appears in the clerk page image manifest, but federal court records are separate from Meade County Circuit Court Clerk records.
Use that federal source only when the case is in federal court; local Meade County court records remain with the Kentucky Court of Justice and the Circuit Court Clerk.
Meade County Clerk Fee Notes
Official research captured access notes rather than a full court-copy fee schedule. The Meade County open-record process charges ten cents per page for written public records and actual production cost for non-written material, such as photographs, maps, and computer-file material. The County Clerk offers free in-office viewing of public records and indices, while eCCLIX charges access fees for online data and images. A specific Meade court case copy or certification fee schedule was not located in official sources.
| Item | Official Detail Located |
|---|---|
| In-office County Clerk record viewing | Free viewing of public records and indices. |
| eCCLIX online access | Account/password, special software, and access fees required. |
| County open-record written copies | Ten cents per page. |
| County open-record non-written copies | Actual production cost by economical process. |
| Court case copies | Specific Meade court-copy fee schedule not located; call Circuit Court Clerk. |
Restricted Clerk Records
Not every clerk record is open in full. Juvenile court records are confidential under KRS 610.340. Adoption records have special inspection limits under KRS 199.572. Sealed and expunged records are restricted, and AOC retains only a limited-access expungement index for statutory uses. Family, domestic-violence, mental-health, minor, financial-account, and victim-related details may be redacted or unavailable to the general public.
For older Meade County court records, KCOJ says records may be in the clerk's office, at a record facility, or destroyed under retention schedules. The Circuit Court Clerk must identify the file location before a State Records Center request can proceed. For older County Clerk legal records, the in-office index may reach farther back than online images, which are mostly available from January 2004 to the current date.
The same caution applies to search tools. KCOJ ePay can be useful for eligible payment matters, but it is not a full file-review system. CourtNet or eCourts access may require login or may show limited public information. When the record is needed for proof, filing, appeal, employment, licensing, or identity work, the clerk's certified-copy process is the controlling path.