Getting McNairy County Court Records
Find the right clerk first. Ashley Littlejohn is the Circuit Court Clerk. She keeps the Circuit case files. She also serves as the listed contact for General Sessions and Juvenile. Chancery files stay with Kim Boals, the Clerk and Master. City-court material, where a city court exists, belongs to the municipal clerks. Ross McNatt's County Clerk office handles licenses, plates, and county commission minutes rather than court case files. Every documented way to reach a McNairy County record has its place in a request. That covers direct clerk contact, in-person inspection, a detailed copy request, and state access rules. A separate path exists for appeals and federal cases.
- Use the McNairy County case lookup process or call the proper clerk to identify the court and case number.
- Ask to inspect the public docket and named papers at the clerk counter.
- For Circuit or General Sessions, call 731-645-1015; call 731-645-5446 for Chancery and 731-645-1020 for Juvenile.
- Confirm mail, email, fax, or drop-box acceptance because no McNairy-specific instructions were published.
- Ask whether a public terminal exists; the county pages do not promise one.
- For a public-record request, identify the custodian, court, case, date range, exact document, and desired copy type.
State systems will not fill the gap. TnCIS does not list McNairy County as a participating public trial-search office, and Public Case History covers appellate matters only. A county clerk request remains the working route.
Three McNairy Record Counters
Where you go depends on who holds the record. The Circuit, General Sessions, and Juvenile offices share the McNairy County Justice Complex. Its address is 300 Industrial Drive in Selmer. The AOC directory prints the street as "Industrial Park Drive." Confirm the label before you drive over. Circuit and General Sessions keep weekday hours of 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM. Juvenile lists 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Chancery sits in Room 205 of the McNairy County Courthouse, 170 West Court Avenue. Its county page lists Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM. Saturday hours run 8:00 AM to noon. Wednesday is simply omitted. Call ahead rather than assume the office is closed that day.
Chancery Clerk and Master
Kim Boals
Room 205, 170 West Court Avenue
Selmer, TN 38375
731-645-5446
Circuit Court Clerk
Ashley Littlejohn
300 Industrial Drive
Selmer, TN 38375
731-645-1015
Court Record Types
A McNairy County docket is a chronological register of events. The case file may hold the papers behind those events. Ask for the product that answers your need, not "everything" with no case number or date range.
- Docket printout
- An event list with filings, settings, orders, and outcome entries.
- Plain copy
- A reproduction of a filed paper without clerk authentication.
- Certified copy
- A clerk-authenticated copy carrying certification or seal.
- Transcript or audio
- A separate product governed by recording, reporter, or transcript rules.
Each court keeps its own paper trail. Circuit records can include complaints, indictments, motions, orders, judgments, sentencing papers, and appeal records. Chancery files may contain petitions, answers, probate or trust papers, domestic-relations filings, orders, and decrees. Some records are harder to get. Juvenile and sensitive family records often carry strong access limits.
McNairy Docket and Judgment Differ
A docket line can show that a judgment was entered. That is all it shows. It does not reproduce the signed judgment or certify its content. A payment receipt proves a transaction but not the court's legal disposition. A search result can locate a case. Yet it is not a certified record.
| Product | What it proves | Where to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Docket | Recorded sequence of public case events | Responsible court clerk |
| Filed order | Text of the court's directive | Case file custodian |
| Certified judgment | Authenticated copy of the final paper | Clerk that entered it |
| Vendor receipt | Payment transaction only | Vendor and issuing court |
The difference matters when exact terms, signatures, dates, or later orders could change an earlier entry. Name the paper you need. Ask whether the copy includes every public page and exhibit.
Inside McNairy County Court Records
McNairy County posts no live register-of-actions interface. County and AOC materials still show the core data a file can contain.
| Case number | Clerk identifier; local display format must be confirmed. |
|---|---|
| Caption | Formal title of parties or State and defendant. |
| Filed date | Date a pleading, motion, or order entered the file. |
| Setting | Hearing date, event type, location, and later reset if entered. |
| Disposition | Plea, dismissal, judgment, settlement, trial result, or other close. |
| Document fields | Signatures, clerk stamp, count, sentence terms, or relief ordered. |
One example comes from McNairy County itself. An alternative-sentencing certificate from a local case appears in a Comptroller audit exhibit. It carries the case number, count, and county of offense. It also lists the destination and length of sentence, sentencing choices, and judge signature. The filed date and time and clerk fields appear too. The paper behind a docket line may hold far more than the line itself. That is why the document, not just the entry, can matter.
Build a McNairy Copy Request
A detailed request lets the clerk find the record and quote a cost. Give the court, the complete case number, and the exact caption. Add an approximate filing year and a short list of documents. Say whether you want inspection, plain copies, certification, or a docket printout. Ask about the cost estimate. Also ask about accepted payment, processing time, pickup or return mail, and any identification rule. Settle all of that before sending funds.
If the number is unknown, give the exact name spelling, court, year range, case type, and one known event. Do not send unnecessary sensitive identifiers.
The Tennessee Public Records Act FAQ sets one rule for requests. They should be detailed enough to identify the records. It also explains Tennessee citizenship and identification rules, with exceptions. McNairy County publishes no court-specific request form or response deadline. The FAQ frames what a focused request looks like.
State guidance shapes the request. The local clerk must still confirm the actual submission route.
Fees and Certified Copies
McNairy County publishes no exact court-copy fee schedule. Official statewide Tennessee fee material offers benchmarks, not a guaranteed local quote.
| Item | State benchmark | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Listed court-record copy | $0.50 per page | Confirm with the local clerk |
| Certification with seal | $5.00 | Ask whether added copy cost applies |
| Record on appeal | $300 | Confirm scope and current charge |
| Electronic filing subscription | Up to $300 where authorized | No McNairy public e-filing claim |
Ask whether search time, media, postage, redaction, certification, or an unusually large request changes the estimate. Inspection and copying are distinct steps. Someone who only needs to read one public docket event may not need a certified packet at all.
McNairy Archives Record Route
Older records may belong at the McNairy County Archives, 170 West Court Avenue. Kim Bienash is the listed director. The phone is 731-645-7095, with Tuesday and Thursday hours from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. The Archives page records the historic referral and hours.
The Archives is not a substitute for the active Circuit or Chancery file. Historical names can complicate a search. The courthouse at Purdy burned in 1881. County sources disagree on whether the move to Selmer came in 1891 or 1896. A record may also carry an old community, precinct, or former-seat name. Give the Archives the period and place terms. Use them exactly as they appear in the source document.
Sealed Records and Public Access
Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 34 opens most public court records to inspection. Sealed files, statutorily protected material, internal drafts, and deliberative work stay out of reach. Reading a docket entry in McNairy County does not unlock every exhibit or attachment behind it.
Ask the clerk whether a public docket line, redacted copy, or access procedure is available. Only the court can change a sealing order.
Confidentiality reaches beyond the McNairy County docket itself. Juvenile dependency and neglect files are closed, and other juvenile matters follow separate closure rules. Adoption papers, medical details, identifying data, mental-health information, and protected-party facts can also be limited. Do you hold a direct legal interest? Ask the clerk what identification, motion, notice, or order is required. Don't demand a whole sensitive file.
County Clerk Is a Different Office
The McNairy County Clerk page covers motor vehicles, licenses, registrations, notary work, and county commission minutes. Those are county services. The page does not name that office as the custodian of Circuit or Chancery dockets, so treat it as a separate stop.
County commission minutes are public county records. They are not a trial-court docket, and knowing that difference saves a wasted trip.
McNairy Federal Records Stay Separate
A federal case arising in McNairy County stays federal. It lands in the Western District of Tennessee, Eastern Division. The county clerk has no hand in it. PACER gives the public federal docket access, while CM/ECF handles filing for authorized users. The official NextGen CM/ECF page lays out that separate federal access path.
That federal notice is not a McNairy County state-court portal. Keep the two systems straight. PACER's official pricing page charges $0.10 per page for case documents and search results. A document is generally capped at $3.00, transcripts excepted. A quarter's bill of $30 or less is waived under the pricing policy.
Those charges belong to federal access, not to McNairy Circuit or Chancery copy fees. Federal courthouse viewing, certified copies, transcripts, and audio follow federal rules and federal custodians.