About the Harris County District Clerk
The Harris County District Clerk is Marilyn Burgess. The District Clerk is an elected office, and it serves as the official keeper of the records for the county's district courts. That means the trial courts that hear felonies, large civil suits, divorce and custody, and juvenile cases. The clerk does not run the courts. The clerk runs the paperwork, the files, and the public access tools that sit behind those courts.
The office handles a lot more than file storage. It takes new filings, manages the docket, collects court costs and fees, runs jury services, and issues process such as citations and subpoenas. It also keeps the historical district court records and a naturalization index that go back well over a century. The main public counter sits in the downtown Houston court complex.
Harris County District Clerk
Clerk: Marilyn Burgess
201 Caroline, Suite 420
Houston, TX 77002
832-927-5800
support@hcdistrictclerk.com
Mon-Fri 8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
What the District Clerk Does
The District Clerk wears several hats at once. The office is the records hub for every Harris County district court, and it also supports the jury system and the cashier function for court costs. When a lawyer files a suit, the clerk stamps it and opens a case. When a judge signs an order, the clerk records it. When you need a copy of any of that, the clerk is the source. Most of these duties run through the District Clerk website and its search portal, so a lot of the work can now be done without a trip downtown.
The core duties break down like this.
- File and keep civil, family, criminal, and juvenile district court records.
- Maintain court dockets and post settings for upcoming hearings.
- Collect court costs, filing fees, and copy charges.
- Run jury services and summon jurors for the district courts.
- Issue process such as citations, writs, and subpoenas.
- Hold historical district court records and the naturalization index.
For the courts these files come from, see the Harris County District Court page, and for hearing schedules, see court dockets.
Searching District Clerk Records
The main tool is the District Clerk "Search Our Records and Documents" portal. It covers civil, family, criminal, and juvenile district cases, plus dockets, trial judgments, special minutes, and historical records. Party Inquiry is the name search. You type a party name, pick a role, and add a date range to narrow the list. The portal now asks you to set up a registered login before it will open filed court documents. That step protects the documents, but public case information stays free once you log in.
The login change trips up first-time users. You can still see that a case exists and read its basic details, but the actual PDF filings need an account. Family case documents are held back from public review even when the case itself shows up. The portal also returns Harris County data only. It will not show federal cases, other counties, justice court records, or city municipal tickets.
Party Inquiry uses a small set of search fields. Knowing them ahead of time makes the search faster.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Notes / Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Party Name | Text | Yes | Format as "Doe, Jane"; pick Starts With or Contains |
| Party Role | Dropdown | No | All, Defendant, or Plaintiff |
| Filed Date Range | Date range | No | MM/DD/YYYY to MM/DD/YYYY |
| Case Status | Dropdown | No | Active, Disposed, Dismissed, and more |
| Court Type | Dropdown | No | Civil, Criminal, or Family |
| Case/Offense Type | Dropdown | No | Loads after you pick a court type |
Open the District Clerk search portal to run any of these searches. For a full walkthrough of every record type, the Harris County court records page goes deeper.
Note: Provide enough search criteria for reliable results, since the data depends on what staff entered and a typo in a name can hide a case.
How to Request a Certified Copy
A certified copy is a court copy with the clerk's stamp that proves it is a true copy of the record. Banks, other courts, and some agencies want a certified copy, not a plain printout. A plain copy is fine for personal reference, but it carries no seal. The District Clerk sells both, and the office also handles purchases through its customer service page.
- Find the case first. Use Party Inquiry on the District Clerk portal to get the cause number and confirm the court.
- Pick the document you need, such as a final decree, a judgment, or a full case file.
- Place the request. Order through the District Clerk purchase copies page, or contact the office by phone or at the counter.
- Pay the copy and certification charge from the right fee schedule for that case type.
- Pick the copy up at the counter, or have it mailed. Plan ahead if you need a raised seal for an out-of-state or federal use.
The lead image below comes from the District Clerk purchase copies page, which explains the copy and customer service options.
That page is the spot to start an online copy order or to read how mailed and in-person requests work.
District Clerk Records Request Fields
Whether you order online, by mail, or at the counter, the clerk needs the same basic details to pull the right file. Give as much as you have. A cause number is the fastest path, but a party name and a date range work too. The historical search uses its own small set of fields, which are listed below the main request fields.
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Case/Cause Number | If known | Fastest way to find the exact file; pull it from Party Inquiry |
| Party Names | Yes | Format as "Last, First"; helps when you have no cause number |
| Court Type | Yes | Civil, Family, or Criminal; routes the request to the right schedule |
| Document Type | Yes | Decree, judgment, full file, or a specific filing |
| Certified or Plain | Yes | Certified adds the certification charge and the clerk's seal |
| Number of Copies | Yes | Each copy is charged per page |
The historical records search has a separate form for older files. It asks for the case type, the cause number, the style or party names, and a date range. If you cannot supply that information, the office runs a primary information search for a $5 fee.
| Historical Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Case Type | Yes | Civil/Family or Criminal |
| Case (Cause) Number | If available | Listed as needed information for the search |
| Style | If available | The persons involved in the case |
| Date Range | If available | Narrows the historical file set |
| Naturalization Petitioner | No | Index runs 1837 to 1913; after 1913 see USCIS |
Harris County District Clerk Fees
Copy fees depend on the case type and how the copy is made. The District Clerk publishes its own fee schedules as PDF files, one for civil and family cases and one for criminal cases. Those PDFs hold the exact filing and copy charges for district court matters. For a quick sense of what a court copy runs in the county, the County Clerk posts a simple public-record copy schedule, shown below. The District Clerk's published schedules are the controlling source for district court copies.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Non-certified copy (per page) | $1 |
| Certified copy | $5 certification plus $1 per page |
| Records search fee | $5 per search |
| Civil and family court fees | See District Clerk civil/family schedule |
| Criminal court fees | See District Clerk criminal schedule |
Check the civil and family fee schedule or the criminal fee schedule for the full list of district court charges.
Fee waiver: A person with an uncontested Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 145 may get copies and documents free in that case. The website cannot yet hand out those free documents on its own, so contact the clerk at 832-927-5800, email support@hcdistrictclerk.com, or visit the office.
Harris County Historical District Records
The District Clerk is the keeper of the county's old district court records, and that collection is deep. Documents from 1837 to 1925 are available by appointment in the Charles Bacarisse Historical Documents Room. The room sits in the Civil Courthouse at 201 Caroline, Suite 200. These old files include case files, accounting books, bound volumes, criminal case indexes, minutes books, and fee docket books. Preservation work focuses on records from 1837 to 1951, and the office is scanning them for online access over time.
The collection also holds a Naturalization Records Index that covers 1837 to 1913. After 1913, naturalization moved to the federal system, so those later records sit with USCIS, not the county. The image below is from the District Clerk historical documents room page.
That page explains the appointment process and what kinds of historical district court records the room holds.
Online Tools and Filings
The District Clerk runs more than a search box. The portal lets registered users subscribe to a case and get email alerts when something new is filed, with a cap of 30 active case notifications. A separate client and party notification tool alerts users when a new petition names someone on a watch list, up to 50 names. Attorneys of record can pull dockets, filings, and orders for their own cases, subject to Family Code limits on family data.
The office asks commercial users who run automated scraping to use its Public Datasets instead of hammering the live search. It reserves the right to slow or restrict accounts that cause heavy congestion. For most people, none of that matters. You log in, run a name or cause search, and read the case. The starting point for all of it is the Harris County District Clerk website, which links the search portal, the fee schedules, the forms, and the historical room in one place.