DUTIES OF THE CLERK

Legal Division                              Title Division                                                                             Español 
Attorney Services                        Jury Services
Passport Services   

The Clerk of Courts office is one of the most diverse and complex offices in the state.  It is critical that its operations be innovatively and strategically managed.  A complete listing of the Clerk of Common Pleas Court's statutory duties can be viewed here.   

The Legal Division provides support to the Court of Common Pleas and the 12th District Court of Appeals for criminal, civil, and domestic relations cases.

The Civil Division receives all paperwork relating to personal injury, foreclosures, and business disputes. This division also records Ohio sales and income tax judgments for public record; and issues Certificates of Judgment and subpoenas. A special service of the Civil Division includes the recording of Notary Public Commissions.

The Criminal Division processes all felony cases bound over to the grand jury and all grand jury indictments. This division prepares for criminal arraignments; dockets and files all motions, entries, warrants, summons relating to criminal cases; and issues  vouchers for witness fees. The Criminal Division also processes driver license suspensions sent to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

The Domestic Relation's division is where marital and other non-criminal domestic disputes are handled. This division engages in the same activities as the Civil Division, except that it is responsible for filing and maintaining records pertaining to divorces, dissolutions, legal separations, annulments, and domestic violence protection orders.

The Appellate Division of the Clerk of Courts Office receives all filings and manages all paperwork relating to cases, which have been appealed to the 12th District Court of Appeals. This includes any appeals from the common pleas court, juvenile court, probate court, area courts, and municipal courts located in the counties of Brown, Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Fayette, Madison, Preble, and Warren.

The Title Division operates in partnership with the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles to offer a wide variety of services including titling automobiles, motorcycles, mobile homes, travel trailers, campers, motor homes, boats, boat motors, all-terrain vehicles (ATV's), off-highway motorcycles, wave runners, and jet skis.  The Title offices also process US Passport applications as the designated US Passport agent for Butler County. The four title offices are located in Hamilton, Fairfield, West Chester, and Middletown.    

The Information Systems Department of the Clerk of Courts office is responsible for providing  support to the Court of Common Pleas, the Adult Probation Department and maintaining public access to the permanent records held by the office.

Seventy employees collectively staff the two major departments of the office, the Legal and Title Divisions. Duties include managing, distributing, and accounting for the funds held by the Court of Common Pleas as well as collecting Ohio sales tax from the purchase of motor vehicles.  

The Clerk's office manages unclaimed funds and collects and distributes fees and fines to state and local authorities.  The Legal Division generates over 2.5 million dollars in annual revenue for the County's General Fund while the Title Division provides more than 1.5 million dollars to the Clerk of Courts Certificate of Title Fund and approximately 40 million dollars to the Ohio Department of Taxation. A total of 293 million dollars has been collected under Cindy Carpenter's Administration.   

For more information on the specific services the Clerk of Courts office provides to the public, follow the links below: