Christian County Circuit Clerk
The Christian County Circuit Clerk is Barb Stillings. The office is part of the 38th Judicial Circuit and is the primary local custodian for Christian County court case records. The clerk's page lists the office at 110 W. Elm, Room 202, Ozark, MO 65721, open 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. The main civil, family, and jury number is 417-582-5120, press 2, and the clerk fax listed in the research is 417-581-0391.
The official Circuit Clerk page at courts.christiancountymo.gov/circlerk.html is the source for the division phone routing and local court contact structure.
That routing matters because Christian County separates public questions by case type instead of sending every caller through one undifferentiated record line.
Christian County Circuit Clerk
Clerk: Barb Stillings
110 W. Elm, Room 202
Ozark, MO 65721
417-582-5120, press 2
Fax: 417-581-0391
8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays
What the Circuit Clerk Does
Missouri does not use a Texas-style district clerk and county clerk split for Christian County trial court records. The Circuit Clerk maintains court case files for the Circuit Court and its divisions. That includes filings, docket entries, court orders, judgments, jury functions, payment-related court records, and public access questions that cannot be answered by the statewide portal alone.
- Civil, family law, and jury questions route to 417-582-5120, press 2.
- Probate, guardianship, and child support questions route to 417-582-5140, press 3.
- Criminal, traffic, and municipal city matters route to 417-582-5160, press 1.
- Older, certified, restricted, or non-digitized court records should be handled through the clerk rather than through a county Sunshine request.
The court location page also names Reba Retell as Chief Deputy and lists supervisory contacts for civil, probate, child support, criminal, juvenile, and jury functions. Users who need a specific courtroom, division, or supervisor should start with the clerk's division routing and then follow the court's instructions.
How to Request a Certified Copy
A certified copy is normally requested when an agency, employer, licensing authority, title company, school, or other official recipient needs proof that a court record is an authentic court document. Christian County research did not capture a current court copy fee schedule, so the amount should be confirmed with the Circuit Clerk before payment is mailed or presented at the counter.
- Identify the case number through Case.net, a prior notice, a payment record, or clerk assistance.
- Identify the exact document needed, such as judgment, disposition, divorce decree, letters, order, or docket sheet.
- Call the correct division line to confirm whether the record can be copied, whether it can be certified, and what current fee applies.
- Provide the party names, case number, document name, preferred delivery method, and contact information for follow-up.
- Use the clerk's payment and pickup instructions. Do not assume the County Clerk Sunshine form is the right route for certified court documents.
Records Request Fields
The Circuit Clerk is the better route for court case copies, but the research also captured the Christian County Sunshine request form for county administrative records. That form is useful when the requested record belongs to county government rather than the court case file. Its fields show what Christian County expects from a public records requester: identity, contact information, record type, and a specific description with time periods where needed.
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| First and last name | Unspecified | Each field has a character limit in the captured form. |
| Street, city, state, zip | Unspecified | State is limited to two characters. |
| Email, phone, fax | Unspecified | Email and phone help the custodian respond or clarify. |
| Description of records | Unspecified | Checkboxes include Documents, Audio, Video, and Other. |
| Specific record description | Effectively required for a useful request | The form asks for time periods when necessary and allows a long narrative description. |
The Sunshine form says the request is made under Missouri Sunshine Law, Chapter 610, and that the custodian should respond by the end of the third business day after receipt, excluding weekends and legal holidays. A response may provide the record, explain a delay, or state why records are not available. If closed portions exist, the county says it will segregate closed portions and provide the rest.
Fees and Payment Notes
The research captured county administrative copy costs and Recorder charges, but it did not capture a Christian County Circuit Clerk fee schedule for certified court copies or civil filings. The table separates confirmed amounts from court-copy items that must be verified with the clerk.
| Item | Amount or Rule | Office |
|---|---|---|
| Certified court copy | Not captured in research | Circuit Clerk, confirm before requesting |
| Plain court copy | Not captured in research | Circuit Clerk, confirm before requesting |
| Sunshine copies, letter/legal | $0.10 per page, $0.20 double-sided | County Clerk or county custodian |
| Sunshine staff time | Billed by hour at actual staff rate | County custodian |
| Sunshine flash drive | $5.00 each | County custodian |
| Marriage license | $55 cash or credit, includes certified copy after ceremony | Recorder of Deeds |
| Replacement lost or destroyed marriage license | $2 at Recorder office | Recorder of Deeds |
Case.net and Court Access
Christian County court records are searched through Missouri Case.net for most public statewide case information and through the Circuit Clerk for records that need local handling. Case.net can support case number searches and litigant name searches, and Missouri court instructions describe a Track This Case function for court date or scheduled payment reminders. The court site warns that online information is a convenience and cannot be used to ask the court for legal advice, continuances, dismissals, settings, or relief in a particular case.
Attorneys filing in Christian County have been required to use the Missouri eFiling System for all cases since April 14, 2014. Public record searchers should not treat attorney eFiling as the public search portal. A self-represented person or member of the public typically uses Case.net for lookup and the Circuit Clerk for copy, certification, restriction, or file-access questions.
County Clerk vs. Circuit Clerk
The Christian County Clerk is a separate county-government office, not the trial court records clerk. The County Clerk's official page lists duties such as election administration, absentee voting, county payroll, ATV permits, auctioneer licenses, County Commission minutes and public records, notary commissions, county liquor licenses, and Sunshine Law requests. Paula Brumfield is listed as the Sunshine records custodian on the online request form.
The County Clerk's official page is at christiancountymo.gov/offices/county-clerk.
Use that office for County Commission records and county administrative Sunshine requests, while keeping court case documents with the Circuit Clerk.
| Office | Record Types | Contact |
|---|---|---|
| Circuit Clerk | Civil, family, criminal, probate, traffic, municipal, jury, court copies | 110 W. Elm, Room 202, Ozark, 417-582-5120 |
| County Clerk | Elections, County Commission minutes, county public records, notary commissions, Sunshine requests | 100 W. Church Street, Room 304, Ozark, 417-582-4340 |
| Recorder of Deeds | Marriage licenses, land records, tax liens, military discharges | 100 W. Church, Room 104, Ozark, 417-582-4360 |
Mail, Online, and Office Requests
The Circuit Clerk mailing address is the same as the office address: 110 W. Elm, Room 202, Ozark, MO 65721. A mail request should include the case number if known, party names, document title, copy type, requester contact information, and payment only after the office confirms the amount and acceptable payment method. For traffic payments, the research notes that CourtMoney Missouri includes Christian County Circuit Clerk in its agency dropdown, but exact payment instructions should be checked against the court's direction for the case.
For county administrative records, the Sunshine form supports standard formats such as Word, Excel, or PDF, and email requests are provided as a PST file on a flash drive. That process is not the substitute for a certified judgment, divorce decree, criminal disposition, probate letter, or other court document. The fastest route is usually Case.net for a public lookup and the correct Circuit Clerk division line for the document itself.