Mississippi public records: who holds what

In Mississippi, deeds are recorded by the Chancery Clerk, birth and death certificates come from the MSDH Office of Vital Records and requests for other government records fall under the Mississippi Public Records Act of 1983. Below: who holds every other record, what copies cost and the official link for each office.

Last checked against official sources on November 4, 2026.

On this page

1. Who holds what in Mississippi
2. Public records law in Mississippi
3. Marriage records in Mississippi
4. Probate records and wills in Mississippi
5. How Mississippi organizes its records
6. Other records: background checks, voters, businesses, maps
7. Counties in Mississippi
8. Warnings from official sources
9. Official copies vs look-alike sites
10. Official directories
11. Sources

Who holds what in Mississippi

The office that keeps each record, and the fee the law or the office sets for a copy. Open a record type for the full rules, ordering steps and older records.

Public records law in Mississippi

Mississippi Public Records Act of 1983 (Miss. Code Ann. §§ 25-61-1 et seq. (Title 25, Chapter 61)) Read the law¹¹

This law covers records that agencies hold, such as a county office's correspondence or a property file. Recorded deeds, vital records and court files usually have their own rules, set out in each record section.

Who can ask

Any person (no residency requirement)¹¹

What is exempt

Exemptions are those in other state/federal law or court decisions (§ 25-61-11, with a cross-reference list including personnel files, individual tax records, academic records, judicial records, jury records, vital statistics); third-party trade secrets/confidential commercial information (§ 25-61-9, notice and 21-day protective-order window); sensitive software; weapon-permit holder information (§ 25-61-11.1); home address/phone of law enforcement officers, judges, DAs and families (§ 25-61-12); law-enforcement investigative reports (defined § 25-61-3(f)). Exempt material must be redacted and the rest released.¹¹

Official guide

No Attorney General guide; the Mississippi Ethics Commission (the PRA enforcement agency) publishes the Model Public Records Rules with Comment (adopted March 5, 2010)¹²

Response time: no written procedures

If the public body has not adopted written procedures: within 1 working day after a written request¹¹

Response time: maximum

Agency procedures may not allow production or denial later than 7 working days after receipt¹¹

Response time: extension

If not produced by day 7, written explanation required; absolute limit 14 working days unless both sides agree¹¹

More on the Mississippi Public Records Act of 1983

Response time: denials

Denials must be written and cite the specific exemption; denial files kept 3 years¹¹

Fees: general

Actual cost of searching, reviewing, duplicating and mailing; staff time at the lowest competent pay level; collected in advance¹¹

Fees: advance payment

Fees collected before the request is filled¹¹

Fees: redaction

Reasonable redaction fee allowed, not over actual cost¹¹

Fees: gis

Separate standard fee scale allowed for GIS/cadastre and other electronically accessible data; may consider commercial value¹¹

How to ask

Follow the public body's written procedures (Ethics Commission model rules recommend every body adopt them); the 1-working-day rule applies to a written request where none are adopted¹³

Appealing a value: ethics commission

Complaint to the Mississippi Ethics Commission (online complaint form); public body has 14 days to respond; Commission may dismiss, mediate, hold a hearing, order production and impose penalties¹¹

Appealing a value: attach denial

Attach the written denial, if any, to the complaint¹³

Appealing a value: which court

Or sue directly in chancery court (no need to exhaust the Ethics Commission route); Commission orders can be appealed de novo to the chancery court of the county where the public body is located¹¹

Appealing a value: penalty

Personal civil liability up to $100 per violation plus reasonable expenses for wrongful denial or unreasonable fee¹¹

Appealing a value: complaint form

ms.accessgov.com/…¹⁴

How to write a public records request

Marriage records in Mississippi

License issued by

Circuit Clerk of the county where the license was issued (MSDH directs requesters there)¹⁵

Copy from the state

MSDH Vital Records issues certified copies of the marriage record for Jan 1, 1926 - June 30, 1938 and Jan 1, 1942 - present; July 1, 1938 - Dec 31, 1941 records exist only at the Circuit Clerk⁷

Fee

MSDH: $17 first certified copy, $6 each additional copy of the same record ordered at the same time⁷

Restrictions

Restricted to eligible applicants with photo ID⁷

Gaps

Not every marriage record reached MSDH¹⁵

How to order

By mail (check or money order), online/phone via VitalChek (extra fee), or in person in Ridgeland (mailed in 7-10 business days)¹⁵

How this works in other states: marriage records by state.

Probate records and wills in Mississippi

Which court

Chancery Court (wills, estates, guardianships); filed with the Chancery Clerk of the county³

Online

Chancery court files are on MEC/PAMEC (per-page fee) in participating counties⁴

Older records

MDAH holds microfilm of many county records (wills, deeds, marriage books); originals usually stay in the courthouse¹⁶

How this works in other states: probate records and wills by state.

How Mississippi organizes its records

• Two judicial districts (two courthouses, each with Chancery and Circuit clerk offices): Bolivar, Carroll, Chickasaw, Harrison, Hinds, Jasper, Jones, Panola, Tallahatchie, Yalobusha¹⁷
• Chancery Clerk is the county land-records office and clerk of the Chancery Court (divorce, probate, guardianship) and also clerk to the Board of Supervisors' tax-roll/appeal work¹
• Marriage records split: license at Circuit Clerk; state copy at MSDH except July 1938-Dec 1941⁷
• Ethics Commission (not the AG) enforces the Public Records Act¹³
• Criminal background checks are self-request only¹⁸

Other records: background checks, voters, businesses, maps

Criminal history checks

State repository

Mississippi Department of Public Safety name-based background check (online via ms.gov)¹⁸

Fee

$32.00 per request, by card; up to 30 calendar days¹⁸

Who may order

Only the person the record belongs to; no business or third-party requests (results may be released to a third party the individual designates)¹⁸

Turnaround

Up to 30 calendar days¹⁸

Public records requests

DPS public records requests via NextRequest portal mdpsms.nextrequest.com¹⁹

Sex offender registry

Official registry

Mississippi Sex Offender Registry (DPS): state.sor.dps.ms.gov - name, geographic (address radius) and ZIP searches after accepting the disclaimer²⁰

Contact

SOR hotline 601-987-1540, [email protected]²⁰

Inmate and jail lookups

State prisons

MDOC Inmate Search on mdoc.ms.gov (name or MDOC ID number)²¹

Voter records

Registration

Register at the Circuit Clerk's office, Municipal Clerk, DPS driver's license office, or by mail to the Circuit Clerk²²

Check your registration

SOS 'My Election Day' voter lookup: myelectionday.sos.state.ms.us/…²³

County contacts

County election contacts (circuit clerks/election commissions) via SOS County Election Information²⁴

Business names (DBA)

Secretary of State

Corporations, LLCs, partnerships, nonprofits are filed with the Secretary of State; certificates of good standing cost $25 online and are immediate²⁵

Trade marks

State trade and service mark registration at SOS: $50 resident / $60 non-resident²⁶

Fraud act

2026 Mississippi Business Filing Fraud Prevention Act: administrative dissolution of confirmed fraudulent entities; victims file a notarized Declaration of Wrongful Business Filing²⁷

Liens and UCC filings

UCC filings

UCC financing statements are filed with the Secretary of State; the SOS UCC Search page links a 'Public UCC Search' (basic creditor/debtor information for each filed document) and a 'Subscription UCC Search' at busops.sos.ms.gov; viewing the filed UCC documents requires the UCC subscription service²⁸

Liens at the county

Chancery Clerk records construction liens, federal tax liens, lis pendens (DeSoto example); federal tax lien $10, release $12²

GIS and parcel maps

State GIS portal

MARIS (Mississippi Automated Resource Information System): free geospatial data downloads and map services²⁹

County parcels

MARIS publishes a 'Statewide Cadastral Framework (County Parcels)' GIS map service (layer dated August 2023, REST endpoint gis.mississippi.edu/…) - a GIS data service, not an owner/tax lookup; current parcel and tax data stay with each county Tax Assessor³⁰

GIS fees law

Public bodies may charge a standard GIS/cadastre fee scale under the PRA¹¹

Historical and genealogy records

Archives

Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH), William F. Winter Archives and History Building, Jackson; reading rooms free³¹

Holdings

Microfilm of most county marriage books; state death records 1912-1943; state censuses; court cases; educable children lists¹⁶

Research requests

Staff research by written request, limited to one hour per request³¹

Digital collections

MDAH Digital Archives da.mdah.ms.gov and catalog koha-public.mdah.ms.gov³²

No birth

No birth records at the archives¹⁶

Counties in Mississippi

5 counties with a full guide

Each guide lists the office for every record type, the official online searches, copy fees, phones and hours.

• DeSoto County
• Harrison County
• Hinds County
• Jackson County
• Rankin County

All 82 counties

Names in bold open our guide. Names with an arrow go to the county's own website, where the US Census Bureau lists one and it opened when we checked.³³

• Adams County
• Alcorn County
• Amite County
• Attala County
• Benton County
• Bolivar County
• Calhoun County
• Carroll County
• Chickasaw County
• Choctaw County
• Claiborne County
• Clarke County
• Clay County
• Coahoma County
• Copiah County
• Covington County
• DeSoto County
• Forrest County
• Franklin County
• George County
• Greene County
• Grenada County
• Hancock County
• Harrison County
• Hinds County
• Holmes County
• Humphreys County
• Issaquena County
• Itawamba County
• Jackson County
• Jasper County
• Jefferson County
• Jefferson Davis County
• Jones County
• Kemper County
• Lafayette County
• Lamar County
• Lauderdale County
• Lawrence County
• Leake County
• Lee County
• Leflore County
• Lincoln County
• Lowndes County
• Madison County
• Marion County
• Marshall County
• Monroe County
• Montgomery County
• Neshoba County
• Newton County
• Noxubee County
• Oktibbeha County
• Panola County
• Pearl River County
• Perry County
• Pike County
• Pontotoc County
• Prentiss County
• Quitman County
• Rankin County
• Scott County
• Sharkey County
• Simpson County
• Smith County
• Stone County
• Sunflower County
• Tallahatchie County
• Tate County
• Tippah County
• Tishomingo County
• Tunica County
• Union County
• Walthall County
• Warren County
• Washington County
• Wayne County
• Webster County
• Wilkinson County
• Winston County
• Yalobusha County
• Yazoo County

Warnings from official sources

• SOS: 'MS Certificate Service' mailers seek $90.50 for certificates of existence; not from SOS; real certificate is $25 online²⁵
• SOS list of signs of misleading solicitations (fees, statute citations, due dates, government-looking forms, fake customer ID numbers); report to SOS or AG Consumer Protection 1-800-281-4418²⁵
• SOS: rise in fraudulent business entities using people's addresses; Declaration of Wrongful Business Filing²⁷
• MSDH: VitalChek is a private company that adds fees; ordering by mail avoids them⁷

Official directories

Lists that name the office in every county.

• Chancery Court Clerks directory (AOC): https://courts.ms.gov/trialcourts/chancerycourt/chanclerks.pdf¹⁷
• Circuit Clerks directory (AOC): https://courts.ms.gov/trialcourts/circuitcourt/circuitclerks.pdf³⁴
• DOR county Tax Assessors, Tax Collectors and Chancery Clerks spreadsheet: https://www.dor.ms.gov/sites/default/files/county-services/Local%20Officials.xlsx³⁵
• SOS County Election Information: https://www.sos.ms.gov/elections-voting/county-election-information²⁴
• MEC court directory/login list for every county's chancery and circuit court: https://www.courts.ms.gov/mec/mec.php³⁶

Sources

Every fact above links to the official page it comes from; all 36 sources were checked on November 4, 2026. Fees and rules change, so check the office's own page before you pay or travel.

1. Local Property Appraisal (Mississippi's Property Tax System)Mississippi Department of Revenue
2. Land Records Fee Schedule, DeSoto County Chancery ClerkDeSoto County, Mississippi
3. Trial Courts - About the CourtsMississippi Judiciary / Administrative Office of Courtsarchived copy
4. PAMEC (Non-Attorney) Terms and ConditionsMississippi Electronic Courts
5. Find Divorce RecordsMississippi State Department of Health
6. Rules Governing the Registration and Certification of Vital Events (Title 15, Part 5, Subpart 85, Ch. 1)Mississippi State Department of Health
7. Vital Records in MississippiMississippi State Department of Health
8. Birth Certificate Application InstructionsMississippi State Department of Health
9. Application for Certified Mississippi Death Certificate, Form 523Mississippi State Department of Health
10. Death Certificate Application InstructionsMississippi State Department of Health
11. Mississippi Public Records Act of 1983, Miss. Code Ann. Title 25, Chapter 61 (text as published by the Mississippi Ethics Commission)Mississippi Ethics Commission
12. Mississippi Model Public Records Rules with CommentMississippi Ethics Commission
13. Public Records Act (complaints, model rules)Mississippi Ethics Commission
14. Mississippi Ethics Commission homeMississippi Ethics Commission
15. Ordering Marriage Records in MississippiMississippi State Department of Health
16. GenealogyMississippi Department of Archives and History
17. Chancery Court Clerks (directory PDF)Mississippi Judiciary / Administrative Office of Courts
18. DPS - Name-Based Background CheckMississippi Department of Public Safety (ms.gov portal)
19. Mississippi Department of Public Safety homeMississippi Department of Public Safety
20. Mississippi Sex Offender RegistryMississippi Department of Public Safety
21. MDOC Inmate Search (home page form)Mississippi Department of Corrections
22. Election FAQsMississippi Secretary of State
23. Voter Registration InformationMississippi Secretary of State
24. County Election InformationMississippi Secretary of State
25. Secretary of State Warns New Businesses of Ongoing 'Certificate of Existence' ScamsMississippi Secretary of State
26. Fees & Forms DirectoryMississippi Secretary of State
27. Mississippi Business Filing Fraud Prevention ActMississippi Secretary of State
28. UCC SearchMississippi Secretary of State
29. MARIS - Mississippi Automated Resource Information SystemMARIS (Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning)
30. MARIS Map/Image ServicesMARIS (Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning)
31. ResearchMississippi Department of Archives and History
32. Mississippi Department of Archives and History homeMississippi Department of Archives and History
33. Government Units List 2026US Census Bureau
34. Circuit Clerks (directory PDF)Mississippi Judiciary / Administrative Office of Courts
35. Local Officials (county tax assessors, collectors, chancery clerks) spreadsheetMississippi Department of Revenue
36. Mississippi Electronic Courts (MEC)Mississippi Judiciary / Administrative Office of Courts