Look Up Simpson County Court Records

How to Search Simpson County Court Records

Simpson County does not run its own public case search on the official county website. Circuit Court and Chancery Court files route through Mississippi Electronic Courts, the statewide system the Mississippi Judiciary uses for trial-court e-filing. Public viewing happens through Public Access to MEC, known as PAMEC, which asks for a username and password. The Thirteenth Circuit Court District runs Simpson County Circuit Court on this system. The county went live on MEC on January 28, 2019. The court information page for the district lists the Simpson County Circuit Court at 100 Court Street, Suite 2, in Mendenhall, with a phone of 601-847-2474 and hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Credentials come first. A viewer who only wants to read case detail still has to register, because PAMEC will not open a file to an anonymous visitor. Registration runs online through the MEC online registration page. Gather the basics before logging in. Have a party's full name, a case number if you have one, and the court that handled the matter. Circuit Court keeps felony criminal and larger civil files. Chancery Court keeps divorce, probate, guardianship, and land cases. Justice Court holds misdemeanor, traffic, and small civil claims, and it offers no online search at all.

1. Identify the court that holds the file. Use Circuit Court for felonies and major civil suits, Chancery Court for divorce, probate, and land matters, and Justice Court for traffic, misdemeanors, and small claims not over $3,500.
2. Register for a PAMEC account or log in with credentials you already hold. The MEC login accepts a PAMEC username and password for viewing case information and filed documents.
3. For a lower-court matter, contact the Justice Court directly. Its office has no public case search and asks defendants to call 601-847-5848 about a fine amount or trial date.
4. For an older, sealed, or expunged file that does not appear remotely, call or write the clerk that maintains it.
5. For certified or plain copies, request them from the clerk of the court that created the case, since those copies are not produced through the public portal.

The MEC court information page is a useful first stop because it confirms the local court address, hours, and the docket flags the system can show. The Thirteenth Circuit CourtInfo screen opens to the public even though the case query behind it does not.

That page lists the PAMEC help desk at P.O. Box 117, Jackson, MS 39205, with a phone of 601-576-4650 and email helpdesk@mec.ms.gov. Anyone stuck at the login can reach that desk for account help before trying a Simpson County court records search again.

PAMEC Login and Registration Fields

The gateway to Simpson County court records online is the PAMEC login screen. It is short, and most of its fields are the standard credential prompts. The system states plainly that it is a restricted website for official court business and that access attempts are logged. People who do not need filing rights can still enter with a PAMEC login and password, while those without an account register online first.

The Mississippi Electronic Courts page links the Simpson County Circuit Court and Simpson County Chancery Court entries and repeats the PAMEC help-desk contact for account trouble.

From that page a registered user reaches the case query for either Simpson County court, which is where the actual record search begins once the login clears.

If a Notice of Electronic Filing link asks for a sign-in, the document may need MEC or PAMEC credentials to open. A "no permission" message usually means the filing is limited to attorneys of record. Filings on the system must also follow rules that strip Social Security numbers, dates of birth, names of minor children, financial account numbers, and home addresses.

Simpson County Court Records Search Fields

Once an account is active, the case query lets a user search a chosen court by case number, name, or date. The exact field labels are not visible without a credentialed login, so the table below reflects the query options MEC documents for its trial-court system rather than a screen captured from inside the Simpson County portal. The first choice is always the court itself.

Note: Because the case query sits behind a login, no sample Simpson County result could be captured for this listing without an active PAMEC account.

Types of Simpson County Court Records

Court records in Simpson County split by the court that holds them. Felony criminal files and the larger civil suits are Circuit Court records, kept by the Circuit Clerk. The clerk's docket holds names and parties, pleas, indictments, records from inferior courts on appeal, and other papers. Family, estate, and land matters are Chancery Court records, kept by the Chancery Clerk. Misdemeanors, traffic tickets, and small civil claims start in Justice Court, where there is no online file to pull.

The split matters because a record sits with the court that created it, not in one shared county database. A felony case and the misdemeanor traffic ticket of the same person live in two different offices. The fuller criminal case file, with charges, pleas, and sentence, is covered on the Simpson County criminal court records page, and ticket-level matters appear in Simpson County traffic court records.

• Criminal records: felony indictments, pleas, motions, orders, disposition, sentence, and bond or warrant flags through Circuit Court.
• Civil records: lawsuits over money and property in Circuit Court, plus removals of tenants, open accounts, and replevins in Justice Court.
• Family records: divorce, custody, support, alimony, and adoption files held by Chancery Court.
• Probate records: wills, estates, guardianships, and conservatorships handled by Chancery Court.
• Traffic and misdemeanor records: tickets and minor offenses heard in Justice Court or a city's municipal court.

The statewide system that ties the trial courts together is profiled on the Mississippi Judiciary homepage, which explains that Chancery, Circuit, and County Courts file electronically through MEC.

That state hub points back to the same MEC and PAMEC channels Simpson County residents use, which keeps the local search consistent with every other Mississippi county on the system.

What Simpson County Court Records Show

A Simpson County court record is a running account of a case from filing to its current status. The fields a reader meets depend on the court and the case type, but a core set repeats across criminal, civil, family, and probate files. The table below lays out the common fields and what each one tells you.

Beyond the plain fields, MEC marks cases with status flags. The court information page for the district lists the flag glossary, and several of those labels signal where a case stands or whether access is limited. A short read of the common ones helps when a docket looks dense.

Bench Warrant Issued

A judge has ordered a person taken into custody, often after a missed court date.

Capias Pending

A writ directing custody is open on the case.

Nolle Pros Pending

The prosecutor is moving to drop a charge rather than push it forward.

Final Judgment Issued

The court has entered its final decision in the matter.

CLOSED

The case is no longer active.

EXPUNGED

A qualifying record has been ordered removed from ordinary public access.

Public Access Framework for Simpson County Court Records

Public access starts with the office that created the record. Under the Mississippi Public Records Act, Miss. Code Section 25-61-1, public records held by a public body are open for inspection unless another law makes them exempt, and a move to electronic recordkeeping cannot erode that access. The Mississippi Ethics Commission publishes the act and its policy statement for the public.

For a court file, the practical first step is the clerk of the court that created it. Circuit criminal and civil records route through the Circuit Clerk and MEC. Chancery divorce, probate, guardianship, and land records route through the Chancery Clerk. Justice Court traffic, misdemeanor, and small civil claims route through the Justice Court Clerk. Online access through PAMEC still needs credentials, and court records remain subject to court rules, sealing orders, expungement orders, and redaction requirements even when the broader access law applies.

Fees for certified or plain copies were not located on any official Simpson County source. Anyone needing a priced copy should confirm the current charge and the accepted payment methods directly with the clerk before sending a request.

Records That Are Sealed or Confidential in Simpson County

Not every court file is open. Youth court records are confidential under Miss. Code Section 43-21-251, and disclosure of records involving children is limited under Section 43-21-261. In Simpson County the Chancery Court hears youth matters where no separate Family or County Court exists, so these files sit on the Chancery side and are not ordinary public search records. Adoption files are likewise closed. Mental-health and commitment records carry their own shield under Section 41-21-97, which keeps treatment records confidential except by authorization, court order, or another listed exception.

Expunged cases are a separate category. Under Miss. Code Section 99-19-71, eligible first-offender misdemeanors and certain felony convictions can be cleared from public records when statutory tests are met. The MEC flag glossary includes an EXPUNGED label, which confirms that the system marks these files rather than displaying them as normal convictions. A person seeking an expungement petitions the court that entered the conviction, whether that was Justice Court, a municipal court, or Circuit Court, and a judge decides eligibility.

Viewing a sealed or restricted file usually takes a qualifying role or a court order. A party, an attorney of record, or someone the statute names may gain access, while the general public may not. For a youth, adoption, or commitment matter, the safest route is to ask the Chancery Clerk what the law allows in a specific case rather than assuming the file is open.

In-Person, Mail, and Phone Record Requests

When a file is old, not indexed online, or needs a certified copy, the clerk's counter is the reliable channel. For Circuit Court criminal and civil records, dockets, judgments, and marriage records, the Circuit Clerk is the office to visit, call, or write. The Chancery Clerk handles divorce, probate, guardianship, conservatorship, land, and youth-court-adjacent files. Justice Court holds traffic and misdemeanor matters and takes fine questions by phone. Each office keeps its own records, so naming the right court first saves a trip.

Mail requests go to the same offices by post office box. The Circuit Clerk receives mail at PO Box 307, the Chancery Clerk at PO Box 367, and the Justice Court at 1498 Simpson Hwy 149, all in Mendenhall. The Chancery Clerk can be reached at 601-847-2626 or tgray@co.simpson.ms.us. The Justice Court line is 601-847-5848, and that office asks for cash in person or a cashier's check or money order by mail, with no personal checks. Phone is often the fastest way to confirm what a file needs before sending payment or a written request.

For records the clerk cannot supply, the Sheriff's Department handles law-enforcement files, custody checks, and warrant questions until a charge becomes a court case. The Circuit Clerk and the broader office are profiled further on the Simpson County Circuit Clerk page.