Access St. Louis City County Circuit Clerk

St. Louis City County Circuit Clerk

The St. Louis Circuit Clerk is Thomas Kloeppinger. The court says he was appointed circuit clerk in 2014 and became Missouri's first appointed circuit clerk after the legislature converted the office from elected county office status. The Circuit Clerk's Office is responsible for organizing and maintaining roughly 5,000,000 court files from 1804 to present in storage and about 40,000 new civil and criminal cases filed each year in the 22nd Judicial Circuit.

The official Circuit Clerk page names the clerk and describes the file volume handled by the office.

The office is the core contact for Circuit Court case files, copy requests, and clerk functions tied to public court records.

St. Louis City County Circuit Clerk Duties

The Circuit Clerk maintains civil, criminal, family, domestic, probate-related court filings, dockets, judgments, orders, motions, and public copies where the record is available. The office handles certified and non-certified copies of court documents, not broad city department records. Divorce files and divorce decrees are Circuit Clerk records because divorce is a court case. Marriage licenses and marriage copies are Recorder records, not Circuit Clerk records.

The Recorder of Deeds and Vital Records Registrar page is the separate local office for marriage, birth, and death records.

That distinction matters most for marriage, divorce, and vital record requests because the two offices do not keep the same records.

Request St. Louis City County Certified Copies

Certified court copies are requested from the Circuit Clerk's certified copy channel. The certified copy page instructs users to email requests to the Circuit Clerk's Office. A Certified Copies Department member responds with an estimate and payment instructions. Law firms may establish accounts through the cashier's office at 314-622-4020. The Certified Copy Department records supervisor is Kevin Cahill at 314-622-4922.

The certified copy request instructions explain the estimate and payment process for St. Louis City County Circuit Clerk records.

A certified copy is clerk-authenticated and is usually needed when a court document must be used for legal, agency, licensing, appeal, or official proof.

1. Identify the case number if known, or gather party names, case type, and filing year.
2. Email the certified copy request to the Circuit Clerk's certified copy channel.
3. Describe the exact document needed, such as decree, judgment, order, docket sheet, or filing.
4. Wait for the Certified Copies Department to send an estimate and payment instructions.
5. Pay as instructed, or use an established law firm account if one exists through the cashier.
6. Confirm whether the copy will be picked up, mailed, or otherwise released by the clerk.

St. Louis City County Public Court Records

The court's public records page says requests for certified or non-certified copies of publicly available court documents may be emailed to the certified copies clerk. News media seeking court records under Missouri Sunshine Law may email the court's chief communications officer, Joel Currier. Public court records remain subject to sealing, redaction, juvenile confidentiality, expungement, and court access rules.

The 22nd Circuit public records page separates court record copy requests from other city Sunshine requests.

Use the court copy channel when the request is for a public court document from a 22nd Judicial Circuit case.

GOV/QA vs Circuit Clerk Records

Citywide Sunshine requests use GOV/QA, but that portal is not the replacement for Circuit Clerk court copy requests. GOV/QA is for city departments and agencies such as the City of St. Louis, the Medical Examiner's Office, SLDC, and SLMPD. Court case documents are requested through the Circuit Clerk or court instructions. A requester looking for police records, city emails, or Medical Examiner records should use the city public records path instead of the Circuit Clerk.

The City Sunshine request instructions describe the GOV/QA public records process.

The city portal can be correct for agency records while still being the wrong route for certified court documents.

The GOV/QA support home is the online portal used to submit and track city Sunshine requests.

GOV/QA requests can involve account creation, tracking, communication, invoices, payments, and released records for city agency requests.

St. Louis City County Circuit Clerk Fees

The accessible certified copy instructions do not publish a complete per-page court copy fee. The proper rule is estimate-required. The clerk reviews the request, calculates the cost, and sends payment instructions. Probate appeals and marriage license fees are useful comparison points because they are published in the research, but those amounts do not set the price for ordinary Circuit Clerk copy requests.

For case lookup before a copy request, St. Louis City County court records can be searched first, then the Circuit Clerk can be used when an official copy is needed.