Request Boone County Court Records

Boone County Court Record Requests

Samuel R. Burns, Circuit Clerk, keeps the files for Boone County Circuit Court and family court. Elizabeth Summers, the magistrate clerk, handles magistrate civil, criminal, traffic, bond, and preliminary-hearing records. Start your docket search online. Use WVPASS for circuit or family cases and MCR for magistrate cases. MCR shows no document images, so a copy still ends with a clerk request.

The circuit clerk sits at 200 State Street, Suite 202, Madison, WV 25130, phone 304-369-7320. The magistrate clerk works out of the Boone courthouse at 200 State Street, phone 304-369-7366. Call first and ask about the request method, fee estimate, retrieval time, accepted payment, and any same-day cutoff. The clerk does not publish one universal route by mail, fax, email, or dropbox for circuit records. Hold off on payment and identification until the clerk approves a channel.

1. Identify the court level and locate the case number through the correct portal.
2. Name the docket, pleading, order, judgment, transcript, or other document needed.
3. Choose online access, a counter visit, or a clerk-approved remote request method.
4. State whether an electronic, paper, plain, or certified copy is required.
5. Ask for an itemized charge before the clerk reproduces a large file.

Four Boone County Record Custodians

Say "county records" without care and your request may land at the wrong desk. The circuit clerk holds the file behind any circuit or family docket. The magistrate clerk holds the lower-court case records. Roger Toney is the elected county clerk. He keeps recorded instruments, probate pathways, vital records, and county-commission records. Town clerks or recorders hold municipal administrative records and any municipal-court file the town keeps.

The official Boone County Clerk site illustrates the separate county-record scope.

Those listed county-clerk duties matter. They keep a court-file request from being routed to the deeds, probate, or vital-record desk by mistake.

Kinds of Court Records

A Boone County court record is more than a docket sheet. The file behind it can hold a lot. Look for a complaint or petition, an answer, motions, service records, hearing notices, signed orders, judgments, and disposition entries. Criminal and traffic files add charge, plea, bond, warrant, sentence, and payment data. What you can see depends on the record itself and the restriction that governs it.

• Circuit civil and criminal docket sheets and case files
• Family-court filings that are public and nonconfidential
• Magistrate civil, criminal, traffic, bond, and event records
• Appellate dockets, decisions, and lower-case references
• Municipal case records held by the responsible town

Probate runs through the county clerk, not the circuit clerk. A judgment or lien in the county-clerk search is a recorded instrument, not the full court file that produced it.

Narrow Boone County Records Requests

A tight request saves time and money. Name "Boone County Circuit Court." Give the case number, a document name, and an event or filing date. Say whether you want a plain or certified copy, and whether electronic delivery works. No case number? Offer a limited date range. Add enough case detail for the clerk to locate the file without an unlimited search.

West Virginia's general FOIA framework, Chapter 29B, calls for a response as soon as practicable, with an outside period of five days excluding weekends and legal holidays. Case files are different. A judicial-record request should go straight to the court clerk and cite the court-record rules, because those files carry their own access limits.

Court Records: What They Contain

Read a Boone County court record as a sequence, not a single page. The case number identifies the file. The docket sheet lists each act in date order. Pleadings state requests or allegations. A signed order records what the court directed, and a judgment or disposition records an outcome. One filing rarely tells the whole story.

An e-file stamp shows when the system accepted a filing, not that the filing won. A motion is a request, not a grant. And "Hearing/Event Closed" means only that the listed event ended; the case was not sealed or fully disposed.

Boone County Certified Copy Checklist

A plain copy simply reproduces the public record. A certified copy adds the clerk's authentication, which some agencies and proceedings require. Ask the recipient what form it needs before you pay. The circuit-clerk statute sets a clerk-made copy charge. It states no separate certification amount. Expect none beyond what the clerk quotes.

1. Confirm the exact case number and document title.
2. Ask whether the receiving office needs a plain or certified copy.
3. Request the page count and all charges before reproduction.
4. Confirm payment methods and how the record will be delivered.
5. Check the seal, signature, and case number when the copy arrives.

The county clerk forms page offers a certified-copy entry point for that office’s records.

That county form route covers county-clerk materials only. Treat it as the circuit clerk's universal court-record form and you will be disappointed.

Copy Fees and Certification

Fees differ by channel, so match the charge to the route. West Virginia Code §59-1-11 lists $1 per page for a transcript or copy made by the circuit clerk for use outside the office. An abstract of judgment adds $5. Magistrate administrative rules set a nominal 25-cent-per-page copy charge. WVPASS public document downloads generally run 25 cents per page plus a nominal card-processing fee.

Certification, searches, archived retrieval, and odd formats can change the quote.

Boone Court File or County Record

Roger Toney's county-clerk office sits at 200 State Street, Suite 104, Madison, WV 25130. The phone number is 304-369-7330. Its online-records link fits deeds, liens, and recorded instruments. It is not a WVPASS or circuit docket search. Official sources give conflicting fax numbers, so call before faxing anything sensitive. The official contact page shows the county clerk's location and public contact block.

Once the file you need is a county record rather than a circuit or magistrate case file, that contact block becomes the right place to call. The Boone County office holding the record can tell you what it needs to pull it.

Boone Probate Is a Separate File

Probate runs through the county clerk, not the circuit clerk. The Boone County probate page asks anyone opening an estate to schedule an appointment. Bring the original will and death certificate, plus the heirs' names and addresses. Asset details and life-insurance or surety-bond information matter where they apply. Opening a probate costs $56. Closing it costs $12. Those are estate charges, not court-copy fees. The Boone County probate page posts the full checklist and accepted payment methods. It also explains how appointments work.

So ask for the right office by name. A broad request for Boone County court records can miss a probate file entirely.

Access Rules for Court Records

Boone County court records sit close to the open end of the spectrum. West Virginia Code §51-4-2 lets anyone inspect court records and papers. The rule applies unless some other law says no. Trial Court Rule 10.04 adds that the custodian should provide prompt access during business hours. Electronic copies may be requested when that option exists. Rule 15A.26 also covers electronic access. It reaches the circuit docket, the pleadings, and any document that is neither sealed nor confidential.

Some limits still bind. Juvenile files stay in a separate system under §§49-5-103 and 49-5-104. After an expungement order, §§61-11-25 and 61-11-26 bar inspection of the affected record. If a Boone County clerk ever limits your docket request, ask which law applies. Also ask whether a redacted public copy can be released instead.