Pettis County Circuit Clerk Profile
Susan Sadler is the Pettis County Circuit Clerk. The official Circuit Clerk page says the office maintains complete and accurate records of the court for civil, criminal, probate, domestic, and juvenile cases filed in Pettis County. It also receives, processes, and maintains judgments, rulings, orders, and other court proceedings manually and electronically. The office collects and disburses fines and costs, maintains case files, selects and summons jurors, maintains the trial and hearing schedule, and provides staff assistance to judges.
The State Court Structure Map identifies the Pettis County Circuit Clerk as the unified court-records clerk. Missouri uses circuit courts as general-jurisdiction trial courts, and Pettis County is part of the 18th Judicial Circuit with Cooper County. Probate is handled through the Probate Division of the Circuit Court, not a separate probate office. Sedalia municipal ordinance cases operate within the circuit court framework for local ordinance violations.
Pettis County Circuit Clerk
Clerk: Susan Sadler
415 S. Ohio, Suite 324
Sedalia, MO 65301
660-826-5000 ext. 926
Office hours: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday-Friday
The Pettis County Clerk and Election Authority is a separate county government office with election and commission duties: Pettis County Clerk/Election Authority.
That distinction is important because the County Clerk is not the office for circuit court case searches or certified court copies.
Pettis County Circuit Clerk Divisions
The Circuit Clerk routes requests by case type. Civil and domestic files use the third-floor civil/domestic contact. Criminal, traffic, probate, juvenile, and protection-order matters have separate extensions. The correct division matters because a divorce decree, traffic disposition, estate filing, juvenile matter, and order of protection are not processed by the same public-facing counter in the same way.
| Division | Phone/Fax | Records Handled |
|---|---|---|
| Civil/Domestic | 660-826-5000 ext. 926; fax 660-826-4520 | Circuit and associate civil, damages, account, landlord/tenant, small claims, dissolution, paternity, name change. |
| Adult Abuse and Child Protection | 660-826-5000 ext. 438; fax 660-827-8613 | Adult abuse, child protection, and ex parte orders of protection. |
| Criminal/Traffic | 660-826-5000 ext. 924; fax 660-827-8613 | Circuit and associate criminal court information, felony, misdemeanor, and traffic cases. |
| Probate | 660-826-5000 ext. 454; fax 660-827-8613 | Guardianships, conservatorships, decedent estates, small estates, and 96-hour detention/treatment. |
| Juvenile | 660-826-5000 ext. 455 | Juvenile court matters, subject to confidentiality limits. |
Recorder and County Clerk Boundaries
The Recorder of Deeds and the County Clerk are separate from the Circuit Clerk. Barbara Clevenger is the Pettis County Recorder of Deeds. The Recorder records, maintains, and preserves real-estate land records and issues marriage licenses. The official Recorder page lists deeds of trust, real-estate deeds, releases, easements, subdivision plats, surveys, marriage licenses, military discharges, powers of attorney, tax liens, UCC real-estate documents, and miscellaneous documents.
The County Clerk/Election Authority is at 215 East 5th Street, Sedalia, Missouri 65301. That office conducts elections, serves as administrative officer to the County Commission, maintains official county records, works with political subdivisions on tax levies, serves as secretary for the Board of Equalization, and issues county liquor, auctioneer, and notary public licenses. Court-case requests go to the Circuit Clerk. Marriage-license and recorded-instrument requests go to the Recorder.
The Tapestry portal is one Recorder-linked search path, not a Circuit Clerk case search: Fidlar Tapestry records portal.
Tapestry helps with recorded instruments and marriage-related recorder material, while Circuit Clerk records are court case files.
Request Certified Court Copies
A certified court copy is used when a plain copy is not enough, such as a divorce decree, judgment, disposition, probate order, or other court paper that must show it came from the court file. The Circuit Clerk fee table does not list a separate certification fee, so requesters should ask the matching division for the current certification total before mailing payment. The copy fee table does list plain copy and fax charges.
- Search Case.net first and write down the Pettis County case number, party names, case type, and filing date.
- Identify the correct Circuit Clerk division, such as civil/domestic for divorce or criminal/traffic for traffic dispositions.
- Ask whether the record is public, whether certification is available, and what total fee is due.
- Provide the document name, number of copies, delivery method, and contact information.
- Pay the required copy, fax, certification, mailing, or other clerk-confirmed charge.
- Pick up the certified copy or wait for the clerk-approved mail or fax return method.
Pettis County Request Form Fields
No single universal Circuit Clerk web request form is posted with the local court materials. A useful written court-record request should still include the same core fields the clerk needs to locate the file and prepare a copy. If the request is for a police report, send it to the responsible law-enforcement agency instead of the Circuit Clerk. If the request is for a marriage license or recorded land document, use the Recorder's office.
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Case number | Best if known | Use the exact Case.net or court-paper format. |
| Party names | Yes | Include plaintiff/defendant, petitioner/respondent, decedent, or defendant names as applicable. |
| Case type | Yes | Civil, domestic, criminal, traffic, probate, protection order, or juvenile. |
| Document requested | Yes | Judgment, decree, docket sheet, disposition, order, letters, or other specific paper. |
| Copy type | Yes | Plain, certified, faxed, or clerk-confirmed delivery format. |
| Requester contact | Yes | Name, phone, mailing address, and email if available. |
| Payment method | When due | Confirm the amount and acceptable payment method with the division before mailing. |
Pettis County Court Clerk Fees
The Pettis County court filing fee PDF lists civil, domestic, probate, copy, and fax fees. The table below uses the listed fee amounts that apply most often to Circuit Clerk court-record work. Service of process can add a separate sheriff fee, and publication service can require the party to pay the publisher and file the affidavit before the case is heard.
| Filing or Service | Fee |
|---|---|
| Small claims | $38.50 |
| Civil cases under Section 517 RSMo and rent/possession | $51.50 |
| Domestic relations | $105.50 |
| Adoptions | $183.50 |
| All other civil cases | $103.50 |
| Copy first page | $1.00 |
| Copy each additional page | $0.50 |
| Fax first page | $2.50 |
| Fax each additional page | $1.00 |
Pettis County Clerk Online Records
For court files, the Circuit Clerk points users to Missouri Case.net. For Recorder materials, county sources identify Tapestry, RecordHub, Official Records Online, and the Pettis online marriage application and search portals. RecordHub is tied to historical index-book access and the county notes say an account is required. It is useful for historical recorded instruments, not for criminal, traffic, probate, or divorce court dockets.
RecordHub is one Recorder-linked historical index source for Pettis County recorded instruments: RecordHub index-book portal.
The image reinforces the office split: historical recorder indexes are not the same system as Circuit Clerk court records.
Pettis County Courthouse Records
The Pettis County Courthouse remains the main physical anchor for court records. The Circuit Clerk page places civil and domestic divisions on the third floor and criminal, traffic, probate, and juvenile divisions on the first floor. The same building also houses the Recorder, Prosecutor, Public Administrator, and other county offices, so visitors should use the correct suite or extension rather than relying on the general courthouse number.
Visit Sedalia provides courthouse history and local context for the building used by several Pettis County record offices: Pettis County Courthouse history.
That courthouse context helps explain why court, probate, recorder, and public-administrator records are close together but handled by distinct offices.
Note: Pettis County has no separate secondary court-clerk page; the Recorder is separate, but it is not the court-case clerk.
Pettis County Clerk Schedule Duties
The Circuit Clerk's duties also include selecting and summoning jurors and maintaining the trial and hearing schedule. Pettis County juror instructions say jurors are randomly selected from Missouri Department of Revenue Driver's License Bureau lists and Pettis County voter lists. Questionnaires must be returned within ten days, the prospective term is four months, and summonses arrive about five days before each service date. Those details matter because the clerk's office is not only a copy counter; it is part of the court calendar and jury system.
Juror instructions also give practical courthouse information that record requesters may need on busy court days. Parking may be tight when jury trials and other courtrooms are active, cell phones must be turned off during jury selection and trials, and the clerk should be contacted for special access needs. The jury cancellation line is 660-826-5000 ext. 464 after 5:00 p.m. the evening before trial.
That scheduling role is separate from the Recorder's marriage and land-record work, and it is one more reason court users should start with the Circuit Clerk for case-related questions.