Mississippi Circuit Court Case Search: MEC, Clerk, and Fees

To run a Mississippi circuit court case search, register for the Mississippi Electronic Courts system (MEC) at courts.ms.gov and search by party name or case number for $10 a year plus $0.20 per page of results, or walk into the circuit clerk’s office in the county where the case was filed and use a public terminal for free. Statewide electronic filing was completed in July 2025, so filings from all 23 circuit court districts are now available through MEC.1State of Mississippi Judiciary. Electronic Filing Completed Statewide for Mississippi Courts

Is Your Case in Circuit Court?

Circuit courts in Mississippi handle felonies, misdemeanor appeals from justice and municipal courts, and civil lawsuits where the amount in dispute is $200 or more.2Justia Law. Mississippi Code Title 9 Chapter 7 – Section 9-7-813Mississippi First Circuit Court. About Circuit Courts They serve as the primary trial court for civil cases above $3,500. The state has 23 districts and 57 judges.4State of Mississippi Judiciary. Trial Courts

Divorces, child custody, property disputes, and estates are not in circuit court. Those go through chancery court, which is a separate system with its own clerk. If your case is one of those, a circuit court search will come up empty.

If you don’t know which of the 23 districts to search, start with the county where the defendant lives or does business, or the county where the events at issue took place.

Searching Online Through MEC

MEC requires a registered account before you can search or view any filing. Registration happens at pamecapps.mec.ms.gov, and you’ll need a mailing address, an email address, and a payment method. The $10 annual fee is charged up front, before access is granted.5Mississippi Electronic Courts. Mississippi Electronic Courts – Payment Method Choose the non-attorney track if you’re a member of the public looking for records rather than filing them.

Once you log in at courts.ms.gov/mec, pick the specific circuit court you want to search from the list.6State of Mississippi Judiciary. Mississippi Electronic Courts You can search by party name, case number, or both. With common names, adding a middle initial, a suffix, or a filing date range narrows the results.

Click a case number to open the docket sheet. That’s the master record: complaint, motions, orders, hearing notices, and judgments, listed in order. Individual documents open as PDFs.

Watch the cost. The $0.20 per-page charge applies to pages of search results, not to what you actually read or download. Even a search that returns nothing costs one page.7Mississippi Electronic Courts. Mississippi Electronic Courts – Registration Tighten your criteria before you run a broad name search, or the charges add up fast.

For billing questions or technical trouble, the MEC helpdesk is at helpdesk@mec.ms.gov or 601-576-4650.6State of Mississippi Judiciary. Mississippi Electronic Courts

Searching In Person at the Circuit Clerk’s Office

Every district has a clerk’s office at the county courthouse, and you can walk in and search without an MEC account. Most offices have public terminals where you can look up cases and view filings at no charge.6State of Mississippi Judiciary. Mississippi Electronic Courts If you want to avoid the annual fee and the per-page charges, this is the way.

For older cases that predate electronic filing, clerk staff can pull paper files from storage. Physical folders often hold original signed orders and exhibits that aren’t fully digitized. You’ll review paper files at a designated table in the clerk’s office, and staff keep them in sight.

Getting Copies and Certified Copies

If you need a copy to take with you, the clerk can make one, or in some offices you can make your own. Copy fees are set by statute.8FindLaw. Mississippi Code Title 25 – Section 25-7-13

A regular photocopy works for personal reference. For anything you’re submitting to a court, an agency, or another government office, you’ll usually need a certified copy carrying the clerk’s official seal. The statutory fee to certify a copy is $1.00 per complete document, in addition to the per-page copying charge.8FindLaw. Mississippi Code Title 25 – Section 25-7-13 You request certified copies from the clerk’s office directly, in person or by mail. If the document is going to another country, ask about an apostille from the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office; the certification alone is usually not enough for foreign use.

Fees at a Glance

What You Won’t Find in a Search

Not everything filed in circuit court is publicly visible. A judge can seal all or part of a case file when a compelling interest outweighs public access, and sealed records won’t appear in MEC results at all. Mississippi’s Public Records Act preserves every existing state or federal law that makes a record confidential or privileged.9Mississippi Ethics Commission. Title 25 Chapter 61 – Public Access to Public Records

Home addresses and private phone numbers of judges, law enforcement officers, criminal investigators, district attorneys, and their spouses and children are exempt from disclosure.9Mississippi Ethics Commission. Title 25 Chapter 61 – Public Access to Public Records Social Security numbers and financial account numbers are typically redacted or shown only as the last four digits; the responsibility for that redaction sits with the parties and their attorneys, not the clerk.

If you think a record was improperly sealed, you can file a motion to unseal, showing the court that public interest in access outweighs the reason for the seal. That generally means hiring an attorney.

If You’re Using Records for a Background Check

Anyone can search these records out of personal interest. If you’re an employer or landlord using them to decide on a hire or a tenant, the Fair Credit Reporting Act adds rules. When you use a third-party screening service, you must get the applicant’s written consent before requesting a report and give written notice before taking any adverse action based on it.10Federal Trade Commission. What Employment Background Screening Companies Need to Know About the Fair Credit Reporting Act Screening companies that report public court records for employment purposes must either notify the person being reported on or maintain strict procedures to keep the information complete and current.11Federal Trade Commission. Fair Credit Reporting Act

Even if you pull records yourself, the EEOC has warned that blanket policies rejecting applicants based on criminal history can amount to unlawful discrimination when they disproportionately affect protected groups. Weigh the nature of the offense, its relationship to the job, and how much time has passed.