Hopkins County Clerk Duties

Without county clerks, many of the government's underlying responsibilities would go undone.

The main duties of the county clerk are:

• Administering all county and state elections, including early voting and primaries, unless the Commissioners’ Court has transferred the function to the tax assessor-collector or an office of county election administrator:

• Serving as clerk of the County Court, County Court at Law and the Commissioners’ Court and keep records of the proceedings;

• Acting as recorder of deeds and other instruments;

• Filing and recording birth and death certificates; issuing certified copies

• Recording assumed names, brands and other miscellaneous documents

• Issuing marriage license and recording the license; issuing certified copies

• File and record Probate, Guardianships, Mental, and Civil

• File and record Misdemeanor Criminal Cases; collect fines and court costs for state and county

• Accounting for all funds paid to the office by way of fines and fees, and the amount owed to county court jurors for service

Recording Department
All real property information (including plat records and subdivisions) and records for property located in Hopkins County are filed in this department. For information regarding our fees, please see Fee Schedule 1. Assumed Name Certificates (for businesses) may be obtained in this office. Guidelines for subdivisions or on our website or may be obtained from the office.

UCC Filing
Effective July 1, 2001 County Clerks will no longer accept UCC filings, except in the real estate records. All other UCC’s will now be filed with the Office of the Secretary of State in Austin, Texas. See Fee Schedule 1 for recording information and filing fees.

Vital Statistics
This office is responsible for the recording of all birth and death records that occur in Hopkins County. We are also responsible for issuing and recording marriage licenses for use anywhere in the State of Texas. Certified copies of birth, death and marriage records may be obtained by mail or in person. State law requires proof of identification before certified copies of birth and death records may be issued.

Remote Access
Remote Access is now available. You may obtain a birth certificate from this office, if you were born in Texas. The certificate is an abstract or short form. The long form birth certificate must still be obtained from your county of birth.

Local Registrar
Effective March 1^st, 2007 the County Clerk’s Office took over the duties of Local Registrar from the Justice of the Peace Offices. The transfer of duties took place to best serve the citizens of Hopkins County. The birth and death records are now in one place. The Local Registrar is responsible for birth and death registration in Hopkins County. Must secure a complete record of each birth, death and fetal death; abide by the instructions and directions of the State Registrar to ensure uniform observance for registration and issuance; and report violations of law and regulation to the State Registrar. The Local Registrar must carefully examine each birth or death certificate presented for registration to determine if it is complete according to the State Registrar’s instructions.

Civil, Probate and Mental Filings (See Fee Schedule 2)
The county clerk provides clerical support to the County Court and the County Court at Law. The Civil Department is responsible for the filing of civil cases with a jurisdiction up to $10,000 (same jurisdiction as Hopkins County Justice of the Peace Offices). Occupational driver's licenses and Bond Forfeitures are a very large volume of cases filed in this court. Probate cases and Guardianships may be filed in one of two courts depending on the style of the case. The style of the case determines which Judge hears the probate. The Mental section of this department works very closely with the Sheriff's Department, the County Judge's Office and the County Attorney's office. All mental filings are confidential.

Criminal Misdemeanor
This department is designed to support our criminal misdemeanor court as well as, our county court at law (we do not have juvenile jurisdiction). Our staff files and records criminal cases, tracks all official information regarding court cases, acts as court coordinator putting cases on the docket and collects fines and court costs. There are numerous criminal misdemeanor cases filed each year - keeping this department very busy.

Commissioners' Court
Debbie Shirley, County Clerk, attends all meetings and records the meetings and actions taken by the Hopkins County Commissioners' Court. Commissioners' Court minutes are up-to-date and filed and indexed in the Commissioner's Court Minutes, which are kept in the County Clerk's office.

Elections
The Hopkins County Clerk's Office is responsible for conducting countywide special and general elections. Early voting for all special and general elections, as well as, the Democratic and Republican Primaries. As of 2006, the County Clerk also helps the other political subdivisions (schools, cities and hospital district) with their elections. Early voting can be done through the mail (with restrictions) or by personal appearance at a designated location to be announced prior to the election. For information regarding early voting and restriction on voting by mail, you may contact the Hopkins County Clerk's Office at (903)438-4074. Questions about voter registration may be directed to the Hopkins County Tax Assessor-Collector at (903)438-4063. For further information on elections, you may contact the Secretary of State, Elections Division at 1-800-252-VOTE.

Polling Locations and maps are available online to help you locate where you vote on election day.