Perry County Court Record Requests
Start by identifying both the court and the document. Joy Breeding, Perry County Circuit Court Clerk and General Sessions Clerk, keeps Circuit, General Sessions, and Juvenile records. Charlene Duplessis, Clerk and Master, keeps Chancery and Probate files. The Perry online record search can locate public Circuit and General Sessions cases, but it is not a complete document-delivery system.
- Record the case number, party name, filing year, court, and exact document.
- Search online, or call 931-589-2218 for Circuit and General Sessions and 931-589-2217 for Chancery and Probate.
- Visit the courthouse at 121 E. Main Street in Linden, or confirm mailing instructions for P.O. Box 16 before sending a request.
- State whether inspection, a plain copy, or a certified copy is needed and ask for a fee estimate.
- Check the received case number, document title, filing date, pages, and certification.
The Clerk and Master publishes a fax number, 931-589-6369, but request acceptance should be confirmed first. No dedicated Circuit email, public terminal policy, local online request form, or dropbox process was verified. A formal Tennessee Public Records Act request is another route for an identifiable public record. If immediate access is not possible, state guidance generally calls for access, denial, or a reasonable completion estimate within seven business days.
Two Perry County Record Clerks
The clerk split prevents many failed requests. Joy Breeding's office attends court, enters minutes, files pleadings and exhibits, maintains rule and execution dockets, handles appeals, and collects court costs, fines, taxes, and traffic payments. The office is on the courthouse's second floor. The official Tennessee clerk profile confirms the Perry assignment and phone.
The profile helps verify the custodian before a requester sends names, money, or case details.
Charlene Duplessis handles divorce and other domestic relations matters, guardianship, conservatorship, adoption, estates, real estate, tax, contract, and equity files on the Chancery and Probate side. A request that says only “court records” leaves out the fact needed to route it.
Kinds of Perry County Court Records
A Perry County court record may be a small part of a file or the full case jacket. Ask for the narrow item that serves the actual need. That improves routing and limits copy cost.
- Circuit criminal or civil dockets, pleadings, judgments, exhibits, execution records, and appeals.
- General Sessions misdemeanor, traffic, limited civil, summons, warrant, judgment, and payment records.
- Chancery orders and files for equity, domestic relations, real estate, tax, and contract matters.
- Probate petitions, wills, estate orders, inventories, accounts, claims, and closing records where public.
- Juvenile material only to the extent Tennessee law and the court permit release.
A docket printout summarizes recorded activity. A signed order shows a court ruling. A plain copy reproduces a document, while a certified copy carries the clerk's attestation. A CourtFeePay receipt, calendar event, portal result, and certified order are four different artifacts.
Narrow Perry County Record Requests
No Perry-specific copy-request form was found. A useful written request gives the requester’s contact information, the court and case type, case number if known, only the party names needed to find the file, the original filing year or date range, and the exact document or event. It should state plain or certified, inspection or copy, paper or electronic delivery, and willingness to pay lawful fees.
Do not send an unneeded Social Security number, birth date, medical detail, license data, or payment-card number. Ask for a fee estimate before authorizing extensive copying. If only part of the record is protected, request the nonconfidential portion with lawful redactions. If access is denied, ask the custodian to identify the rule, statute, or order that supports withholding.
Request wording: “Please provide the identified order in this Perry County case as a certified copy and quote the current total charge before processing.”
Court Records: What They Contain
The contents depend on the case. A public docket may identify events without displaying document images. A full Perry County court record can hold papers that never appear in a simple result row.
| Case Number | The court identifier used to distinguish similar names and locate the file. |
|---|---|
| Pleadings | Complaints, petitions, answers, motions, responses, and related filed papers. |
| Orders & Judgments | Signed rulings, decrees, dispositions, sentences, or other court action. |
| Docket Sheet | A chronological register of filings, settings, process, and recorded events. |
| Exhibits | Attachments or evidence accepted into the file, subject to access restrictions. |
| Service & Process | Summons, returns, subpoenas, warrants, or execution entries where applicable. |
For probate, useful fields may include the petition, will or intestacy status, letters, inventory, account, bond, claims, settlement, and closing order. Domestic records may include decrees, parenting plans, support orders, contempt, and modifications. Their presence does not mean each item is open online.
Perry County File Versus Docket
The county calendar answers when an adult session may occur. The public portal helps identify a case. Neither necessarily supplies the filed document a reader needs. The full court file sits behind those index layers and may require clerk inspection or copying. A payment receipt proves a transaction, not the content of an order.
If Turnstile blocks the public search or no row appears, switch channels. Call the correct clerk, visit the counter, or submit a narrow mail request. For an older file, include former district context when known. Perry moved from the former 21st Judicial District arrangement to the 32nd Judicial District in 2022, so an old heading or rule may use a different district number.
The Perry County docket search instructions explain the portal's name, year, court-type, and number fields. Use the resulting identifier in a record request rather than asking the clerk to copy every file for a broad name.
Perry County Copy Fees and Certification
The only explicit local copy schedule found was on the Perry Chancery fee page, effective January 26, 2022. It should not be applied to Circuit or General Sessions. Ask each clerk to confirm current charges, delivery cost, payment method, and whether certification is assessed per document.
| Chancery item | Published amount |
|---|---|
| Plain copy | $0.50 per page |
| Fax or email copy | $1.00 |
| Certified copy | $5 plus $0.50 per page |
| Circuit or General Sessions copy | Confirm with the Circuit Clerk |
The county also publishes filing and process fees. Those are not copy prices. The Perry fee page shown below is useful for distinguishing the categories.
The dated fee source supports the Chancery amounts while also showing why a live confirmation remains wise.
Perry County Circuit Court Clerk
121 E. Main Street, second floor
Linden, TN 37096
931-589-2218
Perry County Clerk and Master
121 E. Main Street
Linden, TN 37096
931-589-2217
Perry County Records in District 32
Perry County Circuit and Chancery courts sit in Tennessee's 32nd Judicial District with Hickman and Lewis Counties. That shared judicial district does not merge each county's clerk files. A Perry filing still belongs with the Perry custodian, and a state appellate case uses a separate public case-history system.
The official Tennessee judicial district map provides the geographic context.
The map helps distinguish district administration from the office that actually maintains a Perry County court record.
Federal district and bankruptcy matters do not appear in the county portal. They use Western District of Tennessee and PACER systems. State appeals use Tennessee's appellate case history, with their own case numbers and coverage limits.
Access Rules for Perry County Court Records
Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 34 starts with public access to court records but preserves exceptions created by the Public Records Act, other laws, rules, and court orders. Perry County adds clear practical limits: juvenile dockets are not published, dependency and neglect proceedings are closed, and the Clerk and Master releases copies only when a file is not confidential or sealed.
Key access rules:
Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 34 establishes the court-record access framework and recognizes lawful exceptions.
T.C.A. § 10-7-503 provides the main state public-record inspection rule.
T.C.A. § 37-1-153 governs special access limits for juvenile court records.
A sealed or confidential file is not made public merely because someone submits a Public Records Act request. Ask whether a public docket entry, nonconfidential order, or redacted copy can be released. Never treat a missing result as proof that the underlying case does not exist.
Perry County Records After Delivery
Inspect the copy before relying on it. Match the case number, caption, court, title, filing stamp, signature, page count, and certification. A docket entry saying an order was filed is not the same as the signed order. Likewise, an uncertified portal printout is not a certified court record.
Keep the request, estimate, receipt, and response together. If a case has moved to appeal, note that the appellate record may carry a different number and separate history. If the clerk says the file is juvenile, sealed, or expunged, follow the stated access procedure rather than searching for a workaround. The aim is a precise, lawful Perry County court record from the office that maintains the original.