Ray County Circuit Clerk Office
The official Ray County Circuit Court page identifies Michelle Woods as Circuit Clerk. The Circuit Clerk is the court-record office for Ray County Circuit Court, not the same office as the Ray County Clerk or Recorder of Deeds. Civil, probate, family, small claims, rent and possession, child support, dissolution, and protection order records are routed through the second-floor civil/probate office. Criminal and traffic cases are routed through the third-floor criminal/traffic office.
The Ray County Circuit Clerk records workflow is therefore practical and floor-based. If the case is a divorce, estate, guardianship, protection order, civil suit, small claim, or rent and possession matter, the civil/probate phone line is the better starting point. If the case is a felony, misdemeanor, traffic citation, bond question, warrant return, or court-date question, the criminal/traffic line is the better starting point. Passport acceptance is also handled on the third floor, but passport service is not a court case search.
Ray County Circuit Clerk
Clerk: Michelle Woods
100 West Main Street, Suite 22
Richmond, MO 64085
816-776-3377
Office hours: 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday
Civil and Probate Office
Second floor, Ray County Courthouse
100 W Main St, Richmond, MO 64085
816-776-2335
Fax: 816-776-2185
Criminal and Traffic Office
Third floor, Ray County Courthouse
100 W Main St, Richmond, MO 64085
816-776-3377
Fax: 816-776-6016
Ray County Clerk Record Duties
The Circuit Clerk maintains the court file after a case is opened in Ray County Circuit Court. That file may include pleadings, docket entries, summons or service returns, notices, motions, orders, judgments, criminal charges, traffic dispositions, probate letters, and financial entries. The clerk also accepts filings and collects court costs listed on the local fee schedule. Clerk staff can explain where a record is kept and how to request copies, but the official court page states that clerk staff cannot give legal advice.
- Civil and family files: civil suits, small claims, rent and possession, child support, dissolution, and protection orders.
- Probate files: estates, wills, small estates, refusals of letters, guardianships, and conservatorships.
- Criminal files: charges, docket entries, bond events, hearings, pleas, dispositions, sentencing, and costs.
- Traffic files: citations, municipal or circuit routing, court dates, payment status, and failure-to-appear entries.
- Public counter help: file location, copy request routing, court forms links, and passport application acceptance.
Request Ray County Certified Copies
Certified copies are issued by the office that keeps the case record. A Ray County divorce decree, probate order, criminal judgment, or traffic disposition should be requested from the Circuit Clerk office that handles that case type. Online Case.net entries are useful for finding a case number or docket event, but a certified copy normally comes from the clerk, not from a screen print.
- Search Missouri Case.net manually if a case number is not known.
- Identify whether the case is civil/probate or criminal/traffic before calling Ray County.
- Call the correct office and ask what copy type is available, what fee applies, and whether pickup, mail, or another delivery route is allowed.
- Provide the case number, party names, document name, and the number of certified or plain copies needed.
- Pay the fee set by the clerk or court schedule and confirm whether the copy is certified before relying on it for legal use.
Ray County Request Details
Ray County did not publish a separate court-copy request form in the research sources. The county did publish a Sunshine request form for administrative county records, and those fields are useful when a person needs noncourt county records through the County Clerk. Court-file requests should still go to the Circuit Clerk or Probate Clerk rather than the county administrative custodian.
| Field | Use | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Case number | Court copy request | Best identifier for Circuit Clerk searches and certified copies. |
| Party names | Court copy request | Use plaintiff/defendant, state/defendant, petitioner/respondent, or decedent name. |
| Document type | Court copy request | Examples include judgment, decree, order, docket sheet, letters, or disposition. |
| Delivery address | Copy or Sunshine request | Needed if copies are mailed or sent after review. |
| Fee limit | Sunshine request | Ray County's form allows a requester to ask for notice if costs exceed a stated amount. |
| Closed-record segregation | Sunshine request | The county form asks for nonclosed portions and written legal grounds for denial. |
Ray County Clerk Fees
The local court fee schedule gives Ray County filing costs for several case types. These are filing and service costs, not a complete certified-copy price list. Copy costs for court documents should be confirmed with the correct Circuit Clerk office. County administrative Sunshine copies are governed by the county's 2026 Sunshine resolution and Missouri public-records law.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Domestic civil case | $102.50 |
| Non-domestic civil case | $100.50 |
| Associate case | $48.50 |
| Small claims | $35.50 |
| Expungement | $100.50 |
| Protection order | No charge |
| Ray County sheriff service | $30.00 |
| Certified mail service | $12.51 |
| Administrative Sunshine paper copy | $0.10 per ordinary page |
The Missouri copying fee statute permits ordinary paper-copy charges, staff time, estimates, and prepayment for public records. Ray County's 2026 Sunshine resolution follows that model for administrative records routed through the County Clerk.
Ray County Clerk Forms
The Circuit Court page sends self-represented users to Missouri Courts and Missouri self-represented litigant resources for child support, dissolution, paternity, custody, mechanic's lien, protection order, and small-claims forms. Those forms are statewide resources. Filing still occurs through the correct Ray County counter when Ray County is the proper venue.
Passport acceptance is a separate Circuit Clerk counter service. Ray County states that no appointment is required and that applications are processed daily from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Applicants should bring a raised-seal birth certificate, current driver license or state ID, passport photo, and two checks or money orders, with one payable to Ray County Circuit Clerk and one payable to the U.S. Department of State. Call the clerk for current amounts before going.
Clerk, Recorder, and Sunshine Records
The Ray County Circuit Clerk is only one part of the local records system. The Ray County Clerk, Heather Maulsby, receives county administrative Sunshine requests at Suite 23. The Recorder of Deeds, Rhonda Kinnison, handles land records, marriage licenses, military discharge recordings, plats, surveys, and other recorded instruments from Suite 25.
The recorder's online system is separate from court records. The manifest image below comes from the Ray County iCounty recorder login, which is used for paid recorded-instrument access, not Circuit Clerk case files.
The image matters because users often confuse a recorder portal with a court case portal. Case.net and the Circuit Clerk are the route for court cases, while iCounty serves recorded land and related instruments.
Missouri law also treats law-enforcement records differently from court records. The manifest image below comes from RSMo 610.100, the statute that governs access and closure rules for incident and arrest records.
That distinction is useful when a person asks the clerk for arrest paperwork. A filed criminal case may be a court record, while an investigative report may remain with law enforcement and may be closed or redacted.