Phillips County Clerk Contact
The correct court-record custodian is the Clerk of the District Court. Phillips County District Court identifies Lauren Schmidt as Clerk of District Court. The office is in Suite E of the Phillips County Courthouse and is the local access point for case filing, public court-record copies, certified court documents, marriage license questions routed through the court process, probate filings, divorce decrees, and record requests that are not satisfied online.
Phillips County Clerk of the District Court
Clerk: Lauren Schmidt
301 State Street, Suite E
Phillipsburg, KS 67661
785-543-6830
Fax: 785-543-6832
Email: pldc@kscourts.gov
Monday-Friday 8:00 AM-5:00 PM, closed legal holidays
Requests should name the case and document as clearly as possible. If the needed record is a public district court case, Kansas CaseSearch or courthouse terminal access may answer the first search question before staff time and copy fees are needed.
Phillips County Clerk Duties
The Clerk of the District Court should not be confused with the Phillips County Clerk or the Register of Deeds. The court clerk works with district court cases. The County Clerk handles election administration, human resources, payroll, and secretary duties for the Board of County Commissioners. The Register of Deeds preserves land and related records such as deeds, mortgages, releases, oil and gas leases, UCC filings, plats, surveys, and real-estate-related death certificates.
- Maintains Phillips County District Court case files and docket records.
- Receives filings for civil, criminal, domestic, probate, guardianship, small claims, juvenile, and traffic matters in district court.
- Provides public copies and certified copies when the record is open and available.
- Routes public record requests under Kansas court-record access rules and KORA.
- Supports courthouse access when a document is not viewable through CaseSearch.
That distinction is narrow but important. A probate case may need the district court clerk for letters testamentary and also the Register of Deeds for an estate deed. A divorce may need the district court clerk for the decree and KDHE for a certificate. A land dispute may involve court pleadings in district court and recorded instruments in the Register of Deeds office.
Phillips County Certified Copies
Certified copies are court copies that carry certification for official use. They may be needed for a divorce decree, judgment, name restoration, probate order, letters testamentary, guardianship order, or other court document that must be accepted by another agency or court. For Phillips County district court cases, request certified copies from the Clerk of the District Court, not from a third-party site.
- Identify the case number if known. If not, gather full party names, case type, and approximate filing date.
- Use Kansas CaseSearch first when a public online case search can confirm the case caption or number.
- Submit a request to the Clerk of the District Court with the document name and copy type needed.
- Ask for a fee estimate when the request may require many pages, mailing, faxing, or staff preparation time.
- Pay the supported copy and certification fees, then pick up or receive the certified document through the method approved by the clerk.
Note: A certified court copy proves the court document, while a vital-record certificate or land-record copy may prove a different official fact.
Phillips County Request Form Fields
The Kansas Judicial Branch court records request form is used for court-record access and copies. The research identified the official request form and summarized its fields, but it did not complete full PDF field extraction. The safest approach is to include enough information for the clerk to locate the case and estimate cost, then follow any instructions on the current form.
| Field Label | Required Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Requester's name and contact information | Required by practical use | Needed so the custodian can respond and provide costs. |
| Record requested | Required | Identify case number, party names, document type, or date range. |
| Delivery method | Unspecified | Use form choices or state pickup, mail, email, or fax if allowed. |
| Cost estimate or acceptance | Unspecified | Fees may apply before copies are prepared. |
| Signature and date | Likely required | Use the current official form requirement. |
The form should be delivered to the appropriate records custodian. For Phillips County district court files, that means the Clerk of the District Court in Suite E.
Phillips County Court Copy Fees
Kansas Judicial Branch court-record fee research supports a specific copy-fee table for court records. These fees differ from the Register of Deeds fee schedule, which applies to land and related recorded documents. Court records should be requested from the court clerk, while deed and UCC copies should be requested from the Register of Deeds.
| Court Record Item | Fee or Rule |
|---|---|
| Public court-record copy | 25 cents per page |
| Certified document | $10 per certified document |
| Mail first five pages | 50 cents |
| Mail each additional five pages | 25 cents |
| Fax copy | 50 cents per page, 15-page fax limit |
| Clerical preparation time | $20 per hour, quarter-hour increments |
| Professional preparation time | $60 per hour, quarter-hour increments |
The Kansas Open Records Act title statute is one of the successful sources assigned to this Clerk of the District Court page. It supports the public-access framework, while Kansas court rules and Judicial Branch fee guidance control many court-record copy details.
The Clerk of the District Court applies open-record access with court confidentiality rules, so an open-record law citation does not make sealed court material public.
County Clerk Register Distinctions
Phillips County has useful record offices outside the court clerk's office. The County Clerk, Grant Rahjes, is in Suite A and is known in the research for elections, advance voting coordination, election volunteer work, human resources, employment benefits, workers compensation benefits, payroll processing, and secretary duties for the Board of County Commissioners. That office is not the custodian of district court divorce decrees, probate orders, or criminal case files.
The Register of Deeds office, led by Bailey Bogart, is in Suite B and preserves real estate and related documents. Its records include deeds, affidavits, mortgages, assignments, releases, oil and gas leases, agreements, easements, powers of attorney, plats, surveys, real-estate-related death certificates, UCC records, liens, rural school records, and older school or teacher records. The office states that Kansas Real Estate Sales Validation Questionnaires and military discharges are closed by state statute.
The Register of Deeds document requirements page is a successful source image assigned to the Phillips County Clerk of the District Court page because it helps mark the boundary between court records and recorded instruments.
When a court case produces an order that affects title, the court order and the recorded deed or affidavit may need to be requested from different offices.
The Register of Deeds forms page lists forms such as quitclaim deed, sales validation questionnaire, mortgage cap affidavit, UCC3, UCC information request, and mobile home title elimination.
Those forms are land-record tools and should not be treated as court pleading forms for district court cases.
Phillips County Clerk Access Rules
Kansas court records are open when no statute, court rule, or court order restricts them. K.S.A. 45-218 covers inspection of records, requests, refusal, and fee handling. K.S.A. 45-219 allows fees for copies and related work. K.S.A. 45-221 lists records agencies are not required to disclose and requires open and closed material to be separated when possible. Kansas Supreme Court Rule 22 and Rule 106B govern electronic district court case-record access.
The Kansas Open Records Act chapter is another assigned source image for Phillips County Clerk of the District Court records. The chapter helps explain why requesters should be precise, but it does not override juvenile, sealed, expunged, medical, mental-health, adoption, or protected-person limits.
For a Phillips County record that is not online, the practical path is still the same: identify the case, ask the proper custodian, and expect redaction or denial when the law restricts access.
The Register of Deeds copy-fee page is also assigned to this clerk page because many users confuse land-record copy fees with court-copy fees.
Use that fee page for recorded documents, not for district court certified copies.