Legal division

The Putnam County clerk of courts legal departments plays a vital role in serving the interest of justice in our communities.

Responsibilities include filing, docketing, indexing and preserving all court pleadings for civil, felony, domestic relations, traffic, misdemeanor and small claim cases.  The Clerk of Courts must follow procedure required by law in issuing writs to carry out court orders which include summons, subpoenas, warrants to arrest and conveyance to penal institutions. The Putnam County Clerk of Courts serves as Clerk for the Putnam County Common Pleas Court and the Putnam County Municipal Court.

Civil cases filed in Common Pleas Court include those asking for judgment of $15,000 or more.  Civil Cases filed in Putnam County Municipal Court are those seeking a judgment of $15,000 or less.  Small Claims cases are those seeking judgment of $6,000 or less.

Additionally, the Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas processes appeals cases from all lower courts within the county and transmits these cases to the Third District Court of Appeals in Lima, Ohio.

The Clerk and office staff are responsible for collecting all revenue relating to court costs, bond, fines and criminal restitution in both court systems.  These monies are then disbursed to the proper accounts of the county and state government.

Along with processing all Court paperwork, the Clerk of Courts is responsible for preserving all records for use by future generations. Civil and Domestic records in the Clerk of Courts office have been microfilmed dating back into the early 1950s and microfilming of felony criminal cases are microfilmed as far back as 1974.  A records scanning process began in 2005 in which cases are scanned into the court computer system.

The Clerk of Courts handles all applications for Notary Public and requests to renew those commissions. All notary commissions are microfilmed or scanned into court records.

Helpful links