Stafford County Clerk of the District Court
The Stafford County Clerk of the District Court is Judy Lyon. This is the court clerk office for Stafford County District Court, one of five counties in the 20th Judicial District along with Barton, Ellsworth, Rice, and Russell counties. The office keeps and processes case records for the local District Court. Kansas law and court rules make clerks responsible for duties required by law or court rule and for preserving papers, process, pleadings, and awards filed or placed in the office.
The office is the right contact for Stafford County court case files, docket questions, probate case searches, divorce case records, criminal case records, civil case records, small claims, traffic cases filed in District Court, and certified court copies. It is not the same as the Stafford County Clerk, who handles county commission minutes, elections, taxation support, public-record routing for county offices, and other county administrative records.
Stafford County Clerk of the District Court
Clerk: Judy Lyon
209 North Broadway, 3rd Floor
St. John, KS 67576
(620) 549-3295
Jury duty line: (620) 549-3297
Fax: (620) 549-3298
Email: SF.DCPublic@kscourts.gov
8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, closed holidays
Stafford County Clerk Court Duties
The clerk's work is records-focused and court-process-focused. A person searching for a District Court case may start online, but the clerk remains the local office for public terminal access, older files, document copies, certifications, record status questions, and records that need staff review. The clerk also routes jury duty calls through the jury duty line and works with the District Court judges and court services structure.
- Maintains Stafford County District Court case files and docket records.
- Receives and preserves pleadings, process, papers, orders, journal entries, and awards filed with the court.
- Assists with public court-record searches, copy requests, and certified copies when records are public.
- Handles probate, divorce, civil, criminal, traffic, juvenile, protection order, and small-claims files filed in District Court.
- Directs requesters to the correct court or office when a record belongs in municipal, county, appellate, federal, or register records.
The manifest source for local geography is the Stafford County municipalities page.
That county source helps place St. John as the county seat and separates city records from the District Court records kept by the court clerk.
Request Certified Stafford County Court Copies
Certified copies are used when a court record must prove an official filing, order, decree, judgment, or disposition. The online case summary is not a certified copy. A request should identify the case number if known, party names, case type, approximate year, document name, and whether a plain or certified copy is needed. Older, restricted, sealed, or confidential files may need staff review before release.
- Search Kansas Case Search or your own papers for the case number, filing year, party names, and case type.
- Contact the Stafford County Clerk of the District Court and identify the exact record needed, such as decree, journal entry, disposition, order, or probate filing.
- Ask whether the record is public, whether certification is available, and whether a fee estimate or advance payment is required.
- Submit the request by the method the clerk gives, using the official court office contact information.
- Pick up, receive, or inspect the copy after clerk processing, redaction review, and payment if required.
Note: Certified court copies should come from the court clerk that keeps the original case file.
Stafford County Court Request Fields
Stafford County's KORA policy gives useful request-field structure even though court records should be directed to the District Court Clerk rather than a county administrative custodian. The county policy says requests should be written clearly and include the requester's name, mailing address, phone number, and a detailed description of the record. For court records, add court-specific identifiers so staff can locate the file without guessing.
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Requester name | Yes | Use the full name of the person making the request. |
| Mailing address | Yes | Needed for response, billing, or mailed copies. |
| Phone or email | Yes / useful | Phone is required by county policy; email helps with follow-up. |
| Case number | No, but important | Include when known to avoid name-match errors. |
| Party names and year | Yes if no case number | List names, approximate filing year, and case type. |
| Document requested | Yes | Specify decree, order, disposition, docket sheet, probate filing, or certified copy. |
| Requested format | Optional | Paper, email, fax, inspection, plain copy, or certified copy if available. |
Stafford County Clerk Fees
Stafford County research did not locate a county-published District Court copy fee schedule for the court clerk page. The safe rule is to request a current fee quote from the Clerk of the District Court before ordering copies or certification. Stafford County's KORA policy provides county-level fee principles for non-court county records: actual cost, staff time in 15-minute increments, advance payment when estimated, refund of overage, and added payment if the estimate is too low. Returned checks incur a $30 fee under the county policy.
| Item | Amount / Rule |
|---|---|
| District Court plain copy | Confirm current court copy fee with Clerk of the District Court. |
| District Court certified copy | Confirm current certification and per-page fee with Clerk of the District Court. |
| County KORA staff time | Actual cost, charged in 15-minute increments when applicable. |
| KORA advance payment | May be required before gathering, reviewing, or producing records. |
| Returned check | $30 under Stafford County KORA policy. |
Court Clerk vs County Clerk
Stafford County has a practical split between court records and county government records. The Clerk of the District Court keeps District Court files. The County Clerk, Lisa Weber, keeps county commission minutes, serves as county election officer, works with budgeting, taxation, payroll and human resources, legal publications, Homestead and Food Sales Tax refund assistance, and county public-record routing. The Register of Deeds keeps land and recording records, including deeds, mortgages, releases, oil-and-gas instruments, plats, tax liens, and military discharges.
That split prevents missed requests. A divorce decree, probate file, or criminal disposition belongs with the District Court Clerk. County commission minutes, election abstracts, and broad county KORA routing belong with the County Clerk. Recorded deeds, mortgage releases, and real-estate indexes belong with the Register of Deeds. The secondary clerk page for the Stafford County Clerk / Register of Deeds should be used for those county administrative and land-record paths.
| Office | Records Kept |
|---|---|
| Clerk of the District Court | Court case files, dockets, probate files, divorce cases, criminal cases, civil cases, District Court traffic cases. |
| County Clerk | County commission minutes, elections, taxation support, payroll, legal publications, county FOI routing. |
| Register of Deeds | Deeds, mortgages, releases, oil-and-gas leases, plats, tax liens, UCC filings, military discharges. |
The local geography source for this split includes the City of St. John about page.
St. John is the county-seat access point for the courthouse, but county, city, and court offices still hold different record sets.
Common Stafford County Clerk Forms
Stafford County-specific court forms were not deeply published on the county clerk page, so the best official form route is the Kansas Judicial Branch or Kansas Judicial Council when a statewide form exists. The Kansas Judicial Council legal forms page includes categories such as divorce, probate, protection orders, guardianship, and conservatorship, and the research notes that forms are provided free of charge for noncommercial use. For a local filing question, call the Stafford County Clerk of the District Court before relying on an outdated form.
- Kansas Judicial Council legal forms for statewide court forms.
- Kansas Judicial Council divorce forms for divorce filings and related documents.
- Kansas Judicial Branch court-record requests for court records request process guidance.
- Kansas District Court filing fees for statewide fee guidance that should still be confirmed locally.
Mail and Online Clerk Access
Kansas eCourt provides statewide case-management, eFiling, records search, and online payment systems, but Stafford County public users still need to route local case-file questions to the Clerk of the District Court. Online search is best for locating a case or hearing date. Certified copies, records not found online, older files, sealed or redacted materials, and document images should be checked through the clerk.
The City of St. John history source is included in the assigned manifest for courthouse-local context: St. John city history.
The city history helps locate the courthouse in the county-seat setting, while the clerk's contact page remains the controlling route for court-record service.