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Use Shelby County’s general request policy for administrative county records. For divorce, civil and tax-sale copies, use the Clerk and Master workflow; carry the court, date and case ID, and do not treat Archives as the source of a certified decree.
A Shelby County “public records” task can be a request or a court-copy job
| Task | Correct route | What makes it different |
|---|---|---|
| General county administrative record | County public-record request policy/form | This route is for records held by the relevant county office. |
| Divorce decree copy | Clerk and Master / Circuit or Chancery file route | The office needs court/date/case information to locate the decree. |
| Civil case or tax-sale copy | Clerk and Master copy workflow | These products use the copy-request process rather than the generic county form. |
| Older divorce file | Archive retrieval may come first | Older files can require archive retrieval before the office can quote a total copy cost. |
The divorce-copy workflow starts with case identity
Court
Circuit or chancery
Shelby County asks which court granted the divorce because that determines the file route.
Date
Approximate grant date
The date helps distinguish similarly named cases and decides whether archive retrieval may be involved.
Case ID
Search the website for later cases
For divorces after 1999, the county says the website can be searched to find the case ID before ordering a copy; older files may require archive retrieval.
Multiple divorces
Do not assume one name pair identifies one case
The office explicitly asks whether the person has more than one divorce, another reason to carry court and date details.
Current published Shelby County court-copy charges
These charges belong to the Clerk and Master copy workflow; they are not a blanket fee for every Shelby County public-record request.
| Copy type | Published charge | Important boundary |
|---|---|---|
| Certified copy | $5.00 + $0.50 per page | Used when a certified court copy is required. |
| Non-certified copy | $0.50 per page | Use when certification is not needed. |
| Older divorce requiring archive retrieval | Total quoted after archive retrieval | The county does not publish a fixed total before the file is retrieved. |
Certification changes the custodian
Archives
Can help retrieve older divorce material
Archive retrieval can be part of the older-file workflow, but it does not make Archives the certifying court office.
Certified decree
Return to the responsible court office
The county states that Archives cannot provide a certified divorce copy.
Search before ordering
Searchable later cases can supply their own identifier
Finding the case ID first reduces ambiguity in the later copy request.