Inside the Adams County County Court

Adams County County Court Overview

Not every Mississippi county has a County Court. Adams County is one of only 19 counties in the state that does. The court sits in the main courthouse in downtown Natchez. One judge, Walt Brown, presides over the whole docket. The court exists to ease the workload of the Circuit Court and the Chancery Court, so cases move faster across the system.

A County Court is a trial court of limited but real power. It can hear civil suits, certain criminal matters, and a few case types reserved to it by law. Because it shares much of its work with the courts above and below it, the line between them can blur. The simplest way to think about it: the County Court handles the middle ground. It takes smaller felony matters off the Circuit Court and larger disputes off the Justice Court.

Court records here are not stored by the judge. They are filed, kept, and released through the Circuit Clerk, the same office that serves the Circuit Court. That single point of contact keeps things tidy for anyone tracking a case number or a hearing date.

The court also sits at the center of a tight cluster of downtown offices. The main courthouse stands at 115 South Wall Street. The Justice Court is right across the street. The sheriff's jail and the Juvenile Justice Center are a short walk away on State Street. A person may have a County Court hearing, a Justice Court ticket, and a records request in one trip, yet each file belongs to a different office.

What the Adams County County Court Handles

The court's reach is set by statute. Some matters belong to it alone. Others it shares with the courts around it. A few of the exclusive matters are narrow and rarely seen, while the shared civil docket is where most of the volume lands. The table below sorts the main lanes of County Court work and the role the court plays in each.

Three of those terms trip up most readers, so a short plain-English key helps. Each one names a kind of dispute the County Court can decide on its own.

Eminent domain

The power of a public body to take private land for public use, with payment to the owner.

Unlawful entry and detainer

A claim that someone is wrongly holding or keeping another person's property.

Partition of personal property

A court action that splits shared belongings among the people who own them.

How a Case Moves Through Adams County Courts

Cases do not stay in one room. A matter may begin in a lower court, shift to the County Court, and climb higher on appeal. The path depends on the charge or the claim and on the dollars at stake. County Court rulings can be appealed to the Circuit Court, which also reviews work from the Justice and Municipal Courts. From there, a party may reach the state appellate level.

Typical path: Justice Court › County Court › Circuit Court › Mississippi Court of Appeals

The County Court also catches work moving the other way. The Circuit Court can transfer a non-capital felony down to the County Court to keep its own calendar clear. So the same court that hears an appeal from below can hand a case down for trial. That two-way flow is the whole point of having a County Court.

County Court vs Circuit Court vs Justice Court

These three courts overlap, yet each has its own core job. The Circuit Court is the heavy felony and large-civil court. The Justice Court is the local entry point for tickets, small claims, and early felony steps. The County Court sits between them and shares pieces of both. The grid below lines up the key differences.

Family equity work, such as divorce and estates, is not on this grid. That work belongs to the Chancery Court, a separate court of equity. A reader chasing a divorce file should look there, not at the County Court.

Youth Court and the County Court Judge

In Adams County, the County Court judge wears a second hat. Judge Walt Brown also serves as the Youth Court judge. The Youth Court hears cases involving delinquent children, children who need supervision, and children who have been neglected or abused. It meets at the Juvenile Justice Center, a short distance from the main courthouse.

The contact details for the Youth Court differ from the main County Court line, so the card below keeps them separate.

Online Access to County Court Files

County Court cases are not free to read online. Two systems carry them, and both charge a fee. The older one is the Circuit Clerk's Delta Computer Systems search, which posts Circuit and County Court case data for Adams County. Case information there reaches back to 1997. Scanned documents run from December 2002 to the present. Full access needs an account and a paid subscription, so the public can view the search fields without seeing the files behind them.

The newer route is the statewide electronic court system. Adams County Circuit and County Court joined it on May 20, 2024. Public viewing runs through PAMEC, with a $10 yearly registration and 20 cents per page. Older paper files and exhibits may not be scanned, so the clerk's counter still matters. For a same-day filing or a changed hearing, a phone call beats the screen.

Finding Adams County County Court Records

County Court case files do not have a separate database. They live with the Circuit Court records, because the Circuit Clerk is clerk for both courts. Eva Givens holds that office. Her staff files the lawsuits, indictments, and motions, issues the process, and keeps the judgments for County Court cases. The county's own department page lays out the court's role and contacts in plain terms.

The Adams County County Court department page names the judge and explains the jurisdiction in the county's own words. The screenshot below shows that page.

As clerk for the County Court, the Circuit Clerk does more than store files. The office receives and files the lawsuits, indictments, and motions in Adams County County Court cases. It issues summonses and subpoenas, draws jurors and qualifies juries, and keeps a record of judgments and executions. That is why a single Adams County office answers questions for two courts at once.

The records themselves come through a few channels. Pick the one that fits the case and the record type.

• Call the Circuit Clerk at 601-446-6326 for County Court case files, dockets, and judgments.
• Use the county online case search and the statewide electronic court system for newer filings.
• Visit the Circuit Clerk counter at the courthouse for files that are not posted online.
• Reach the County Court office at 601-445-7948 for hearing dates and scheduling questions.

The full search steps and the online portals live with the broader Adams County court records coverage, and the Circuit Clerk page details how that office files and releases each document. For the County Court office itself, the card below carries the main number and the administrator.