Getting Knox County Court Records
The Knox County & District Clerk keeps the files of the 50th District Court. The same office holds the constitutional County Court's files. Justice Court records sit with the countywide JP clerk instead. Municipal matters stay in Knox City and Munday with their own municipal courts. Check the court named on the citation, pleading, or judgment, and send your request there.
- Identify the court, cause number, party names, and approximate filing year.
- Name the exact item, such as a docket sheet, order, judgment, or filed motion.
- Choose re:SearchTX, an in-person counter visit, mail, or a confirmed office channel.
- Ask for the current search, copy, certification, and delivery charges.
- Review the copy for the correct case and certification before relying on it.
The official combined clerk page posts the courthouse office, mailing route, phone, fax, and forms. The county publishes no Knox-specific court-record request form. The County Judge's general contact form will not work for record requests.
Knox County Courthouse Record Routes
The county courthouse sits at 100 W Cedar Street in Benjamin. It splits court records between two offices. On the first floor, the County & District Clerk accepts mail at P.O. Box 196, Benjamin, TX 79505-0196. On the second floor, the countywide Justice of the Peace and its clerk use P.O. Box 76, Benjamin, TX 79505. Aim your JP request at the right office. A misdirected mailing to the combined clerk can slow the search.
Knox County & District Clerk
100 W Cedar St., First Floor
Benjamin, TX 79505
(940) 459-2441
Countywide Justice Court
100 W Cedar St., Second Floor
Benjamin, TX 79505
(940) 459-2191
Who holds the clerk's office is in flux on paper. The county webpage names Jeannie Clark. OCA's 2025 directory and recent county documents name Lisa Cypert instead. The office contact itself stays the same. Go ahead and verify the current clerk's name rather than hold up a time-sensitive request.
Court Record Types
Know what product you actually need before you ask. A docket sheet is a chronological index. It may leave out the text of any motion or ruling. A final judgment states the outcome but rarely replays the earlier events. The reporter's transcript is its own thing, separate from the clerk's file.
- Docket sheet or record of actions
- Petition, complaint, answer, motion, or other filed pleading
- Signed order, judgment, sentence, or disposition
- Plain or noncertified copy of a named document
- Certified, exemplified, or authenticated copy when offered
- Complete clerk's record or a stated date range
- Reporter record, transcript, exhibit, or attachment, subject to access rules
Be exact. A request for "the whole file" can cost a lot and slow staff down. Asking for "the final judgment filed in cause number X" points them to one item. Skip certification when a plain copy serves routine research.
Complete Knox County Record Request
A complete written request covers the basics. Include your name, return contact, the court, cause number, case style, the document, and the copy type. Add an approximate filing date when the cause number is unknown. State how you want delivery. Ask for a cost quote before staff copy a long file.
| Court | 50th District, County Court, Justice Court, or named municipal court. |
|---|---|
| Case identity | Cause number, full case style, parties, and approximate year. |
| Document | Docket sheet, named filing, signed order, judgment, or date range. |
| Copy type | Plain, certified, exemplified, electronic, or paper, if available. |
| Delivery | Pickup, mail, or another method the clerk confirms. |
| Cost approval | A request for the exact fee and payment instructions before fulfillment. |
Official directories print email and fax addresses for the office, though the clerk may not accept every request through those channels. Call first before sending payment details, private data, or a large order.
Inside a Knox County Court Record
A clerk's case record can blend identifying fields, dated entries, and the instruments filed over time. The OCA district-clerk manual describes a criminal record of actions that captures the case style, cause number, indictment or information, proceedings, orders, judgments, processes issued and returned, costs, fines, and receipts. Civil records can hold the petition, service returns, answers, motions, orders, and final judgment. A docket sheet and a document file answer different questions. A dated entry proves a motion, return, or order hit the record. It may not spell out the instrument's full terms. When exact wording matters, request the named filing or the signed order itself. For a long case, narrow your ask to a date range or document title so the clerk can give a useful page count and cost quote.
| Cause number | The file identifier used to tie all entries to the case. |
|---|---|
| Case style | The formal caption naming parties, such as the State and a defendant in a criminal action. |
| Docket entries | A dated sequence of filings, settings, orders, and disposition events. |
| Filed instruments | Pleadings, motions, returns, notices, exhibits, and attachments where public. |
| Orders and judgment | Signed court actions, including the final disposition when entered. |
| Cost record | Assessed costs, fines, payments, or receipts where part of the case record. |
An online index often shows only part of this. If the wording of a filing matters, request the actual instrument.
Knox County Online Document Access
re:SearchTX is the statewide option for Knox County court records. You register an account first. It covers docket entries, filings, hearing dates, and document text. Two layers sit inside it, though. The search layer is free to browse. Pulling the image of a filing costs money, since the official terms bill per document. A hit on the docket is not the same as the paper in hand.
Knox County also runs a local LGS system, named in OCA records. Its full public feed through re:SearchTX is harder to pin down. Try the search first. Something you expect may be missing from the Knox County docket. Call the clerk and ask. And remember what a portal printout is worth: it helps you find a case number. It is not a certified copy of anything.
For hours, fees, and the exact place a filing lives, the official Knox County & District Clerk page lists the clerk's published contact details and office information.
A portal result points you somewhere. The clerk capture ties it to the office that can confirm the Knox County file and provide plain or certified copies.
Fees and Certified Copies
A plain copy just reproduces the item. A certified copy adds the clerk's certificate and seal. That makes it an official reproduction for a stated purpose. An exemplified or authenticated copy may add further formal steps on top. Before paying for the highest level, ask the receiving agency what it truly requires.
| Item | Published baseline | Before ordering |
|---|---|---|
| District certified copy | $5 certification plus $1 per page | Confirm current application and format |
| County certified copy | Common statutory authority of $5 plus $1 per page | Confirm with the combined clerk |
| No-cause-number search | $5 in the district-clerk schedule | Ask whether it applies to the requested search |
| Electronic or plain copy | Rate depends on the record and authority | Request an exact quote |
Knox's webpage posts filing fees and vital-record prices, with civil, probate, birth, death, and marriage broken out separately. Those numbers are not a universal court-copy schedule. Don't read a filing charge or vital-record fee as the price of one docket sheet.
Knox County Reporter Record Requests
Two kinds of records exist here. A reporter's record preserves what was said in the courtroom. The clerk's record covers filings and docket entries in the Knox County case file. The 50th District local rules speak to reporter availability. OCA's May 2025 personnel list marked the reporter position vacant. That listing is dated, though. It does not prove the post is still unfilled today.
For a specific hearing, ask the court coordinator who made or keeps the record. Settle the request form, deposit, format, and delivery time directly with that office. No Knox transcript request form or reporter contact is posted now. Also note that a certified clerk copy will not replace a transcript. The spoken proceeding itself is what a transcript serves.
Sealed Records and Public Access
No single Texas statute opens every court record. Rule 12 governs public access to judicial records, and Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 76a builds the framework for sealing civil files. Juvenile records sit under Family Code Chapter 58. Expunged material, along with anything shielded by another law or court order, can stay off limits too.
Key access rules:
Texas Rule of Judicial Administration 12 provides a written-request framework for judicial records.
Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 76a governs access and sealing procedures for covered civil court records.
Texas Family Code Chapter 58 protects juvenile justice information.
Texas Government Code Chapter 552 applies to many non-judicial government records but excludes the judiciary from its general definition.
Ask first: check whether a redacted public copy or a public docket entry exists for the case. Staff cannot hand out sealed content just because a requester cites the Public Information Act.
Federal Records Follow Another Route
Federal cases tied to Knox County go to the Northern District of Texas, Wichita Falls Division. PACER is the official route to those federal dockets. The federal clerk offers public terminals and scanned case records back to 1990. Microfiche covers older files. Archive requests run through the Federal Records Center.
Search with the federal case number and division, never a Knox cause number. CourtListener and RECAP can supply a free copy. But both are unofficial and may leave out entries. Certified federal records come only from the federal court. The Knox County & District Clerk cannot issue them.
Note: Ask the correct clerk for the exact fee, turnaround, delivery method, and record scope before sending payment.