Thurston County Clerk of the Superior Court

The Role of the Thurston County Clerk

The Thurston County Clerk is the Clerk of the Superior Court. That means this office takes in every Superior Court filing and guards the case files once they are made. The Clerk handles criminal, civil, and family law cases, plus juvenile, probate, guardianship, adoption, dependency, and protection-order matters. It also keeps the appellate clerk's papers when a case heads up on appeal. When you need a copy or a certified copy of any of these records, the County Clerk is the source.

Money runs through this office too. The Clerk collects court-ordered fees and fines, takes probate filings, and processes protection-order packets. On the tech side, the office runs eFiling, provides Odyssey Portal access for case and hearing lookups, and sells documents through its Clerk Documents portal. For files that are confidential, a party can set up a viewing appointment rather than buy a copy online.

It helps to know the limits. The Clerk does not issue marriage licenses; that job belongs to the Thurston County Auditor. The Clerk is also not the county recorder. Deeds, property documents, and recorded marriage records sit with the Auditor, not with the court Clerk.

District Court is a separate matter as well. It keeps its own record systems and does not route through the Superior Court Clerk. Open District Court files are served through a WebLink system instead. So a single request to the Clerk will not pull a District Court case.

Note: The Clerk of the Superior Court holds court case files, while the Auditor records property and marriage documents, so the right office depends on the record you want.

Current Service Changes at the Clerk's Office

The Thurston County Clerk's office is running on a changed model right now, and it affects how you get records. Budget cuts have closed the in-person customer-service counters during normal business hours. The office has pushed most of its work online instead. This is the single most important thing to plan around before you drive to Olympia for a court record.

So what can you still do in the building? You can view documents at a public terminal. The lobbies keep these terminals open every day from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. That covers the public record viewing that used to happen at the counter. For everything else, the office wants you to use its web tools, email, or mail.

The Clerk's FAQ lays out payments, copies, and filing rules in one place, as shown below. Visit the Thurston County Clerk FAQ page for the current answers on copies, fees, and filing.

That FAQ page is worth reading first, because it spells out the closed-counter rules and points you to the right online path for your task.

Online Systems Run by the County Clerk

With the counters closed, the Clerk's online tools carry the load. There are three main systems, and each does a different job. Picking the right one saves a wasted step. Two are for finding and buying records, and one is for filing new documents.

• Odyssey Portal - free case and hearing search for Superior Court by case number, party name, or business name. Documents are not viewable to anonymous web users; view them at kiosks in the Clerk's office.
• Clerk Documents - register a free account, search by cause number, and buy available public documents online with electronic delivery.
• Clerk eFile - the Clerk's electronic filing system, linked by both the Clerk and the Superior Court.

The split matters for anyone doing a Thurston County Clerk of Court search. Odyssey shows you that a case exists and lists its hearings, parties, charges, and attorneys at no cost. It will not, however, hand a document to a member of the public over the web. To read or buy the actual pages, you go to Clerk Documents, or you visit an Odyssey kiosk in the office.

That address is the Building 2 court campus in Olympia. The public terminals there let you view files even though the counter is shut.

Thurston County Clerk Copy Fees

The Clerk charges set fees for copies of court records, and the price depends on the format. Hard copies cost more than electronic ones. Certified copies cost the most, because the Clerk attaches proof that the document is a true copy of the file. Probate work carries its own filing charge. The table sets out the current fees.

A certified copy is the version a court or agency will accept as official. A plain copy bought online is fine for reading or for your own files, but it is not certified. If you need the document for a legal proceeding, ask for the certified version and pay the higher rate.

How to Request a Certified Copy from the Clerk

Getting a certified copy from the Thurston County Clerk follows a clear path. Some documents you can buy in minutes online. Others need an email or a mailed request, and the steps differ. Start with the online option, since it is the fastest when the document is posted.

1. Search Clerk Documents by cause number and buy the document online; certified copies bought this way include a certification page.
2. For documents not online, email tcclerk@co.thurston.wa.us with the case number, the case name, and the documents you want.
3. The Clerk replies with the page count, the cost, and a payment link.
4. After payment, electronic copies are emailed to you, while certified hard copies are mailed by U.S. mail.
5. For a mail request, send the case number, the documents, and a cashier's check or money order, plus a self-addressed stamped envelope.

One rule trips people up. The Clerk does not take personal checks for copies. Pay by cashier's check or money order when you mail a request. Personal checks are accepted only for Legal Financial Obligation payments, not for copy orders.

Note: A certified copy bought through Clerk Documents comes with a certification page that holds verification steps, so you can confirm the file is genuine.

Filing Rules and Local Court Rule LCR 10(e)

Papers filed with the Clerk have to meet format rules, or they may be rejected. The rules are simple but strict. They cover paper size, margins, and color. Reading them once before you file saves a return trip and a delay.

• Use 8.5 x 11 inch paper, with text on the front side only.
• The first page needs a top margin of at least 3 inches; right, left, and bottom margins must be at least 1 inch.
• Later pages need margins of at least 1 inch.
• No colored pages, highlighting, or other colored markings are allowed.
• Papers must be legibly written or printed.

There is one more local rule worth a close look. Local Court Rule LCR 10(e) calls for a document-identification box in the upper-left corner of the first page. This box is required for civil, probate, guardianship, and family law filings, and it must be filled in before you file. Skipping it can hold up the filing.

Bench copies follow a different track. A bench copy is an extra copy meant for the judge or commissioner. These do not go to the Clerk. They go to Court Administration instead. When you e-file, the Clerk passes a bench copy to Court Administration for a fee.

Probate Filings Through the Thurston County Clerk

Probate cases are filed with the Clerk in Superior Court, but the office does not hand out forms or packets for them. The Clerk takes the documents you bring and charges the filing fee. Putting the starter papers together is on you or your attorney. Several documents usually open a probate matter.

• A cover sheet for the filing.
• A petition asking the court to open the estate.
• The will, if there is one.
• A certified death certificate.
• A notarized oath and a proposed order.

The probate filing fee is $290.00, and an issued probate letter costs $5.00. For more on how estates move through the court, see the Thurston County probate records page. The Clerk's estate information page covers fees and the basic steps, as shown below.

Read the Clerk probate estate information page for the fee detail and the document list before you file.

That page is the best official starting point, since the Clerk will not draft the petition or the oath for you.

Protection Orders Through the Clerk

The Thurston County Clerk takes protection-order packets and files them with the court. Several kinds of orders run through this process. The right venue depends on the type of order and on the parties involved. Knowing where to file keeps the case from bouncing.

• Domestic violence protection orders, for intimate partners or family and household members.
• Antiharassment orders, which carry a $53 filing fee.
• Vulnerable adult and sexual assault protection orders.
• Extreme risk protection orders, tied to firearm danger.

Venue is the catch. Family and juvenile protection orders are filed at the Family and Juvenile Court in Tumwater, not at the main campus. Several order types, such as minor antiharassment, vulnerable adult, sexual assault, and extreme risk orders, are filed there. Antiharassment orders carry the $53 fee, while many of the others have no filing fee at all.

For protection-order questions, the Clerk uses a separate email address, ClerksPO@co.thurston.wa.us. The Clerk's civil protection orders page walks through the order types and where each one is filed, as shown below.

See the Clerk civil protection orders page for the full list of order types and venues.

That page is the place to confirm which court takes your order before you file the packet.

Public Records Requests and Complaints

Beyond court files, the Clerk's office takes two other kinds of submissions from the public. One is a public records request. The other is a service complaint. They use different forms and go to different places, so it pays to use the right one.

The public records request goes through an online form hosted on Formsite. Use the Clerk public records request form to ask for records the office holds. The form is shown below.

That form starts the request and lets the office track it. For the legal split between agency records and court case files, the Thurston County public records page lays out how the two systems differ.

The service complaint is a separate channel. If you have a problem with the service you got, the office routes complaints to the Board of County Commissioners. The complaint form runs on Microsoft Forms, as shown below.

File a concern through the Clerk service complaint form, which sends the issue to the Board of County Commissioners.

That routing is part of how the office keeps service accountable while the counters stay closed.

Note: A public records request and a service complaint are different forms with different destinations, so match the form to what you actually need.

Related Thurston County Record Searches

You may also want Thurston County court records, court dockets, details on the Thurston County Superior Court, or the Thurston County Auditor for marriage licenses and recorded documents.