County Clerks

A court would likely conclude that restitution funds ordered in a criminal judgment by a statutory county court and collected by the county clerk pursuant to article 42.037, Code of Criminal Procedure, are not funds "belonging to the county" and thus are not required to be deposited with the county treasurer or in the county treasury pursuant to Local Government Code section 113.021

Longevity pay, a commissioners court order granting, to certain qualified employees and allowing employees to transfer the longevity pay to another county department if they are hired there, does not continue in effect for an individual who later becomes a county officer|Salary grievance, a county officer who does not challenge the officer's proposed salary in accordance with the procedure and deadline specified by subsection 152.016(a) of the Local Government Code in any given year has effectively waived any, for the upcoming fiscal year

Court registry account, county treasurer does not have administrative authority over|Court registry account, county commissioners court's authority over

County Clerk duties on accepting and filing electronic and paper documents|Filing requirements of real property documents with county clerk

County payment of expenses for contracted workers in specific circumstances|Filing requirements of real property documents with county clerk

Marriage license, clerk may issue to two absent applicants|Marriage license, county clerk may issue to two absent applicants

Preservation|Project|Purposes|Management|Specific|Records management and preservation fees, commissioners court and county clerk together must determine what specific records management and preservation purposes may be paid with|Records management and preservation fees, clerk and commissioners court together must determine specific records management and preservation purposes for which may be used, which may include salaries of clerk's office employees

Open meeting notices, county clerk is authorized to charge a reasonable fee to a water district or other district or political subdivision to receive and post|Open meetings notices, county clerk may not charge a fee to governmental bodies to retain|Open meetings notices, county clerk is authorized to charge a reasonable fee a water district or other district or political subdivision to receive and post|Open meetings notices, county clerk is authorized to charge a reasonable fee to a water district or other district or political subdivision to receive and post

Social Security numbers, board of county court at law judges has no authority to order the county clerk to redact social security numbers from electronic copies of case-related documents available on the clerk's website|Social Security numbers, board of county court at law judges have no authority to order clerk to redact social security numbers from the electronic documents available on the clerk's website|Social Security numbers, board of county court at law judges has no authority to order county clerk to redact social security numbers from electronic cases of case-related documents

Electronically generated real estate filings, a clerk has no authority to accept or paper copies thereof and cannot be liable for civil penalty for refusing|Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (the "E-Sign Act") does not require a county clerk to accept electronically generated real estate filings or paper copies thereof|Electronically generated real estate filings, a county clerk has no authority to accept or paper copies thereof and cannot be liable for civil penalty for refusing

Tape of executive session, commissioners court is proper custodian of|Executive session, release to county clerk of tape of, would not make tape public|Executive session, commissioners court has discretion as to whether to admit county clerk to its|Executive sessions, commissioners court has discretion as to whether to admit county clerk to its

Statutes regulating the manner of holding an election are directory and a departure from their provisions will not ordinarily invalidate an election, unless each departure affects or changes the result of the election|Statutory enactments concerning elections must be liberally construed in order to ascertain and effectuate the will of the voters|Submission of election predict returns to the Secretary of State, whether county's timely submission constitutes certification of election results within Texas Racing Act is fact question for the Commission|Certification of local option election results to Secretary of State within ten days, statute requiring is directory|Results of a local option election on pari-mutuel wagering propositions must be certified to the Secretary of State before the Texas Racing Commission may accept or act on a license application|Certification of election results is ministerial task

Collections department under authority of county treasurer for collection of criminal fines and fees, article 103.0031 of the Code of Criminal Procedure does not authorize commissioners court to establish|Criminal fines and fees, county treasurer is not authorized to collect by article 103.0031, Code of Criminal Procedure|Clerk of county or statutory county court, judge of county or statutory county court is not authorized to appoint

Court reporter service fee under section 51.601 of the Government Code, county clerk may not collect if the county court has not appointed an official court reporter

Copying of real property plats, clerk who wishes to regulate should promulgate rules, but validity of any particular rule is a question of fact

Clerk's certificate, county clerk has discretion to place seal component of clerk's certification on each page of a document by means other than raising it on each page of the document

Confidentiality of petit jury lists, clerk's duty to maintain|Confidentiality of grand jury lists, clerk's duty to maintain|Confidentiality of petit jury lists, judge's duty to maintain|Confidentiality of grand jury lists, judge's duty to maintain|Confidentiality of petit jury lists, judge's or clerk's duty to maintain|Confidentiality of grand jury lists, judge's or clerk's duty to maintain

Common-law copyright, a county clerk has no authority to file and record

School trustee not barred from simultaneously holding office of county clerk|County clerk, school trustee not barred from simultaneously holding office of

Original archival records, county clerk may not purchase with funds from records management and preservation fee\r\n

Records management and preservation fee collected under Local Government Code sections 118.011 and 118.0216 and article 102.005(f) of Code of Criminal Procedure|Records management and preservation fee collected under article 102.005(f) of Code of Criminal Procedure, allocation to district clerk's recrods management and preservation fund|Records management and preservation fund, a county clerk may not expend money from the clerk's fund with the commissioners court's approval|Records management and preservation fund, a county clerk may not expend money from the fund without the commissioners court's approval|County clerk's records management and preservation fund, the treasurer may not pay a request by the county clerk to expend money from the fund unless the commissioner court has approved the expenditure|Records management and preservation fee collected under Local Government Code sections 118.011 and 118.0216 and article 102.005(f) of Code of Criminal Procedure, use and distribution of

Indexing of certain real property instruments accepted for recording under Property Code section 12.011(b)(2)|Instrument accepted for recording under Property Code section 12.011(b)(2), indexing of

Employees, clerk’s implied authority to set the working conditions for and dismiss early because of a thunderstorm and resulting power outage in the county courthouse|Commissioners court may amend the budget to reduce the salaries of county clerk’s employees, but may not do so to recoup payment to employees for the time period that the clerk dismissed them because of a thunderstorm and resulting power outage in the county courthouse

Access and copy records maintained by county clerks, under Texas law the public has a right to|Public\\'s right to access and copy records maintained by county clerk, Texas courts have held that this right is subject to a county clerk’s reasonable rules and regulations|Statutes providing for access to and copying of records, county clerk’s rules regarding the public’s access to and copying of records would be valid if the rules did not go beyond the|We cannot determine whether the Atascosa County Clerk must allow the use of a sheet-feed scanner or whether its rules regarding the public’s access to and copying of records is reasonable because there is no controlling legal authority directly addressing the issues that those questions raise

Release of judgment, clerk may not charge filing fee for services in connection with execution and preparation of

County and district clerks required to deliver abandoned funds to comptroller without further court order, statute does not violate separation of powers|Abandoned funds, statute requiring clerks to report and deliver to comptroller constitutional|Abandoned property

Filing fees payable by Railroad Commission when filing notice for well-plugging|Notice for well-plugging, filing fees payable by Railroad Commission when filing|Notice for well-plugging, filing fees payable by Commission when filing

Security fee, whether county clerk may collect at time of filing birth, death, or fetal death record|County clerk as registrar, whether entitled to collect security fee when filing birth, death, or fetal death records

County records management and preservation fund, expenditure for records management and preservation services performed by county clerk|Records management and preservation fund, expenditure for records management and preservation services performed by county clerk|Records management and preservation fund, commissioners court and county clerk must agree on use of|Records management and preservation fund, expenditure for microfilming records in county clerk's office

Deputy county clerk is an employee, not an officer|County seat, at least one deputy county clerk must reside at if county clerk does not|Deputy county clerk is an employee, not an officer\r\n|Residency requirement of article XVI, section 14 of the Texas Constitution, deputy county clerk is an employee, not an officer, and therefore not subject to\r\n\r\n\r\n

Fees and costs authorized by county commissioners court pursuant to section 51.702 of the Government Code, statutory county court may collect although collection may be declared unconstitutional by different district court or appellate court|Collection of fees and costs by statutory county courts under section 51.702 of the Government Code, county commissioner's court may authorize in accordance with decision of state district court, although collection may be declared unconstitutional by dif

Mental health proceedings, court may delegate collection of reimbursements for costs to appropriate county officer (Clarified by Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No. JC-0222 (2000))|Mental health proceedings, no statutory duty to collect reimbursements to which county may be entitled for costs paid by county (Clarified by Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No. JC-0222 (2000))|Mental health proceedings, reimbursements to which county may be entitled for costs paid by county not court costs (Clarified by Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No. JC-0222 (2000))

Declaration of domestic partnership|Declaration of domestic partnership, clerk is not required to file|Same-sex couples may not marry in Texas; declaration of domestic partnership does not have effect of creating quasi-marital relation

Proceedings for court-ordered mental health services conducted in Travis County, collection of costs where another county is responsible for them (Clarifies Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No. JC-0102 (1999))|Mental health services proceeding in Travis County probate court, county clerk has duty to collect the costs listed in section 571.018 of the Health and Safety Code from the responsible county (Clarifies Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No. JC-0102 (1999))

Security interest, county clerk may not file purported UCC financing statement that names same person as both debtor and secured party|Financing statement that names same person as both debtor and secured party, clerk may not file purported UCC

Noncertified copies, $1 fee specified by statute for issuing includes costs associated with locating originals and producing copies|County clerk must collect $1 fee specified by Local Government Code to issue each page or part of a page of noncertified copies rather than costs as specified by Open Records Act|Duties prescribed or authorized by law|Issue, issuing

File stamp serves as evidence of date and time instrument filed with county clerk|Mail, instruments delivered by mail to county clerk for filing must be "file stamped" and deemed recorded immediately upon receipt and acceptance|File stamp instrument, county clerk is not statutorily required to immediately file stamp instrument upon receiving but should do so for evidentiary purposes|Close office to the public to permit employees to work uninterrupted, county clerk may not without approval of county court|Office hours, county clerk may not alter without approval of county court|File stamp

Uniform Commercial Code - Secured Transactions, office in which financing statement terminating pre-effective-date finance statement must be filed under section 9.707(e) of Business and Commerce Code

Uniform Commercial Code - Secured Transactions, office in which financing statement amending, continuing, or terminating pre-effective-date financing statement covering consumer goods must be filed|Uniform Commercial Code - Secured Transactions, office in which financing statement filings to perfect security interests in "as-extracted collateral or timber to be cut" or fixture filings must be made

Commitment proceedings, sheriff or constable may not collect fee from patient for transportation to and from|Chemically dependent or mentally ill persons, costs of clerk's services with regard to emergency detention and court-ordered treatment of are county's responsibility|Chemically dependent or mentally ill persons, county may seek reimbursement for costs of county clerk's services with regard to emergency detention and court ordered treatment of|Emergency detention and court-ordered treatment of chemically dependent or mentally ill persons, county may seek reimbursement of costs of clerk's services with regard to

Concluding that refunds of court costs under Health and Safety Code subsection 571.018(j) are not limited by subsection 571.018(h) to costs associated with hearings and proceedings involving commitment.

The Mental Health Code assigns responsibility for costs associated with court-ordered mental health services. Pursuant to Health and Safety Code subsections 571.018(a) and (b), counties generally are responsible for paying filing fees for an application for court-ordered mental health services. However, subsection 571.018(i) authorizes a county to require that “a person” pay filing fees if the county first determines the fees relate to services from a private mental hospital. Under the Mental Health Code, a “person” does not include governmental entities. Accordingly, where services relate to a private mental hospital, a county may require medical facilities that are not governmental entities to pay application filing fees. 

Where a county is responsible for paying filing fees for an application for court-ordered mental health services, it need not pay such fees at the time the application is filed. However, where a county instead requires payment from a “person” pursuant to subsection 571.018(i)(1), that person must pay the fees at the time of filing.