Franklin County Clerk Office
The Franklin County Clerk of Superior and Juvenile Courts is the local clerk office for Superior Court and Juvenile Court case records. The GSCCCA profile lists Heather Vaughn Hill as Clerk of Superior Court, year elected 2021, with the office at the Franklin County Court address in Carnesville. The same profile lists Superior and Juvenile as the courts managed by the office, with Betty Baskins as chief deputy and separate deputy clerk roles for civil, criminal, juvenile, and real-estate work.
Franklin County's own clerk page explains the office in Georgia constitutional terms. The Clerk of Superior Court is one of four constitutional officers in each Georgia county, along with the sheriff, tax commissioner, and probate judge. The clerk's duties are statutory and tied to many parts of the Official Code of Georgia. The office can help parties with court-record and filing logistics, but clerk and deputy clerk staff cannot practice law or provide legal advice. The county page notes broader help in family-violence matters, while still making clear that such help is not legal advice.
Clerk of Superior and Juvenile Courts
Clerk: Heather Vaughn Hill
9592 Lavonia Road
P.O. Box 70
Carnesville, GA 30521
706-384-2514
Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
The GSCCCA Franklin County clerk profile provides the current clerk listing, staff roles, hours, address, and courts managed.
This profile is useful when a request needs the official clerk name, office address, phone number, or confirmation that Superior and Juvenile Court records route through the same clerk office.
Franklin County Clerk Duties
The Franklin County Clerk of Superior and Juvenile Courts receives, indexes, and maintains filings for Superior Court and Juvenile Court. For public users, the practical duties include docket access, filed pleadings, orders, judgments, certified copies, and court file retrieval. Superior Court case types can include felonies, divorce and domestic relations, major civil litigation, land-title issues, equity matters, and jury-trial transfers from lower courts. Juvenile records are managed by the same clerk office but are much more restricted than adult case files.
- Maintain Superior Court civil, criminal, domestic relations, and related court records.
- Maintain Juvenile Court filings, subject to juvenile confidentiality and sealing rules.
- Provide docket and case-file access through the Franklin Clerk of Court portal and direct office contact.
- Handle certified copies and copy requests for Superior Court records when records are public or requester authority is shown.
- Support filing logistics while staying within the rule that clerk staff cannot give legal advice.
The office is not the records counter for every court in Franklin County. Probate Court keeps probate, marriage, vital-record, and Probate Court traffic materials. Magistrate Court keeps small claims, dispossessory, warrant, garnishment, and listed lower-court matters. Sheriff reports, jail records, and law-enforcement open records route to the Sheriff's Office, not the clerk, unless they have been filed in a court case.
Request Franklin County Certified Copies
A certified copy is a court copy authenticated by the clerk for official use. People often need certified Franklin County Superior Court copies for divorce decrees, judgments, name changes if filed in Superior Court, criminal dispositions, title work, appeals, benefits, or agency filings. Online docket entries may help locate the case, but a certified copy usually requires direct contact with the Clerk of Superior and Juvenile Courts so staff can confirm availability, access status, copy fee, and certification method.
- Identify the case court first. Use the Clerk of Superior and Juvenile Courts for Superior Court and Juvenile Court records, not Probate or Magistrate files.
- Search the Franklin County Court Dockets page or the Franklin Clerk of Court portal if the case may be listed online.
- Call the clerk office with the case number if known, party names, approximate filing year, and the document needed.
- Ask whether the file is public, sealed, juvenile, restricted, archived, or available only after staff retrieval.
- Confirm plain-copy, certified-copy, search, and mailing fees before sending payment because official Franklin County clerk copy fees were not located in the captured source set.
- Pick up the copy or request mailing after staff confirms the amount, timing, and proof of identity or authority if required.
For a divorce decree, use the Superior Court clerk because divorce case files are not Probate Court marriage records. For a will, estate, guardianship, or marriage certificate, use Franklin County Probate Court instead.
Franklin County Clerk Request Details
Research did not locate a Franklin County Clerk of Superior and Juvenile Courts public copy-request form with fixed fields. Use the same information a clerk would need to locate a court file and confirm whether the requested copy can be released. The Sheriff's Office open-records form fields are useful only as a model for contact information and request clarity; they should not be used for court records created by the judiciary.
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Case number | No, but helpful | Use if found in the docket portal or prior paperwork. |
| Party names | Yes | Provide full names and role if known, such as plaintiff, defendant, petitioner, or respondent. |
| Case type | Yes | State whether the record is civil, criminal, divorce, domestic relations, juvenile, or other Superior Court matter. |
| Document type | Yes | Name the order, decree, judgment, disposition, pleading, or docket entry wanted. |
| Approximate year | Recommended | Older records may need staff retrieval or archive handling. |
| Certification needed | Yes for official copies | Say whether a plain copy or certified copy is required. |
| Requester contact | Yes | Include phone, mailing address, and email if available for fee and release follow-up. |
Note: Franklin County states judicial records should be requested directly from the court that holds them, even when many records are open for viewing.
Franklin County Clerk Fees
Official Franklin County research did not locate a specific certified-copy or plain-copy fee schedule for the Clerk of Superior and Juvenile Courts. Do not assume the Sheriff's Office copy rate applies to court copies. The Sheriff's Office open-records fee rules are useful for law-enforcement records, while clerk copy fees should be confirmed with the clerk before payment. For Probate and Magistrate Court records, Franklin County's routing page refers to statutory costs paid to the court that holds the record.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Clerk certified court-copy fees | Fee not located in official Franklin County source |
| Clerk plain court-copy fees | Fee not located in official Franklin County source |
| Sheriff black-and-white letter/legal copies | $0.10 per page, for Sheriff's Office records |
| Sheriff labor for search, retrieval, redaction, or supervision | No charge for first 15 minutes, then hourly rate of lowest paid qualified full-time employee |
| Probate or Magistrate statutory costs | Amount not listed on routing page; confirm with the court |
Fee questions should be tied to the office that holds the record. A certified Superior Court divorce decree, a Probate Court marriage certificate, a Magistrate Court dispossessory file, and a Sheriff's Office incident report can each have a different custodian and cost rule.
Franklin County Clerk Forms
Franklin County links to self-help forms for people filing civil and domestic matters. The Southern Judicial Circuit self-help forms page states that two forms must be included with all general civil and domestic case filings: the Domestic Relations and General Civil Case Filing Information Form, and the Domestic Relations and General Civil Case Final Disposition Form. Those forms support filing and disposition reporting. They do not replace legal advice from an attorney.
- Franklin County self-help forms link - county doorway for pro se civil and domestic forms.
- Southern Judicial Circuit self-help forms - source for required general civil and domestic filing and final disposition forms.
- PeachCourt - statewide Georgia e-filing and court-document portal for supported civil and criminal filings.
The Council of Superior Court Judges Franklin County page also identifies Franklin County Superior Court and the clerk office.
This state judicial source reinforces the local role of the clerk in Franklin County Superior Court record access.
Franklin County Clerk Online Access
Franklin County's Court Dockets page directs users to the Franklin Clerk of Court webpage to search all Franklin County Clerk of Court dockets. The portal was captured as an official county referral, but the field list was not available in the text research. Georgia Courts e-access explains that Georgia users are often redirected to provider websites and may need an account to search court records. PeachCourt is another statewide account-based channel for civil and criminal e-filing and court documents.
Use online access for docket leads, then contact the Clerk of Superior and Juvenile Courts for certified copies, older files, sealed or restricted records, missing portal results, or document images that are not available online. For all-court searches, start by identifying the court level. Superior Court records route to the clerk office. Probate records route to Probate Court. Magistrate records route to Magistrate Court. Sheriff's Office records route to the Sheriff's Office open-records custodian.
Juvenile Court records require special care. The same clerk office manages Juvenile Court filings, but Georgia juvenile records are subject to confidentiality, sealing, and retention rules. A juvenile case number or party name in clerk custody does not mean public inspection is available.