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Clerk
of Court
The
Clerk of Superior Court is the hub at the center of all judicial
proceedings in both the District and Superior Court Divisions of the
General Court of Justice in North
Carolina.
As a Constitutional Office, the Clerk serves the citizens as an
elected judicial official with a four year term of office.
The
Clerk’s responsibilities are vital to the administration of justice. The
clerical task of filing, processing, indexing, and preserving court
documents is only a part of that job.
Unique
to North Carolina
alone, the clerk also serves as a judge and presides over many matters
that are within her jurisdiction.
To
better understand this diverse and complex position, the responsibilities
of the Clerk of Superior Court
have been divided into four major areas:
Judge
Record Keeper
Comptroller
Administrator
As
Probate Judge, the Clerk has exclusive original jurisdiction of probate
and administration of decedent's estates, administration of guardianships
and trusts, and supervision of other fiduciaries.
The Clerk presides over
all Special Proceedings and many other legal matters to include
competency and guardianship proceedings, foreclosure, judicial sales,
condemnation of land for public use, adoption and legitimation, name
changes, partitioning of property, and boundary line disputes. The Clerk also has limited jurisdiction
in both criminal and civil matters including hearings of initial
appearance, determining conditions of release, and innocent owner vehicle
seizures, claim and delivery, default judgments, as well as uncontested
and default divorces. The Clerk
accepts written appearances, waivers of trial or hearing and guilty pleas
to minor misdemeanors and pleas of responsibility to infractions in
certain traffic, littering, wildlife, boating, marine fisheries, state
park recreation and alcoholic beverage violations; and guilty pleas in
worthless check cases in which the check is for $2,000 or less. The Clerk
also issues arrest and search warrants and sets bail.
As Record Keeper, the Clerk is responsible for maintaining uniform
consolidated records of all
judicial proceedings in both the district court division and the superior
court division. All lawsuits, civil actions, criminal actions, special
proceedings, estates, juvenile actions, minutes of the court and all
other records required by law to be maintained in a safe place, not only
for current use, but for reference purposes and future examinations by
the public.
As
Comptroller, the Clerk is required to receive, administer, invest and
disburse millions of dollars received each year into the court system
collected from court costs, fees, fines, forfeitures, bonds, civil
judgments, etc. The Clerk receives, administers, and invests large sums
of money in trust for minors and incapacitated adults and returns
millions of dollars each year to the county, school fund, law enforcement
and the State Treasurer.
As
Administrator, the Clerk is responsible for performing numerous
ministerial acts such as the issuance of summons. writs of execution,
subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses and/or the production of
documents, orders for arrest, show cause orders, bond forfeitures, just
to name a few.
Ms.
Priest is responsible for managing the overall operations of the clerk's
office and for supervising approximately 90 employees who assist the
public in filing and accessing court documents, staffing the courtrooms,
and performing the many complex duties required in order to ensure that
court records are accurate; including
magistrates with respect to dockets, records and accountings.
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