Brunswick County Clerk Office
The Brunswick County court contact directory lists the Clerk of Superior Court at (910) 253-3900. The office is inside the Brunswick County Courthouse at 310 Government Center Drive NE, Bolivia, NC 28422. The same directory lists Civil at (910) 253-3914, Criminal at (910) 253-3902, Estates at (910) 253-3904, Magistrates at (910) 253-3919, District Attorney at (910) 253-3910, District Court Judges at (910) 253-4433, and Superior Court Judges at (910) 253-3916.
The Clerk of Superior Court is the court clerk for Brunswick County and also has North Carolina's probate role for estates and many special proceedings. Court case files, public terminals, criminal records held in the court system, civil filings, divorce judgments, estate files, and special proceeding records route through this office. A person seeking a marriage license, a birth certificate, a death certificate, a land recording, or a notary record should use the Register of Deeds instead.
Brunswick County Clerk of Superior Court
310 Government Center Drive NE
Bolivia, NC 28422
(910) 253-3900
Civil: (910) 253-3914
Criminal: (910) 253-3902
Estates: (910) 253-3904
The contact directory source is one of the assigned Clerk images.
The image anchors the local phone routing for civil, criminal, estates, and general clerk records.
Brunswick County Clerk Records
Court-record access through the Clerk has several channels. Online case information is searched through NC eCourts Portal Smart Search. Hearing dates use Search Hearings. Eligible criminal, infraction, probation, parole, attorney-fee, restitution, fine, and cost payments may use Make Payments. NC Judgment Search supports judgment index searches. The Clerk remains important because NC Judicial Branch guidance says background-check users should use the county clerk's office rather than relying only on Portal.
- Maintain civil, criminal, estate, special proceeding, and public court case files.
- Provide public self-service terminal access for nonconfidential case information.
- Make copies of court documents for a fee under current court-cost rules.
- Issue and maintain estate letters, court orders, judgments, and case events when filed.
- Route divorce judgment copies to the county where the divorce was granted.
- Serve as the probate judicial officer for estates under North Carolina's court structure.
When a Brunswick County court record is not visible online, the user should ask the Clerk for the paper or archived file by case number, party name, and approximate filing date. This is especially useful for older civil files, estate files, special proceedings, and court documents that Portal lists but does not display.
Request Brunswick County Certified Copies
Certified court copies are used when a judgment, order, divorce decree, estate letter, or filing must be accepted as official. The request should start with the record's custodian. For court documents, that custodian is the Clerk of Superior Court. For marriage certificates and vital records, it is the Register of Deeds. For statewide offender or prison records, it may be the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction rather than the local court clerk.
- Identify the case number, party names, record type, and approximate filing date.
- Search NC eCourts if online case information may provide the case number or status.
- Contact the Clerk division that matches the record: Civil, Criminal, Estates, or general Clerk counter.
- Ask whether the document can be copied from the public file and whether certification is available.
- Verify the current fee through the North Carolina Current Court Costs chart or the Clerk before paying.
- Use the Clerk's pickup, mail, or in-person instructions for the final copy request.
Note: Court staff can provide records access and procedural routing, but they cannot choose forms or give legal advice.
Brunswick County Request Fields
The research file does not include a single Brunswick County Clerk copy-request form, so the inventory below is drawn from the documented request information needed for Clerk searches, public terminals, and copy requests. Providing more identifiers reduces the risk of a false match, especially when a name is common or the record is older than the online Portal rollout.
| Field or requirement | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Case number | Recommended | Best identifier for Smart Search, terminal searches, and paper files. |
| Party names | Yes | Use full names and roles such as plaintiff, defendant, decedent, petitioner, or respondent. |
| Document type | Yes | Examples include judgment, order, divorce judgment, letters, complaint, or disposition. |
| Case type | Recommended | Civil, criminal, estate, special proceeding, family, traffic, or judgment. |
| Approximate filing date | Recommended | Useful when the case is not easy to find online. |
| Copy type | Yes | Plain, certified, exemplified, or inspection-only. |
| Requester contact | Yes | Name, phone, mailing address, and payment method if a copy is mailed. |
Brunswick County Clerk Fees
Clerk fees are governed by current North Carolina Judicial Branch court-cost schedules. The research file specifically warns not to quote outdated county fee lists and points builders to the Current Court Costs 2026 charts. The Clerk page therefore identifies the fee source and the fee areas without inventing amounts that were not captured from the current PDFs.
| Item | Where to verify |
|---|---|
| Civil filing costs | NC Judicial Branch Current Court Costs civil chart. |
| Criminal, infraction, and traffic costs | Current criminal and infraction court costs chart. |
| Estate filing and administration costs | Estates Court Costs 2026 PDF. |
| Certified copies, searches, and exemplifications | Miscellaneous Court Costs 2026 PDF or Clerk counter. |
| Register of Deeds vital copies | Separate Register of Deeds fee rules, not Clerk court costs. |
NC DAC criminal offender searches are assigned to this page because they help separate statewide offender records from Brunswick County Clerk court records.
The offender-search source is not a Clerk copy system; it clarifies when a court record search should be kept separate from state custody or supervision records.
Clerk Versus Register of Deeds
The State Court Structure Map makes the distinction explicit. Brunswick County's court clerk is the Clerk of Superior Court. The separate recording office is the Register of Deeds. Dana Varnam is identified on the Register of Deeds website as Register of Deeds, and that office issues marriage licenses, certifies documents, records legal documents and maps, and administers oaths. The office publishes separate hours for passports, marriage licenses, recording, land, and vital records.
| Need | Correct Brunswick County office |
|---|---|
| Court case file, judgment, docket, criminal disposition, divorce judgment | Clerk of Superior Court |
| Estate file, letters, guardianship, special proceeding | Clerk of Superior Court, including Estates Division |
| Marriage license, birth certificate, death certificate, land recording | Register of Deeds |
| Online public court case information | NC eCourts Portal, with Clerk fallback |
| Vital certified copies | Register of Deeds or NC Vital Records as applicable |
The Brunswick County Register of Deeds homepage and the county Register of Deeds page are both assigned image sources.
The ROD homepage image supports the local recording-office side of the split.
The county ROD page image reinforces that marriage and vital records do not belong to the Clerk of Superior Court.
Brunswick County Clerk Access Channels
Online case access is useful for current public case information, but it is only one channel. NC eCourts Portal Smart Search, Search Hearings, Make Payments, and NC Judgment Search are statewide online tools. The Clerk's public self-service terminals can be used for criminal case information by defendant name, case number, or victim/witness name, and civil, special proceeding, and estates records are also available through public terminal access when not restricted.
The Clerk counter is still the best access point when the user needs a court document copied for a fee, a divorce judgment from the county where it was granted, a background-check record, a file that does not appear online, or an older paper or archived file. The county public-record request page may route noncourt county records to the county department holding them, while court-related records remain tied to NC Courts and the Clerk.
The Brunswick County inmate programs source was assigned to this Clerk page and is relevant only as a custody-program source outside Clerk-held court files.
The custody-program image helps keep jail or sheriff information separate from court case records maintained by the Clerk.