Serves as the official record keeper for the Superior Court.  It is our mission to serve the courts and the citizens of Grays Harbor County in a manner best suited to provide quality, efficient, and effective service.  The position of County Clerk is best characterized as the administrative and financial officer of the Superior Court.

County Clerk offered at Grays Harbor County Government

Serves as the official record keeper for the Superior Court. Has information on attorneys, judges, and various legal forms.

Programs that maintain and, where appropriate, provide access to official documentation of trial proceedings, exhibits and orders, word-for-word testimony, verdicts and judgments in specific actions or suits.

Court Records

Public sector offices known as passport acceptance facilities that have been authorized by the U.S. Department of State to accept and verify the documents, applicant signatures and identity for passport applications; place all of the documents and required photos into a specially sealed, tamperproof envelope that may only be opened by State Department officials; and forward them for processing. This is required for ALL passport applicants for a new adult passport, child (minor) passport, or lost, stolen or damaged passport applications. Most passport acceptance facilities are found in local post offices, county clerk's offices and some library locations.  Passports are official documents which identify citizens, serve as written authorization from government authorities for citizens to travel abroad and, in effect, request foreign powers to allow bearers to enter and pass freely and safely. U.S. passports can be renewed by mail provided that the old passport was issued within the last 15 years, that the individual was age 16 or older at the time, and that, if applicable, proof of name change is provided. The old valid passport, a color passport photo, a completed DS-82 form and a check or money order for the fee must be submitted.

Passports

Divisions or programs of the court that accept and file petitions requesting court approval for adoption of a child. The petition generally includes identifying information about the adoptive parents, a description of their relationship with the child to be adopted, the legal reason for termination of parental rights, a description of the reasons the adoptive parents are appropriate for the child, and a statement that adoption is in the child's best interests. The written consent of the birthparents or the court order terminating their parental rights is generally filed with the petition.

Adoption Petition Filing Offices

Programs approved by the court that provide classes which utilize a specialized curriculum that assists families with family preservation and unification. The programs target families in which children are deemed at risk for abuse and neglect and enable parents to fulfill the requirements of court-ordered family preservation contracts.

Court Ordered Parenting Programs

Divisions or programs of the court that accept and file petitions relating to the annulment or dissolution of a marriage or a legal separation.

Divorce Petition Filing Offices

Programs that maintain and, where appropriate, provide access to or copies of the official document that dissolves a marriage relationship between two people.

Divorce Records

Programs that maintain and, where appropriate, provide copies of records which document that the parental rights and duties of an individual's birth parents have been terminated and assigned to his or her adoptive parents.

Adoption Records

The offices of individuals who have been appointed or elected to a town, city, county or other local public office for a specified tenure and who are thereby in a position to exercise that portion of the sovereign functions of government that are conferred on that office. Forty-eight of the 50 states have operational county governments. Connecticut and Rhode Island are divided into geographic regions called counties, but they do not have functioning governments. Alaska calls its counties boroughs and Louisiana calls them parishes. Cities and towns may also have other designations including townships, boroughs and villages.

Local Officials Offices

Local courts whose function is to try cases involving vandalism, disorderly conduct, public intoxication, public urination, shoplifting, trespassing, prostitution and other offenses that affect the quality of life in a community. Most community courts are initiated by other courts or local district attorneys, are structured to serve a particular neighborhood and are located in the area they serve. A few serve entire cities. The specific focus of these courts depends on the nature of the problems in the communities they serve and the concerns of the residents and business people who live and/or work there. Offenders are often required to make restitution by providing service in the community in which their crimes were committed and may be ordered to participate in social services such as counseling, drug treatment and job training when warranted.

Community Courts

Provides support to the Family and Juvenile Division of the Thurston County Superior Court.

Court staff can provide: 
 - the status of a specific case, unless the case is "confidential,"; 
 - general information on court rules, procedures and practices; 
 - court-approved forms; 
 - court schedules and information on how to get matters scheduled.

Staff cannot: 
 - provide advice about whether one should file a case, or what actions they should take in the case; 
 - words to put in a form; 
 - advise anyone on what to say in court; 
 - speculate about what decision the judge might make or what sentence the judge might impose.

Family and Juvenile Division offered at Thurston County Clerk - Family and Juvenile Division

Provides support to the Family and Juvenile Division of the Thurston County Superior Court.

Programs that provide information and guidance and/or representation in court proceedings for individuals who have been abused in an intimate relationship and/or for people who are facing a summary conviction offence or criminal charge for perpetrating abuse. Included are domestic violence law clinics and other legal assistance programs that represent victims of domestic abuse at restraining order hearings or in other civil or criminal actions involving charges against an abuser. Most also represent the person's interests in complexities that arise as part of the legal process such as restitution, payment of debts or child support, custody and visitation and property control. Some programs may also represent victims of domestic abuse who have been charged with a crime and/or handle cases involving accusations of child abuse filed by one parent against the other, abuse of an elderly person by an adult child or abuse of an adult child by a parent.

Domestic/Family Violence Legal Services

Programs that provide assistance for people who want to obtain custody of their children as a part of a divorce or separation action, who want to appeal all or a portion of the terms of a previous child custody decision, or in the case of a noncustodial parent, who want to establish or appeal the terms of a visitation award or a court-ordered visitation schedule. Included are programs that provide child custody/visitation assistance for people who are not legally married but have children together.

Child Custody/Visitation Assistance

Programs that provide assistance for women who want to initiate litigation to prove that a particular individual is the father of a given child and to enforce support obligations, or for men who want to establish that they are not the father of a particular child.

Paternity Suits

Programs that provide assistance for people age 14 to 18 who are managing their own financial affairs, whose income is derived from activities not considered criminal, who are willing to live apart from their parents or guardians with their consent, and who want to petition the court to be considered over the age of majority. People younger than age 18 are automatically considered emancipated if they have entered into a valid marriage (whether or not the marriage was terminated by dissolution) or if they are on active duty with any of the armed forces.

Emancipation of Minors

Serves as the official record keeper for the Superior Court. Serves the courts and the citizens of Mason County in a manner best suited to provide quality, efficient, and effective service.  The position of County Clerk is best characterized as the administrative and financial officer of the Superior Court. The County Clerk’s purpose is to ensure the separation of powers among the three branches of government by preserving the integrity of the judiciary. Those three branches are Executive, Judicial and Legislative.

County Clerk offered at Mason County Government

Serves as the official record keeper for the Superior Court. Has information about passports, state info, various forms, family law assistance, criminal fines, mandatory parenting classes, and domestic violence resources.

Programs that help adults obtain an order from the police or the courts that protects them from abuse or threats of abuse from a current or former spouse, boyfriend/girlfriend, someone they have a child with, someone they live with or someone they are related to through blood or marriage. Included are emergency protective orders that police can obtain from the court to provide immediate protection to an abused family member for five to seven days until an application for a temporary restraining order can be made in court; longer-term temporary restraining orders issued in civil court that forbid contact with the protected person until the propriety of granting a permanent injunction can be evaluated; permanent or after-hearing restraining orders that make a short-term injunction granted in the temporary restraining order permanent (or specify the amount of time they will remain in effect); and criminal temporary protective orders which apply in situations where an abusive individual has been arrested and faces trial.