New Hanover Clerk of Superior Court
North Carolina uses a unified clerk structure at the trial-court county level. In New Hanover County, the court-record custodian is the Clerk of Superior Court. The county information-request page names the Clerk of Court as Hon. January G. Kennedy and routes divorce records, traffic records, criminal records, civil disputes, and other court records to that office. The official court contact directory uses the title Clerk of Superior Court and provides the main number for the clerk and separate contact listings for court divisions.
New Hanover County Clerk of Superior Court
Clerk: Hon. January G. Kennedy
316 Princess Street
Wilmington, NC 28401
910-772-6600
Monday-Friday 8:00 AM-5:00 PM
Mailing address: New Hanover County Courthouse, PO Box 2023, Wilmington, NC 28402. The same courthouse also houses Superior Court, District Court, magistrate contacts, family court contacts, payment services, and public terminal access.
New Hanover Clerk Court Records
The Clerk of Superior Court keeps local case records and works through the statewide eCourts environment for online case search, eFiling, payments, and hearing search. The clerk is the path for civil suits, criminal case files, traffic cases, divorce judgments, estates, special proceedings, and public terminal review. The office is also the probate authority for many estate matters, acting through the clerk and assistant clerks.
- Maintains Superior Court and District Court case files for New Hanover County.
- Provides public terminals and paper-file access where records are public.
- Processes certified copy requests for court documents and judgments.
- Handles estates, probate filings, guardianships, and special proceedings.
- Receives eligible mailed court payments by money order or certified check only.
G.S. 15A-145.5 is one of the expunction statutes that can affect whether older criminal records remain visible through clerk or portal searches.
Expunction is handled through court process, so the clerk's file and public Portal view may change when an expunction order is entered.
Request New Hanover Certified Copies
Certified copies are issued by the office that holds the official record. For court judgments, divorce judgments, criminal dispositions, estate letters, or civil orders, that means the Clerk of Superior Court. A requester should identify the case number if known, the parties, the document title, the approximate filing date, and whether a plain or certified copy is needed. If the search starts online, print or note the case number before calling or visiting the clerk.
- Search the NC eCourts Portal or gather the case number from prior paperwork.
- Confirm the record is a court file held by the Clerk of Superior Court, not a Register of Deeds or sheriff record.
- Contact the clerk by phone or visit the courthouse counter with party names, case number, and document type.
- Ask for the current copy and certification fee before mailing payment.
- For mailed court payments, use money order or certified check only when the local payment page allows payment by mail.
G.S. 15A-146 covers expunction when charges are dismissed or result in not guilty, which is another reason a public copy search may not show every past criminal filing.
When a case has been expunged, the public copy request may be denied or redirected because the public record is cleared by court order.
New Hanover Clerk Request Fields
The NCAOC public-records form has sections for the requesting individual and records requested, but NCAOC is not the custodian of local case files. For local New Hanover court records, the useful request fields are the ones that help the clerk locate the exact file and copy type. The county's NextRequest portal should not be used for court records, marriage records, divorce records, property records, or background checks.
| Field | Required | New Hanover notes |
|---|---|---|
| Case number | Best if known | Use Portal, old notices, citations, or judgments to locate it. |
| Party names | Yes | Provide names as filed, including business names when relevant. |
| Record type | Yes | Examples include divorce judgment, criminal disposition, estate letters, order, or traffic judgment. |
| Filing date or year | Helpful | Approximate dates help distinguish similar names. |
| Copy type | Yes | State whether a plain copy, certified copy, or exemplified copy is needed. |
| Requester contact | Yes | Use current phone, email, or mailing address for fee and pickup follow-up. |
New Hanover County Clerk Fees
Local fee sources include several court and related public-record costs. Court costs vary by case type, so the NC Judicial Branch Current Court Costs page is the official source for the current civil, criminal, estates, and special proceedings PDFs. Register of Deeds fees are listed here only to show the split between clerk-held court files and recorded or vital records held by another office.
| Item | Fee or rule | Custodian |
|---|---|---|
| Court costs | Vary by case type | NC Judicial Branch Current Court Costs. |
| Estate opening filing fee | $120 | Clerk of Superior Court Estates Division. |
| Guardianship filing example | $120 plus $30 sheriff service | Clerk and sheriff service process. |
| Marriage license | $60 | Register of Deeds, not the clerk. |
| Certified marriage copy | $10 | Register of Deeds. |
| Uncertified instrument copy | $0.25 per page | Register of Deeds. |
G.S. 15A-153 explains the effect of expunction on public records.
The statute is relevant when a person asks why a case once visible through a public search no longer appears.
New Hanover Clerk Forms
New Hanover local forms include District Court Calendar Request, Motion for Pretrial Release, Discovery Disclosure Request, child support affidavits, employer wage certification, custody mediation exemption, contempt, bond modification, and custody/visitation modification. Judicial Branch forms can be searched by keyword, General Statute, form number, and title, which is useful for divorce, estates, expunction, small claims, and traffic matters.
G.S. 7B-3000 makes juvenile records generally confidential.
That confidentiality rule limits what the clerk can release even when the courthouse is the correct office.
New Hanover Clerk Online Access
The main online access channel is the NC eCourts Portal, which provides Smart Search, Search Hearings, Make Payments, and NC Judgment Search. New Hanover County went live on eCourts on February 3, 2025. Portal users need JavaScript and cookies, and anonymous or registered users may face CAPTCHA checks. Registration can support saved cases and user features, but it does not make restricted records public. Elevated access is separate and limited to users with statutory authority or verified business need.
Smart Search can help locate case numbers before a copy request. Search Hearings can help confirm a courtroom, hearing type, judicial officer, or scheduled date. Make Payments can be used for eligible criminal, infraction, probation, parole, fee, restitution, and attorney-fee obligations, but it does not cover every payment type. The New Hanover payment page says alimony, bond forfeitures, cash bonds, child support, civil judgments, condemnations, rent bonds, trust funds, and upset bids are not accepted through the online payment route.
New Hanover County's information-request page is useful because it routes requesters to the correct record custodian and says court records should go to the Clerk of Court.
County information requests and court file requests are not the same, so the routing note prevents delays.
New Hanover NextRequest excludes court, marriage, divorce, property, and background-check records.
For local case files, the better route is Portal search followed by the Clerk of Superior Court for copies or file review.
New Hanover Clerk Office Boundaries
The Clerk of Superior Court should not be confused with the Register of Deeds, the Sheriff's Office, the District Attorney, or the county public-information office. The Register of Deeds, led by Morghan Getty Collins, handles marriage licenses, recorded marriage certificates, real estate documents, DD-214s, and vital-record copies from its Chestnut Street office and satellite location. The Sheriff's Office handles jail, civil, fingerprinting, and law-enforcement records through its own channels. The District Attorney prosecutes state criminal cases but does not issue certified court copies.
That split affects common requests. Divorce judgments, criminal dispositions, civil orders, traffic judgments, estates, wills filed for probate, and special proceedings go through the New Hanover County Clerk of Superior Court. Marriage licenses and certified marriage copies go through the Register of Deeds. Active jail custody information comes from P2C and the Sheriff's Office. Federal cases filed in Wilmington use federal court systems such as PACER, not the local clerk.
The county public-information request page is best read as a routing aid. It points court, divorce, traffic, criminal, and civil dispute records back to the clerk, while the NextRequest portal excludes those categories. That means a New Hanover County Clerk of Superior Court request should be made with case details, not through a general county request form that will be rejected or redirected.