Martin County Court Administration Office
Minnesota does not use a separate elected county clerk for District Court case files. Martin County court files are state trial-court records administered through Court Administration. The Minnesota Judicial Branch page identifies Catherine Celander as Court Administrator, while the county District Court page lists Cathy Celander with a direct phone line. Those appear to refer to the same local court-administration role.
People attending hearings check in with Court Administration on the second floor of the Law Enforcement Center. The office is also the local fallback for certified court documents, questions about older files, courthouse terminal access, and case records that do not appear online. The Minnesota Judicial Branch Martin County page and the county District Court page are the key official sources for office details.
Martin County Court Administration
Court Administrator: Cathy / Catherine Celander
2nd floor, Law Enforcement Center
201 Lake Avenue
Fairmont, MN 56031
507-432-7003
Direct administrator line: 507-432-7005
Fax: 507-238-1913
Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Martin County Court Record Duties
Court Administration supports District Court records for civil, family, probate, juvenile, criminal, and traffic cases filed in Martin County. It is not the prosecutor, sheriff, jail, probation office, Recorder, or background-check agency. That separation helps prevent a common records mistake: an online court case search and a certified court copy are not the same product.
- Maintains local access to Martin County District Court case files and paper records where applicable.
- Provides the local route for certified court documents because MCRO does not certify online results.
- Supports public access terminals for statewide public case records at the courthouse.
- Handles hearing check-in and local court-calendar questions tied to District Court cases.
- Directs fine and citation payment questions to Minnesota Court Payment Center channels when payment is not handled at the counter.
Request Martin County Certified Copies
MCRO is useful for viewing public case information, but the MCRO FAQ says online documents and search results are not certified. A certified copy is a court-authenticated copy issued by court administration. Certified copies are commonly needed for legal filings, official proof of divorce, judgment enforcement, probation or sentencing records, and other situations where an unofficial online PDF is not enough.
- Identify the Martin County District Court case number if possible. MCRO, court notices, citations, and prior orders may show it.
- Identify the document needed, such as decree, order, judgment, disposition, sentencing order, complaint, or register of actions.
- Contact Martin County Court Administration at 507-432-7003 or use the statewide copy request route linked from official court pages.
- Ask whether the document is available electronically, locally on paper, at a public terminal, or restricted from public release.
- Pay any applicable court copy or certification fee set by the official court fee schedule, then pick up the copy or arrange delivery as allowed by the court.
Note: The research file located the Martin County Court Fee Schedule link, but did not extract every itemized court-copy amount from the schedule.
Martin County Records Request Fields
A complete court-copy request should give staff enough detail to find the correct case and document without relying on a broad name search. Pending criminal, traffic, and petty misdemeanor cases without a conviction may not appear by defendant-name search in MCRO, so case number or citation number can be important for court charge and traffic files.
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Case number or court file number | Strongly preferred | Use the exact number from MCRO, a citation, court notice, or prior order when known. |
| Party names | Yes when case number is unknown | Include full names and any business name, prior name, or spelling variant. |
| Case category | Helpful | Civil, criminal, family, probate or mental health, traffic, juvenile, or judgment. |
| Document type | Yes | Order, decree, complaint, disposition, judgment, register of actions, or other specific record. |
| Certified or plain copy | Yes | MCRO copies are unofficial; certified copies must come from Court Administration. |
| Requester contact and delivery | Yes | Provide phone, email or mailing address, and ask about payment and delivery options. |
MCRO Before Court Administration
Most Martin County Court Administration record questions start with Minnesota Court Records Online. MCRO lets the public search Minnesota District Court records by name, case number, citation number, attorney name, attorney bar number, hearing information, and judgment debtor name. It is free and does not require registration at this time, but users must accept terms and respect remote-access limits.
MCRO cannot request certified documents, run a background check, pay fines, file documents, schedule hearings, or show every public record that might be available at a courthouse terminal. It also omits or limits remote access for CHIPS, Juvenile Delinquency Felony 16, domestic abuse orders for protection, harassment restraining orders, civil commitment documents, party street addresses, and many confidential or redacted fields.
| MCRO tool | Best use | When Court Administration matters |
|---|---|---|
| Case Search | Find public case index, parties, events, documents, and dispositions | Certified copies, older files, missing cases, restricted access questions |
| Document Search | Look up public documents by case number | Certified copies and non-online documents |
| Hearing Search | Find hearing date, time, location, officer, and category where public | Calendar conflicts, check-in, missing confidential hearings |
| Judgment Search | Search docketed monetary judgments by debtor name | Certified civil judgment search results and current balance questions |
Martin County Court Administration Fees
The official county District Court page links a Martin County Court Fee Schedule, but the research extraction did not capture each court-copy amount. Use the official schedule or contact Court Administration before mailing a request or assuming a copy price. The research did capture several county fees that matter when a request belongs to a different office.
| Item | Official amount or note | Office |
|---|---|---|
| Court certified copies and court fee schedule | Amount must be checked against official Martin County Court Fee Schedule | Court Administration |
| Marriage license | $125.00 | Martin County Recorder |
| Marriage license with premarital counseling | $50.00 | Martin County Recorder |
| Marriage certificate | $9.00 each | Martin County Recorder |
| Ordination / civil marriage officiant filing | $50.00 | Martin County Recorder |
| Civil applicant fingerprints | $10 per card, cash exact change only | Martin County Jail |
Court Administration vs Recorder
The Martin County Recorder is separate from Court Administration. The Recorder is the custodian for real estate documents, subdivision plats, state and federal tax liens, vital records such as birth, death, and marriage, ministerial credentials, notary commissions, and military discharges. Marriage licenses and certificates therefore belong with the Recorder, even though divorce decrees are District Court family records.
The Martin County Recorder page identifies Recorder Michelle Duncan and deputy recorders. The Recorder page also says staff cannot give legal advice or interpret laws. For marriage licenses, the county directs couples to start with MOMS and then appear together at the Recorder's Office to sign the application.
Martin County Recorder
201 Lake Avenue, Suite 203
Fairmont, MN 56031
507-238-3213
Recorder: Michelle Duncan, 507-238-3255
The Martin County Recorder page is the source for the Recorder image below.
The Recorder image belongs here because it marks the line between District Court case records and marriage or land records.
County Public Records Requests
The Martin County public records portal is a county-government data route, not a substitute for certified District Court records. Use Martin County NextRequest for county-held data when the record belongs to a county department, such as non-court county records or certain Sheriff records. Court records are judiciary records, so certified court copies still go through Court Administration.
The Sheriff's Records Department handles report releases, handgun permits, predatory offender registration, burn permits, and related agency records. The research notes that photo identification is required for report requests and that cases currently under investigation cannot be released. Some releases may require a fee and must be made to authorized people under law.
The Martin County NextRequest portal is the source for the public-records request image below.
The portal is useful for county data, while court-certified copies remain a Court Administration task.
Common Martin County Court Routes
Court Administration does not replace the statewide court tools. Minnesota Judicial Branch pages provide the online search tools, court forms, court fee schedules, language access, remote-hearing links, and pay-a-fine resources that apply across counties. Martin County's local court page adds local contacts, jury lines, judge chambers, and courthouse check-in context.
- Minnesota Court Records Online for public case, document, hearing, and judgment searches.
- Minnesota Access Case Records for MCRO and courthouse terminal access information.
- Minnesota Pay Fines and Citation Information for citation payment and contesting guidance.
- Minnesota Court Web Payment for eligible fines and citations.
The Minnesota judgment docket statute is the source for the statute image below.
Judgment docket law matters because MCRO Judgment Search and certified civil judgment search results are distinct from ordinary case browsing.