About the Pike County Chancery Clerk
The Pike County Chancery Clerk is Becky Buie. The office sits in the county courthouse in Magnolia, the county seat, and its duties are governed by Mississippi statutes, court rules, the State Department of Audit, and the Department of Finance and Administration. The Chancery Clerk is an elected county officer whose work blends court recordkeeping with county financial duties, which is why the office touches so many different records.
At its core, the office is the clerk for Chancery Court, the equity court that hears divorce, custody, adoption, estates, guardianships, conservatorships, and land disputes. The same office records land transactions, keeps the official minutes of the Board of Supervisors, and acts as county auditor and treasurer. Anyone tracing a deed, opening an estate, or pulling a divorce file in Pike County starts here.
Pike County Chancery Clerk
Clerk: Becky Buie
200 E. Bay St.
Magnolia, MS 39652
Mailing: P.O. Box 309, Magnolia, MS 39652
601-783-3362
Mon-Fri 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
What the Chancery Clerk Does in Pike County
The office wears four hats at once, and each role produces a different set of public records. The breadth is unusual: a single counter handles court filings, real-estate documents, county meeting minutes, and county money. The list below breaks the duties into the four roles the Chancery Clerk fills.
- Clerk for Chancery Court. Receives and maintains filings in divorce, child custody, adoption, estates, guardianships, conservatorships, property disputes, and other equity matters.
- Recorder of land records. Records and indexes deeds, deeds of trust, liens, and related instruments, and makes them available for title searches.
- Clerk for the Board of Supervisors. Prepares and records the official Board minutes that document county government decisions.
- County auditor and treasurer. Oversees county financial affairs and collects delinquent property taxes sold at prior-year tax sales.
Marriage licenses and Circuit, County, and Youth Court files are not Chancery records. Those belong to the Pike County Circuit Clerk, the separate clerk that serves the criminal and main civil trial courts.
Pike County Chancery Court Records
Chancery Court is Mississippi's equity court, and in Pike County the Chancery Clerk holds its case files. The court hears divorce, child custody, and adoption matters, along with estates, wills, guardianships, conservatorships, and disputes over land or other equity claims. Because there is no separate probate court in Pike County, estate and will administration runs through Chancery Court as well. Estate, guardianship, and conservatorship filings are explained in more depth on the Pike County Chancery Court records page.
Typical case files include petitions, wills admitted to probate, letters testamentary or of administration, inventories, accountings, creditor notices, guardianship bonds, conservatorship reports, custody and support orders, and final decrees. Some material is sensitive. Adoption files, youth matters, and certain mental-health proceedings are restricted, and minor, medical, or financial details may be redacted before a record is released.
A few terms come up often when reading these files.
- Executor or administrator
- The person the court appoints to settle a deceased person's estate, with or without a will.
- Guardianship
- A court arrangement that gives an adult legal authority over a minor or the minor's property.
- Conservatorship
- A similar arrangement for an adult who cannot manage personal or financial affairs.
- Lis pendens
- A recorded notice that a lawsuit affecting a piece of property is pending.
Land and Property Records in Pike County
The Chancery Clerk is the county recorder for real-estate documents. Title searchers, lenders, surveyors, and property owners use these records to confirm ownership and to find claims against a parcel. The office records and indexes the documents, then keeps them available for inspection and copying.
Recorded land instruments handled by the office include the following.
- Deeds and deeds of trust
- Assignments and oil and gas leases
- Federal tax liens and construction liens
- Lis pendens notices
- Military discharge records
Beyond recording, the office collects delinquent property taxes that were sold at prior-year tax sales and keeps the related tax-sale records. The county homepage also routes the public to a "View Property Deeds" link, which is the official starting point for online deed lookups before contacting the office directly.
How to Request a Certified Copy
A certified copy carries the clerk's stamp and signature, which proves the document is a true copy of the official record. Banks, land-title companies, vehicle-title offices, and courts often require a certified copy rather than a plain printout. Plan to request one through the clerk that holds the record, since portal screenshots are not certified.
- Identify the record. For a court file, gather the case or estate number, the party or decedent names, and the approximate filing year. For a land record, note the document type and the parties.
- Confirm the office holds it. Divorce, probate, guardianship, and land records are Chancery records; call 601-783-3362 if you are unsure whether the Chancery Clerk or the Circuit Clerk has the file.
- Submit the request. Visit the counter at 200 E. Bay St., mail a written request to P.O. Box 309, or use the Pike County Information Request Form for records that are hard to retrieve online.
- Pay the copy and certification fees and provide a delivery method. Confirm the exact amount before ordering, since court-file certification can differ from the land-record schedule.
- Pick up the certified copy in person or wait for it to arrive by mail.
Pike County Information Request Form Fields
When a record is not easy to pull online, the Pike County Information Request Form is the universal fallback. It cites Mississippi Code sections 25-61-5 and 25-61-7 and asks the requester to describe the record in detail. The fields below show what to prepare before submitting the form.
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Date information requested | Yes | No format printed on the form. |
| Person requesting information | Yes | The requester's name. |
| Company name and address | No | Company and mailing address if applicable. |
| Email address | No | Email contact. |
| Phone number | No | Phone contact. |
| Detailed description of information requested | Yes | The key field; describe the record fully. |
| How would you like to receive this information? | Yes | Delivery method is not pre-listed. |
| When do you need this information? | No | Requested deadline. |
| Requestor signature and date | Yes | The signer agrees to the form's terms. |
Pike County Chancery Clerk Fees
The Chancery Clerk posts a Mississippi recording fee sheet for land documents, copies, and certified copies. The schedule below is drawn from that sheet, which took effect January 1, 2020 and was amended July 1, 2020. The public records research fee comes from the Pike County Information Request Form.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Deeds and similar documents, first five pages | $26.00 |
| Each additional page beyond five | $1.00 |
| Assignment, release, amendment, cancellation, first five pages and marginal notation | $27.00 |
| Each additional assignment, release, or similar | $26.00 |
| Marginal notations, if requested | $4.00 |
| Copies furnished by clerk or employee, per page | $0.50 |
| Copies furnished by another person, per page | $0.25 |
| Certified copies, per complete document | $1.00 |
| Public records research fee | $5.00 plus $0.50 per copy |
Probate, divorce, and other Chancery Court filing fees are set separately from the land-record schedule. A specific Chancery Court filing fee table was [fee not located in official Pike sources], so confirm court-file charges with the office before filing or ordering copies.
Online Access to Pike County Chancery Records
Pike County offers more than one online route into Chancery records. The county homepage links to "View Chancery Court Case Info," "View Property Deeds," and "View Judgement Roll," and the Chancery Clerk maintains a dedicated records portal. These tools are useful for a first look, but they do not replace a certified copy from the office.
The Chancery official-records inquiry portal is at chancery.pikecountyms.gov. Its public landing page is reachable, though search-field labels did not render fully during research, so call the office if a field is unclear. The statewide Mississippi Electronic Courts system at courts.ms.gov/mec is the official e-filing and viewing path for participating courts, but it is gated behind a captcha for public users.
For records the Chancery Clerk does not hold, such as marriage licenses or Circuit and County Court case files, the Pike County Circuit Clerk runs a separate subscription case-search portal through Delta Computer Systems.
Mail, In-Person, and Phone Requests
The Chancery Clerk's counter at 200 E. Bay St. in Magnolia is the most reliable path for certified copies, older estate files, and non-digitized land records. The office is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and staff can confirm copy costs and whether a record is public or sealed.
Mail requests go to P.O. Box 309, Magnolia, MS 39652. Include enough detail to identify the file, such as the case or estate number, the party or decedent names, the approximate filing date, and the document type you need, along with your contact and payment information. A phone call to 601-783-3362 is the quickest way to confirm a file's location, the certification process, and the exact fee before you mail anything.
Note: Adoption files, youth matters, and sealed or mental-health records are restricted, so the office may decline to release them even when other case documents are public.