About the Tippah County Chancery Clerk
Shana Lowry serves as the Tippah County Chancery Clerk. Like other county officials in Mississippi, the Chancery Clerk is elected by county voters and serves a four-year term. The office sits in Ripley, the county seat. It works alongside the Circuit Clerk, but the two offices hold separate record sets and answer different requests.
The county calls the Chancery Clerk one of the most diverse offices in Mississippi government. The clerk records land documents, keeps Chancery Court case files, prepares the county's financial paperwork as treasurer, and logs the official minutes of the Board of Supervisors. That mix means a single visit can cover a deed, an estate, and a county claim. The staff can point you to the correct book, docket, or file once they know what you seek.
Tippah County Chancery Clerk
Clerk: Shana Lowry
115 E Spring Street
Ripley, MS 38663
662-837-7374
Fax: 662-837-7148
Address note: County sources list the Chancery Clerk at 115 E Spring Street, while the 18th Chancery District website lists a Tippah County Chancery Court Building at 207 North Commerce Street. Confirm the hearing or filing location with the clerk before you appear.
A photo of the office helps first-time visitors find the right counter. The county's official Chancery Clerk page shows the building and lists the duties below.
The same page confirms Shana Lowry as clerk and gives the Spring Street address and phone line used for most record requests.
Chancery Court Records in Tippah County
As Clerk of the Chancery Court, the office holds the files for Mississippi's equity and family court. Chancery Court hears matters that a jury does not decide. That covers a wide span of personal and property disputes. The clerk files each petition, logs each order, and stores the final decree.
Estate and probate work makes up a large share of these files. The court handles wills, testate and intestate estates, guardianships, conservatorships, and minor settlements. Family matters run through the same court, including divorce, child custody, child support, alimony, adoption, and paternity. Equity disputes such as land-title fights and contract claims also land here. For a deeper look at wills and estate administration, see the county's probate records guide.
Common Chancery Court record types in Tippah County include:
- Divorce, custody, alimony, and child-support decrees
- Adoption and termination of parental rights files
- Wills, testate estates, and intestate estates
- Guardianships, conservatorships, and minor settlements
- Muniment of title, heirship, and will contests
- Commitments and name-change petitions
Some of these files are open to the public, while others are sealed. Adoption, guardianship, minor settlements, and commitments often carry redactions or full sealing. Financial and medical details inside an estate may also be withheld.
Tippah County Land and Property Records
The Chancery Clerk is the public recorder for Tippah County. Every deed, mortgage, and lien that touches county land passes through this office. The clerk records the document, stamps it into a book and page, and builds an index so a later searcher can find it. This recording chain is what makes a title search possible.
The office records far more than deeds. A few terms help when you read the index:
- Deed
- A signed document that transfers ownership of real estate from one party to another.
- Mortgage or deed of trust
- A lien that secures a loan against a property until the debt is paid.
- Lis pendens
- A public notice that a lawsuit is pending against a piece of property.
- Construction lien
- A claim filed by a builder or supplier who has not been paid for work on the land.
Beyond those, the clerk also records condominium liens, federal tax liens, and military discharge papers. Local subdivisions show up in the index by name, such as Lake Mohawk, Walnut Lake Estates, Channel View, Barkley Acres, and the City of Ripley surveys. Note that state tax liens filed after January 1, 2015 are no longer recorded here; those moved to the Mississippi Department of Revenue lien registry.
Board of Supervisors and Treasurer Duties
Two of the clerk's roles have nothing to do with private lawsuits. As Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, the office records the official minutes of the county's governing board. Those minutes are the formal record of county decisions, contracts, and spending votes. Anyone studying a county action starts with these minutes.
As County Treasurer, the Chancery Clerk handles the county's money trail. The clerk prepares the claims docket and the payrolls for every county department. After the Board of Supervisors approves a claim, the clerk writes and signs the checks. This makes the office the central point for county financial records as well as court and land files.
Note: Board minutes and county claim records are administrative records under the Mississippi Public Records Act, which is a separate track from sealed court files.
Search Tippah County Chancery Records Online
Tippah County's online indexes are hosted by Delta Computer Systems, not by the county directly. The vendor offers a subscription that covers Chancery cases and land records. The Chancery Court case search covers cases from 2000 to the present, and the deeds and land-records search covers instruments recorded from July 2012 forward. The site warns that the courthouse record is the official one and that the online data may lag behind the counter.
The Chancery case search accepts several fields. You can run a name search or use a case, date, or book reference instead.
| Field | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Party Name (last, first) | Text | Name search; refinements apply only to name searches. |
| Case Number | Text | Alternative single-record lookup. |
| Filed Date | Date | Month, day, year. |
| Final Disposition Date | Date | Month, day, year. |
| Docket (Book/Page) | Text | Book and page reference. |
| File Number | Text | Alternative search field. |
| Nature of Action | Dropdown | Divorce, Heirship, Guardianship, Muniment of Title, Name Change, and more. |
The nature-of-action menu is unusually detailed, which helps when a name returns many hits. Costs are the same across the Tippah Delta indexes, and only a handful of figures are published.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Delta subscription (monthly) | $30 |
| Delta subscription (annual) | $330 |
| Plain copy per page | Not published online; call the clerk |
| Certified copy | Not published online; call the clerk |
| Recording and filing fees | Not published online; call the clerk |
Note: The subscription buys index access only, so plan to call 662-837-7374 for local copy, recording, and filing fees before you rely on a quoted price.
How to Request a Certified Copy or Record
A certified copy carries the clerk's seal and proves the document is a true copy of the official record. Courts, banks, and title companies often require one. An uncertified print from the online index will not stand in for it. The steps below outline the request for a Chancery file or a recorded land document.
- Identify the record. For a court file, find the case number or the party names. For a land record, find the book and page or the grantor and grantee names.
- Confirm the channel. Use the Chancery Clerk for Chancery cases, estates, deeds, and liens; use the Circuit Clerk for Circuit and criminal files.
- Contact the office at 662-837-7374 or visit 115 E Spring Street to confirm what the request needs and the current copy fee.
- Submit the request in person, by mail, or by fax to 662-837-7148, with payment and a return address if mailing.
- Pick up the certified copy at the counter or wait for it to arrive by mail once the clerk processes payment.
If your record is a marriage license or a Circuit Court file, the Circuit Clerk is the correct office instead, since that clerk keeps marriage, civil, and criminal records.
Older Tippah County Chancery Records
The online indexes only reach back so far. Chancery cases start in 2000 and land records in 2012. Anything older lives in the clerk's bound books or in the county archive. For deep title work or genealogy, the paper trail runs back into the 1800s.
The Tippah County Archives, hosted through the Mississippi Digital Library, preserves county government records for research. Its holdings include Chancery Court records, Supervisor's Minutes, tax assessor records, and old county maps. The Mississippi Department of Archives and History also keeps a finding aid for original Tippah County materials, including nineteenth-century court and Chancery Clerk records. These archives are a separate channel from the clerk counter and the Delta indexes.
For older or historical records, you can start with the Tippah County Archives or the MDAH finding aid. Each Chancery Clerk record set stays distinct from the Circuit Clerk's, so confirm which office and which era hold the file before you travel to Ripley.