About the Montgomery County Clerk's Office
Mike Foley serves as the Montgomery County Clerk of Courts. The office receives, dockets, indexes, certifies, preserves, and makes public the court records of the Court of Common Pleas and the Municipal Court. Ohio does not use the Texas-style split of a district clerk and a county clerk. One Clerk of Courts handles the court side here. The office says it uses technology to streamline its work and to keep court records in archival quality.
The Clerk's own site lays out the duties, the title and passport functions, and the office's role with court records. The screen below shows that page.
You can read the office overview on the Clerk of Courts About page. The contact card below covers the Records Section for Common Pleas files.
Clerk of Courts, Records Section
Clerk: Mike Foley
41 N. Perry Street, Room 104
Dayton, OH 45422
937-496-7762
recordssection@mcohio.org
Monday–Friday
What the Clerk Does in Montgomery County
The Clerk's job runs wider than most people expect. Court records are the core duty. On top of that, the office is the county's title agent, a federal passport acceptance point, and the cashier for court money. The Clerk also calls juries and files certain liens. The list below covers the main duties tied to the office.
- Keep and certify court records for the Court of Common Pleas and Municipal Court.
- Issue certificates of title for cars, motorcycles, mobile homes, campers, and watercraft.
- Process U.S. passport applications as a State Department acceptance agent.
- Collect court costs, bonds, fines, forfeitures, and other revenue.
- Record notary commissions, administer oaths, and file state tax and judgment liens.
Note: the Clerk also collects sales and use tax from people who buy a vehicle, which is why title work and tax sit in the same office.
The Public Records Online Portal
The Clerk runs a free search system called Public Records Online v3, at pro.mcohio.org. It covers Municipal Court traffic, criminal, and civil cases, Common Pleas General Division criminal and civil cases, Domestic Relations cases, and Second District Court of Appeals cases. It does not cover probate or juvenile files. The portal posts unusually clear notices. Only the first 1,000 records come back for any search. Document images are redacted and normally post 48 to 72 hours after filing. Email to the Clerk is a public record. Bulk downloading is not allowed.
The portal's public-record statement spells out what the data is and is not. That page is shown below.
You can read the full text on the Clerk's public record statement. For the step-by-step search, see Montgomery County court records and court dockets.
How to Request a Certified Copy
An online printout is not certified. Courts, schools, and many agencies want a certified copy, which carries a deputy clerk's signature, a certificate stamp, and an embossed court seal. The Clerk's records request page explains the copy types and how to order. It is shown below.
See the Clerk records request page for the current process. The steps below cover a Common Pleas copy request.
- Find the case in the portal and note the case number and party names.
- Contact the right Clerk office for the page count and total fee.
- Choose your copy type: plain, certified, or authenticated.
- Pay in advance by cash, check, or money order, and include a self-addressed stamped envelope for mail.
- For Common Pleas records, request in person, by mail to 41 N. Perry Street, Room 104, or by email to recordssection@mcohio.org.
Municipal Court copy requests can also be made by phone or fax at the Eastern or Western Division, which accept credit cards.
Records Request Form Fields
The Clerk does not require special wording, but a clear request gets filled faster. There is no single fillable PDF for Common Pleas copies, so the request is instruction based. Give enough detail to find the case and total the fee. The table lists what to include.
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Case Number | No | Speeds up the search; pull it from the portal if you have it. |
| Party Names | Yes | Needed to locate the case when no number is known. |
| Document Type | Yes | Which filing or entry you want copied. |
| Number of Copies | Yes | Used to total the per-page fee. |
| Copy Type | Yes | Plain, certified, or authenticated. |
| Return Address / Envelope | Yes for mail | Include a self-addressed stamped envelope. |
Montgomery County Clerk Fees
Copy fees are set and simple. A plain copy is cheap. A certified copy costs more for the seal and signature. An authenticated copy, sometimes called exemplified or triple-sealed, carries the original signatures of the judge and the Clerk. The table lists the main charges.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Plain copy per page | $0.10 |
| Certified copy per page | $1.00 |
| Authenticated / exemplified copy | $5.00 |
| FedEx, Certified, or Registered Mail | $20 per service |
| Payment methods | Cash, check, money order (Municipal also takes cards) |
Note: the Clerk's notice raised the FedEx, Certified, and Registered Mail charge from $10 to $20 per service beginning December 1, 2025.
Certified vs Authenticated Copies
People often mix these up. A certified copy is enough for most local needs. An authenticated copy adds another layer for use out of state or abroad. The table sets them side by side.
| Point | Certified Copy | Authenticated Copy |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | $1.00 per page | $5.00 |
| What it has | Deputy clerk signature, stamp, embossed seal | Original judge and Clerk signatures, embossed seal |
| Common use | Local court, school, agency | Out-of-state or higher-level proof |
Mail and Online Filings
Many cases now move through e-filing. Mandatory e-filing applies to civil, criminal, and fugitive cases in the General Division of Common Pleas, and to notices of appeal for civil and criminal cases. The county e-filing portal is efiling.mcohio.org. For paper copies by mail, the Clerk wants advance payment and a stamped return envelope. Municipal Court also lets you request copies by phone or fax at the Eastern Division in Huber Heights or the Western Division in Trotwood.