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Court records are kept in the Clerk's Office located on the First Floor of the Clark County Courthouse. For the public's convenience, a computer terminal is available to do routine records checks and to locate and verify cause/case numbers.
Procedures for Requesting Documents
The public may request to review a file between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Court files may be reviewed under the supervision of a Clerk's Office employee. Normally, an individual will be allowed to view only three(3) files per day. A request slip must be completed for each file requested. There are some court files and documents that are confidential in nature hence not available to the public.
Requests for copies may be made in person or through the mail. Cost of certified copies are $5.00 for the first page and $1.00 for every page thereafter per document. Non-certified copies are 50 cents per page. If the documents being requested are 1996 to present and the request is for non-certified copies, we can copy the documents on to a CD for 25 cents per page plus $20.00 for the cost of the CD and postage. Copies made from archived records dated before 1996 are on microfilm and may include an additional $30 search fee. Use the following copy request form.
Some of the Clerk's files are kept at offsite storage and there is a 24 hour wait period for their retrieval. Please check the list of available files
ClerkePass 
ClerkePass is a website through which you can order certified copies or non-certified copies from our office. Clark County Clerk's Office is associated with ClerkePass at https://www.clerkepass.com/Clark/.
Only records that have been scanned can be requested through this service. Currently all records are scanned back to 1998 to present. We are in the middle of a large microfilm to imaging project that will convert microfilm records back to 1985 to digital images. Once these records are converted, they can then be ordered through this service.
The documents requested at ClerkePass that are certified are signed with a digital id and signature. When a request is made the documents are uploaded to ClerkePass by someone in our office and certified by a deputy clerk. The ClerkePass website attaches
a digital id to the document, so the certification of the document can actually be verified by going to the ClerkePass website and inputting the digital id.
This is assurance that the document actually came from the Clark County Clerk and was certified by our office.
There is an additional $8.00 fee on top of the certification fee for using this service. Local attorneys probably would not use this service unless you needed to urgently have an electronic certified copy sent to some other distant location such as another court or attorney in another State. Presumably if you are local you would obtain certified copies from the Clerk's Office directly. You can also order non-certified copies from ClerkePass and the surcharge is $4.00 on top of the Clerk's fee of .25 cents per page.
RCW 40.16.010 Injury to Public Records
Every person who shall willfully and unlawfully remove, alter, mutilate, destroy, conceal, or obliterate a record, map, book, paper, document, or other thing filed or deposited in a public office, or with any public officer, by authority of the law, shall be punished by imprisonment in a state correctional facility for not more than five years, or by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or both.
Search of Criminal Cases
There is a charge of $5.00 on each specified person for a request to search to conduct a search that includes a written verification form for Clark County criminal convictions. These searches date back to 1979 to present. Additional costs are assessed for copies and a research fee of $20.00 could be assessed if the request is for searches dated before 1979. Requests are accepted only through the regular mail. Please provide the following in your request:
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Name of person: Last name, First name and Middle name, Date of Birth or any other personal identifiers.
- Provide the approximate date of the offense, and possible criminal charge; if you're looking for a specific criminal filing.
- Include the service fee of $5.00 and a self addressed stamped envelope (see new U.S. Postal Service regulations below) and mail it to:
Clark County Clerk's Office
Attn. Criminal Department
PO Box 5000
Vancouver, WA 98666-5000
If a statewide criminal conviction search is needed, that information can be requested through the Washington State Patrol's Criminal History Web site at https://watch.wsp.wa.gov/ for a fee of $10.00 per person.
*Note: Due to new U.S. Postal Service regulations effective 5-14-07, if the documents will be more than 1/4" thickness, they cannot be put in a small sized envelope but rather need to be in an envelope that will allow the 8 1/2 " x 11" document to be flat and not folded.
