About the Montour County Clerk of Courts
Montour County uses a split Pennsylvania clerk structure. Susan M. Kauwell is listed locally as Prothonotary / Clerk of Courts / Clerk of Orphans Court, with the courthouse office at 253 Mill Street, Danville, PA 17821. The Clerk of Courts page is the criminal-record office page. County contact materials list the court-related clerk phone as 570.271.3010, and county office hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00AM to 4:00PM.
The Clerk of Courts handles adult and juvenile criminal court records, collects and distributes court costs and restitution, collects bail money, returns bail to the surety after completion of court proceedings, and maintains miscellaneous files relating to election districts, election officials, constables, and private detectives. Civil filings belong with the Prothonotary, while estates, guardianships, adoptions, and marriage licenses belong with Orphans' Court.
Montour County Clerk of Courts
Officer: Susan M. Kauwell
253 Mill Street
Danville, PA 17821
570.271.3010
Monday-Friday, 9:00AM-4:00PM
The official county criminal clerk source appears below. Use the Montour County Clerk of Courts page for the current criminal fee bill and office notices.
What the Clerk of Courts Does in Montour County
The criminal clerk is the records custodian after a criminal matter reaches the Court of Common Pleas. Public UJS docket sheets may show OTN, charges, statutes, grading, bail, pleas, dispositions, sentences, costs, restitution, attorneys, hearings, orders, and docket entries. The Clerk of Courts is the office to contact when a public docket sheet is not enough and the user needs a full copy, a certified copy, a cost or restitution balance, a bail-money question, or a local filing fee.
- Maintains adult criminal Court of Common Pleas case records.
- Serves as custodian for juvenile criminal court records, with public access limited by juvenile confidentiality law.
- Collects and distributes court costs and restitution.
- Collects bail money and returns bail to the surety after proceedings are complete.
- Handles criminal petitions, subpoenas, summary appeals, private detective filings, and expungement or limited-access filings listed in the fee bill.
How to Request a Criminal Certified Copy
Certified criminal copies may be needed for expungement follow-up, licensing, immigration, employment screening explanations, appeal packets, or proof of disposition. A Pennsylvania docket sheet is useful, but it is not always a certified copy and should not be treated as a Pennsylvania State Police criminal-history background check.
- Search UJS Case Search by docket number, participant name, OTN, complaint number, incident number, or SID to identify the case.
- Record the docket number, defendant name, charge or disposition, filing year, and document needed.
- Call the Montour County Clerk of Courts at 570.271.3010 to confirm the file, page count, copy fees, and certification fee.
- Ask whether the request can be handled by mail, whether payment must be check or can be card, and whether processing fees apply.
- For restricted juvenile, sealed, expunged, or limited-access records, ask whether the office can release anything without a court order.
Criminal Records Request Fields
A useful criminal-record request identifies the exact case rather than asking for every possible record under a name. Public web docket sheets can help supply identifiers before contacting the office. For agency records outside the court file, Montour County's open-records form asks for requester contact, delivery method, copy format, certification need, and cost notification.
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Docket number | Best if known | Use the Common Pleas criminal docket number from UJS or court paperwork. |
| Defendant name | Yes | Include full name and date of birth if the office asks for it to distinguish people. |
| OTN or complaint number | Helpful | UJS supports OTN, incident, and complaint number searches for criminal matters. |
| Document type | Yes | Examples: disposition, sentencing order, docket entries, petition, subpoena, bail record, or cost record. |
| Certified copies | Conditional | Say whether a clerk certification is required; criminal fee bill lists certified copy at $5. |
| Delivery method | Yes | Ask whether pickup, mail, or another delivery method is available for that record. |
Montour County Criminal Fee Bill
The Montour County Clerk of Courts criminal fee bill supplies the local amounts below. It lists all copy fees at $0.50 per page and certified copy at $5. Clerk pages list cash, check, debit card, and credit card as payment methods, with processing fees for card payments.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Copy fee | $0.50 per page |
| Certified copy | $5 |
| Miscellaneous criminal filing, new case | $60 |
| Private detective two-year license | $200 |
| Private detective business license | $300 |
| Private detective license renewal | $20 |
| Bail bondsman renewal | $5 |
| Petition | $20 |
| Expungement or limited access | $157 |
| Expungement or limited access, new Common Pleas case | $172 |
| Rule 586 petition | $297.75 |
| Search | $20 |
| Subpoena | $5 |
| Summary appeal | $40 |
Criminal Dockets, Local Rules, and Background Checks
Use UJS Case Search and PAeDocket for public criminal Common Pleas and Magisterial District Court docket sheets. For local filing rules, the Columbia-Montour 26th Judicial District local rules page includes criminal rules and transcript rules. For official statewide criminal-history checks, use Pennsylvania State Police PATCH rather than relying on a court docket sheet alone.
The distinction matters in Montour County because a court docket is a record of what happened in a specific court case, while PATCH is the statewide criminal-history channel maintained by Pennsylvania State Police. A docket may show charges, grading, bail, events, plea, disposition, sentence, costs, restitution, and attorney information, but the UJS docket-sheets materials warn that recent entries may be delayed and that docket sheets are not a substitute for a criminal-history background check. For employment, licensing, volunteer screening, or other formal background-review purposes, confirm whether the requesting agency wants a certified court disposition from the Clerk of Courts, a PATCH result, or both.
- UJS Case Search - public docket lookup by case identifier, person, OTN, complaint, incident, or SID.
- 26th Judicial District local rules - criminal local rules and related court procedures.
- Pennsylvania PATCH - official PSP criminal-history background-check portal.
Mail, Counter, and Online Access
Online criminal docket access starts with UJS, but criminal file copies, certifications, bail questions, restitution questions, and local fee payments should be confirmed through the Clerk of Courts. Juvenile criminal court records are not ordinary public records; 42 Pa.C.S. Section 6307 restricts juvenile court file inspection to listed persons and agencies unless an exception applies. Sealed, expunged, or limited-access records may also be unavailable through public search.
Financial questions should also go to the county criminal clerk when the issue is tied to a Montour County Common Pleas case. The county page assigns the Clerk of Courts responsibility for collecting and distributing court costs and restitution, collecting bail money, and returning bail to the surety after the case is complete. PAePay can help with obligations approved for online payment, but it does not replace the Clerk of Courts for case-specific cost, restitution, bail-return, subpoena, petition, or certified-copy questions.
For broader county agency records, the Montour County Open Records Request page accepts online form submissions, righttoknow@montourcounty.gov, fax 570.271.3088, and mail to 435 East Front Street, Danville, PA 17821. For criminal case records, direct the request to the Clerk of Courts first because court access rules and local clerk procedures control copies from the judicial file.