Welcome to the Fifth Judicial Circuit 

The Fifth Judicial Circuit Court consists of ten counties in northeastern South Dakota, and they are: Brown, Campbell, Day, Edmunds, Faulk, Marshall, McPherson, Roberts, Spink and Walworth. We serve a population of 81,430 and cover 11,171 square miles.  The Circuit is served by four circuit court judges, one magistrate court judge, five court reporters, clerk magistrates in each county in the circuit, along with 12 deputy clerks, 22 on-call bailiffs, one law clerk, one scheduling clerk, eleven court service officers and four support staff.

IN FY 2011, OUR COURT PROCESSED:

• Criminal files: 4,990 felony and Class I misdemeanor cases per year, with another 9,424 Class II misdemeanor and traffic filings
  
  
• Civil files: 3,553 per year, including divorce, protection orders, adoptions, probate and other civil cases
  
  
• Juvenile matters: 877 dependency and delinquency cases
  
  
• Small claims: 3,097
  
  
• Records searches: approximately 15,391 per year, for employment backgrounds, criminal histories, genealogy, and other inquiries
  
  
• Money judgment searches: 108
  
  
• Record Merges: 1,380
  
  
• Child support receipts: about 243 (not processed through Child Support Enforcement Office)
  
  

We also performed non-case type work such as 526 passports, 160 civil wedding ceremonies, and numerous swearing-in ceremonies.

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