About the McLennan County Clerk's Office
Andy Harwell serves as the current McLennan County Clerk. The office is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The County Clerk is custodian of all county records including deeds, deeds of trust, liens, hospital liens, cattle brands, DD-214 military discharge records, and some birth and death records. The office also issues and maintains marriage licenses and assumed-name certificates.
The County Clerk serves as clerk of court for misdemeanor criminal cases, county civil cases, the Commissioners Court, and the probate court. Duties include maintaining official court records, recording acts and proceedings, entering judgments, administering minor trust and registry accounts, keeping party indexes, collecting costs and fees, and paying juror fees.
County Clerk Recording & Marriage
215 N 5th Street, Room 223 (A & B)
Waco, TX 76701
254-757-5078
Fax 254-757-5146
County Clerk Court Files
215 N 5th Street, Room 201
Waco, TX 76701
Civil 254-757-5189 / Crim 254-757-5185 / Probate 254-757-5186
Mon-Fri, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
What the County Clerk Does in McLennan County
The County Clerk wears many hats. The recording office accepts deeds, liens, plats, assumed-name certificates, and other public records. The marriage desk issues and maintains marriage licenses. The court departments serve as clerk for misdemeanor, civil, and probate cases. The Commissioners Court support function handles county-level governance records. Texas Government Code Chapter 51 frames the duties of court clerks for both the County Clerk and the District Clerk.
- Record deeds, deeds of trust, liens, and plats.
- Issue and maintain marriage licenses and informal marriage declarations.
- File DD-214 military discharge records and assumed-name certificates.
- Serve as clerk for the County Courts at Law and the County Judge probate docket.
- Support the Commissioners Court and maintain official county records.
- Collect court costs, fines, and fees.
The Tyler Self-Service Portal
The County Clerk publishes public records online through Tyler Self-Service. After accepting the disclaimer, users can search Official Public Records, marriage records, birth records, and death records. OPR documents from January 1996 forward are searchable, viewable, and purchasable. Selected older deed, deed of trust, and mechanics lien volumes from the late 1960s through 1995 are also imaged. Formal marriage records reach back to April 1878 with full images.
The marriage record search is one of the most common public searches.
The marriage search at tylerhost.net accepts either party's name and a marriage date range. Formal marriages from April 1878 forward return image results; informal marriage records from May 1996 forward are index-only.
The Official Public Record search covers deeds, liens, plats, and many other recorded documents.
The OPR search at tylerhost.net accepts name, grantor, grantee, recording date range, document number, book and page, and document types. The county notes that records are indexed back to January 1, 1857.
How to Request a Certified Copy
Certified copies are official sealed copies that satisfy most legal uses. The County Clerk recording office handles marriages, deeds, and OPR. The court departments handle copies of civil, misdemeanor, and probate court files. Plan for $1 per page plus a $5 certification fee for most certified items.
- Decide which department holds the record: recording and marriage, civil, misdemeanor, or probate.
- Search the Tyler portal or call the proper office to confirm the record and current fee.
- Mail, fax, or walk in your request with the document name, date, and parties.
- Include payment by check or money order made out to McLennan County Clerk.
- Include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a mail-back.
County Clerk Fees
The County Clerk publishes a current fee schedule. The table below lists the most common fees from the official recording and vital-record desks.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Birth certified copy | $22 |
| Death certified copy | $20 first, $3 each additional same-day same-person |
| Marriage license | $70 |
| Marriage license with Twogether in Texas certificate | $10 |
| Informal marriage declaration | $35 |
| Certified copies | $1 per page plus $5 certification |
| Assumed name, one owner | $12.50 |
| Each additional assumed-name owner | $0.50 |
| Plat recording first page / additional | $31 / $5 |
County Courts at Law and Probate
The County Clerk serves as clerk for three County Courts at Law and the County Judge probate docket. Misdemeanor criminal cases and county civil cases run through the County Courts at Law. Probate cases run through the County Judge with support from Probate Court Services. The clerk files cases, processes documents, and collects costs and fines. The County Clerk cannot give legal advice and refers users to legal aid resources.
For probate and guardianship, see probate records. For misdemeanor and arrest detail, see arrest records. For civil cases at the county level, the County Clerk Civil Department is reachable at 254-757-5189.
Records the County Clerk Does Not Keep
Some records that people expect to find at the County Clerk live elsewhere. Property surveys are not recordable in Texas under most circumstances. The County Clerk's site notes that the office only holds a survey if it was attached as an exhibit to another recorded document. District court records, including divorce, felony criminal, and large civil cases, belong to the District Clerk, not the County Clerk. Vital record applications and underlying SSN data are confidential even when the index entry is public.
Advanced Name Searching
The Tyler portal supports a set of advanced name search tools that go beyond a plain text match. An exact-match search runs the name in the exact order entered, with no punctuation. A wildcard search works like an internet search, where word order does not matter and spaces act as implied OR. Operators include a plus sign for must-contain, a minus sign for must-not-contain, a dollar sign for sounds-like, a question mark for a possible incorrect letter, an asterisk for starts-with or wildcard, and a tilde for fuzzy or proximity searches.
Use the advanced tools when a name has spelling variations or when you do not know the exact word order on the recorded document. The County Clerk page reminds users that the index is similar to a library card catalog, so try every spelling and form of a name before deciding a record does not exist.
A pipe character separates multiple legal descriptions; parentheses group clauses; double quotes group exact phrases; double asterisks can search any character in case number, parcel number, or legal remarks fields. These small touches save time on hard searches and help with names that have changed spelling over decades. Images may also be unavailable during system backups, so try again later if the portal returns an unexpected error.
For names that may include nicknames or maiden surnames, run several searches with each form. The Tyler portal does not always link aliases automatically, so multiple passes catch records the first search misses. Keep notes on each spelling tried so you do not repeat work on a later session.