About the Carter County Clerk's Office
Kelly Brawley is the Carter County Clerk. The office sits apart from the courthouse, in the Carter County Administration Building in Ardmore. Its main job is keeping county records. That means real-estate filings, deeds, mortgages, tax liens, and Uniform Commercial Code filings. The County Clerk also serves as the county Registrar of Deeds. In that role the office receives, records, stores, and perpetually makes public documents accessible.
The Carter County Clerk does more than land records. The same office handles the financial and administrative work of county government. It serves as secretary to the Board of County Commissioners. It tracks the county budget, payroll, and accounts payable. So the office wears two hats. One is the public-records hat that property owners, title searchers, and lenders care about. The other is the county-finance hat that keeps the commission running.
Carter County Clerk
Clerk: Kelly Brawley
Carter County Administration Building
25 A Street NW, Suite 203
Ardmore, OK 73401
Mailing: P.O. Box 1236, Ardmore, OK 73402
(580) 223-8162
Hours: 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday
What the County Clerk Does in Carter County
The Carter County Clerk carries a wide set of duties. The public-records side draws the most foot traffic. People come to record a deed, file a lien, or look up a chain of title. The clerk also indexes each filing so it can be found later. Behind the counter, the office runs payroll and budgets for the county. Both sides of the work fall under one elected County Clerk.
- Record and index deeds, mortgages, and other real-estate instruments
- Serve as Registrar of Deeds and keep documents open to the public
- Record UCC financing statements, tax liens, and releases
- Act as secretary to the Board of County Commissioners
- Prepare and post commission agendas, minutes, and proceedings
- Handle county accounts payable, payroll, and financial reports
- Receive claims filed against Carter County
Carter County Clerk and Court Clerk Compared
Carter County splits its clerk work between two offices. New visitors mix them up all the time. The County Clerk holds land and property records. The Court Clerk holds court case files. They sit in different buildings and answer to different needs. Court dockets, criminal files, and marriage licenses route to the Court Clerk, not here. For those records, start with the Carter County Court Clerk instead.
The line is simple once you know it. If your record came from a lawsuit or a charge, it is a court record. If it touches land, money owed, or a property right, it is a county record. The table below sorts the two offices side by side.
| Point | County Clerk | Court Clerk |
|---|---|---|
| Officer | Kelly Brawley | Renee Bryant |
| Building | County Administration Building | Carter County Courthouse |
| Holds | Deeds, mortgages, liens, UCC, county finance | Court case files, dockets, fines, marriage licenses |
| Search tool | OKCountyRecords land search | OSCN and ODCR court search |
| Phone | (580) 223-8162 | (580) 223-5253 |
Note: A will, a divorce decree, or a death-and-heirship affidavit can appear in both systems, so check the County Clerk for the recorded version and the court for the case file.
Recorded Documents in Carter County
Most filings at the County Clerk touch real estate. A deed moves title from one owner to the next. A mortgage records the loan against the land. A release clears a paid lien from the record. The office also takes filings that are not strictly property based, such as UCC financing statements and tax warrants. Each document gets a book and page or an instrument number so it can be pulled again.
The range of instrument types runs long. The land index for Carter County covers far more than the basic deed and mortgage. Wills and probate paperwork can be recorded here as well, though the probate case itself lives in the District Court. For estate filings tied to a case, see the county's probate records.
- Deeds, mineral deeds, and easements
- Mortgages, releases, and assignments
- UCC financing statements and tax warrants
- Oil and gas leases and other leases
- Judgments, liens, and lis pendens notices
- Affidavits, powers of attorney, and trusts
- Last wills, proof of death and heirship, and divorce decrees
The online index reaches back to November 1998. Scanned images go back even further, to January 1908. That deep run makes the Carter County land records useful for title work and for family-history research alike.
How to Search Carter County Land Records
Carter County land records are searched online through OKCountyRecords. The County Clerk uses this vendor to publish the recorded index and scanned images. The search lives at okcountyrecords.com/search/carter. Indexed data starts in November 1998. Older images, going back to 1908, are scanned and may need paid access. The county counter remains the official source for final pricing and certified copies.
- Open the OKCountyRecords search page for Carter County.
- Type a name, or switch to an advanced search for book, page, or instrument number.
- Add a recording date range to narrow a common name.
- Filter by instrument type, such as deed, mortgage, or oil and gas lease.
- Use the legal-description fields, such as section, township, and range, to find a parcel.
- Open the matching index entry to view the document detail and any scanned image.
Note: The online index is a finding aid, so confirm any legal description or chain of title against the certified record at the Carter County Clerk before you rely on it.
Carter County Land Records Search Fields
The OKCountyRecords advanced search gives many ways into the Carter County land records. You can hunt by person, by document, or by parcel. A name search works for most users. Title professionals lean on the legal-description and instrument-number fields. The table lists the fields the advanced search supports.
| Field | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Name | text | Grantor or grantee party name |
| Party type | dropdown | Narrows by the party's role on the document |
| Book | text | Recording book number |
| Page | text | Recording page number |
| Series | text | Index series identifier |
| Instrument number | text | Unique number assigned at recording |
| Instrument type | dropdown | Deed, mortgage, lease, UCC, tax warrant, and more |
| Recording date range | date | Limits results to a filing window |
| Legal description | text | Lot, block, or subdivision text |
| Quarter, section, township, range | text | Locates a parcel by survey description |
How to Request a Copy of a Recorded Document
Copies come from the Carter County Clerk in person, by mail, or through the online image system. A plain copy works for most needs. A certified copy carries the clerk's stamp and is used when a copy must prove the record in an official setting. You will move faster with the book and page or the instrument number in hand. Pull that detail from the online index first.
- Find the document in the OKCountyRecords index and note its book, page, or instrument number.
- Decide whether you need a plain copy or a certified copy.
- Visit the County Clerk at the Administration Building, or mail a request to the P.O. Box.
- Pay the per-page copy fee, plus the certification fee for any certified page.
- Pick up the copy at the counter, or wait for the mailed return.
Note: Call the County Clerk at (580) 223-8162 before mailing a request so you can confirm the current per-page total and the accepted payment method.
Carter County Clerk Recording and Copy Fees
The County Clerk charges set fees to record and copy documents. The fee schedule published through OKCountyRecords lists the recording, copy, certification, and preservation charges. Recording fees rest on state law. Oklahoma fixes county clerk fees under 28 O.S. 32, while the documentary stamp tax on a sale falls under 68 O.S. 3201. Margin rules for recorded pages changed under 19 O.S. 298, effective November 1, 2024, and a document that does not meet the format counts as nonconforming.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| First page of a deed, mortgage, or instrument (includes preservation fee) | $8.00 |
| Each additional page of the same instrument | $2.00 |
| Additional preservation fee per recorded document | $10.00 |
| Certification of a copy, per page | $1.00 |
| Photographic, typewritten, or printed copies, per page | $1.00 |
| Hard copies of microfilmed records to bonded abstractors, per page | $1.00 |
| Plat of one block or less | $10.00 |
| Plat of more than one block | $25.00 |
| Nonconforming first page | $25.00 |
| Nonconforming additional page | $10.00 |
| Documentary stamp tax | $0.75 per $500 of consideration |
The posted schedule warns that final pricing is set at the counter, so the OKCountyRecords fee schedule is a guide rather than a quote. Confirm a total with the Carter County Clerk before you submit a filing.
Carter County Budget and Finance Records
The County Clerk is also the record keeper for county government itself. The office serves as secretary to the Board of County Commissioners and to the County Excise Board. It prepares the meeting agendas, keeps the minutes, and stores the commissioners' contracts and proceedings. On the money side, the clerk supports the annual budget and runs the day-to-day finance work. Cities, towns, and school districts submit budgets that the office compiles.
- Prepare and post Board of County Commissioners agendas and minutes
- Maintain commissioner proceedings and county contracts
- Support the annual county budget process
- Handle accounts payable and county payroll
- Prepare annual and monthly financial reports
- Compile budgets from cities, towns, and school districts
- Receive claims filed against Carter County
These records open a window on how Carter County spends public money. Agendas and minutes show what the commission decided. Claims and contracts show where county funds went. The County Clerk's counter is the place to ask for them.