Contact the Placer County Court Clerk

About the Placer County Clerk of the Superior Court

The Clerk of the Superior Court is the filing office for the Superior Court of California, County of Placer. The Clerk's staff work for the court itself, not the county Board of Supervisors. They check in new lawsuits, stamp filings, manage the case file from start to finish, set hearings on the calendar, and store every order signed by a judge. The office is split between two main courthouses, plus a juvenile clerk window in Auburn and a Tahoe site.

Court records held by the Clerk include civil and small claims files, family law cases, criminal cases (infractions, misdemeanors, and felonies), probate and conservatorship files, juvenile case files (sealed by law), traffic cases, and mental health matters. Copies of court orders, judgments, minute orders, and pleadings all come from the Clerk. The Clerk does not handle marriage licenses, deeds, or birth and death records. Those records belong to the Clerk-Recorder, which is a separate elected office. The split is covered below.

The juvenile clerk window sits at the Superior Court Juvenile Courthouse, 11270 B Avenue, Auburn, CA 95603, phone (530) 745-2100. Juvenile clerk hours run 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The Tahoe Courthouse at 2501 N. Lake Blvd., Tahoe City, also has a clerk window open 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on weekdays. The Jail Courtroom at 11801 Go For Broke Road, Roseville, has no public clerk window.

What the Placer County Court Clerk Does

The Clerk of the Superior Court runs the case file system. Each lawsuit, criminal charge, divorce petition, probate matter, or traffic ticket gets a case number from the Clerk. Pleadings are file-stamped, scanned, and routed to the right department. The Clerk takes filing fees, issues writs and subpoenas on request, sets next hearing dates, and prepares the daily calendar. After hearings, the Clerk enters minute orders and stores signed orders in the case file. The Clerk also handles jury notices and acts as the keeper of the seal for certifying records.

• File new civil, family, probate, criminal, traffic, and small claims cases at the Gibson or Historic Courthouse
• Issue case numbers, summons, subpoenas, writs of execution, abstracts of judgment, and other process
• Collect filing fees and accept fee waivers (form FW-001) at the counter
• Set hearing dates, post calendars, and enter minute orders after each hearing
• Make plain and certified copies of court records on request using form PL-CW001
• Maintain sealed and confidential files (juvenile, adoption, mental health, sealed criminal) under strict access rules

The Clerk does not give legal advice. Staff cannot fill out forms for a party or tell a litigant which form to file. For help with forms, the Self-Help Center in the Gibson Courthouse is the right stop. The Clerk also does not pull files by phone, email, or fax for copy purposes. Copy requests come in person or by mail using form PL-CW001, with the right fee.

Court Clerk vs County Clerk-Recorder

Two offices share the word "clerk" in Placer County and they do very different jobs. The Clerk of the Superior Court works for the court and keeps court case files. The County Clerk-Recorder works for the county and keeps property records, vital records, marriage licenses, fictitious business names, and notary bonds. People who need a divorce judgment or a criminal case file go to the court Clerk. People who need a marriage license or a certified birth certificate go to the Clerk-Recorder.

The county staff directory entry for the Clerk-Recorder confirms the office head and phone line for the separate county office.

Ryan Ronco serves as the County Clerk-Recorder-Registrar of Voters. That office sits at 3715 Atherton Road, Rocklin, CA 95765, with a phone of 530-886-5600 and a satellite office at 2954 Richardson Drive, Auburn. None of that office's records cross with court case files. A request for a divorce decree, for example, goes to the court Clerk, even though the marriage license came from the Clerk-Recorder. For more on the split between those two record sets, see marriage and divorce records and public records.

Note: A marriage dissolution record (the divorce) lives at the court Clerk, but the marriage record itself lives at the Clerk-Recorder.

How to Request a Certified Copy

A certified copy is a true copy of a court record with the Clerk's seal and signature on it. Banks, schools, lenders, the DMV, and other courts often want a certified copy of a judgment, a name change order, a divorce decree, or a criminal disposition. Plain copies are fine for personal use but are not accepted as proof in many legal settings.

1. Find the case number. Use the eCourt public portal case search, or use the case-number lookup that takes the filed year and a last name. With a case number, the Clerk does not have to bill the $15 name-search fee.
2. Download form PL-CW001 from the court site at placer.courts.ca.gov. Fill in the case number, party names, the document type wanted, the number of copies, and whether plain or certified copies are needed. List the requester name and mailing address.
3. Bring or mail the form to the right courthouse. Civil, family, probate, and small claims requests go to the Gibson Courthouse or Historic Courthouse Clerk. Criminal copy requests stay in a separate letter from civil requests. Traffic copy requests are mailed to P.O. Box 619077, Roseville, CA 95661. All other court mail goes to P.O. Box 619072, Roseville, CA 95661-9072.
4. Pay the fee. Mail requests use a check or money order payable to "Placer Superior Court." A "not to exceed" amount in the memo line is fine when the final fee is not known. Include a self-addressed stamped envelope with enough postage for the return packet.
5. Pick up or wait for the mail. Plain copies for small orders are made at the counter while the requester waits. Larger orders and certified copies are processed by Clerk staff and held for pickup or sent by mail.

No phone, email, or fax copy requests. The Clerk's records and copy policy is clear on that point. A court reporter transcript is a separate request, not a Clerk copy. Transcripts are ordered through the court reporter at 916-408-6153.

PL-CW001 Records Request Form Fields

The local form for any court copy in Placer County is PL-CW001, Records and Copy Request. The fields below cover what the requester fills out before mailing or dropping off the form. A request that misses a key field gets sent back.

Search warrant copies use a different form, PL-CW012, and follow a separate review process. Sealed and confidential files (juvenile, adoption, sealed criminal) are not released through PL-CW001 without a court order.

Placer County Court Clerk Fees

Copy and search fees are set by the statewide civil fee schedule plus local court policy. The list below covers what the Clerk charges for records work. Filing fees for new cases are separate and depend on case type.

Note: Certified copy cost is built from three lines: the per-page copy charge, the per-document certification fee, and any extra authentication or signature fee.

File Viewing Rules at the Clerk's Counter

The Clerk's counter staff can also pull a paper file for in-person review. The court's case records policy sets limits on how many files one person can view at once, and California Rule of Court 2.400 controls who may handle a file. Visitors must leave a photo ID and keys with the clerk while a file is out, and must stay at a viewing table or other spot the clerk picks.

Files that are on calendar are not available for viewing two days before the hearing and three days after. Off-site files can take up to three weeks to pull back to the courthouse. Under California Rule of Court 2.400, only court personnel may take a file apart or remove pages. The public may take notes and may request copies, but the file itself stays under Clerk control at all times.

In-Person and Mail Submission

The Clerk takes copy requests two ways: at the counter or by mail. Walk-in service at the Gibson Courthouse or Historic Courthouse is the fastest for short copy orders. Counter staff can pull the file, make the copies, certify them, and take payment in one visit if the file is on site and the order is small. For larger orders, the staff will hold the request and call when the work is ready for pickup.

For mail, the request goes to the court mailing address. Most divisions use P.O. Box 619072, Roseville, CA 95661-9072. Traffic copy requests use P.O. Box 619077, Roseville, CA 95661. Include the PL-CW001 form, a check or money order, and a self-addressed stamped envelope with enough postage. A mailed request may take a few weeks, more if the file is off-site. The Clerk's policy is firm: no phone copy requests, no email copy requests, no fax copy requests.

Note: A separate letter is needed for each case type. Criminal and civil copies cannot be requested in the same envelope.

Hours, Locations, and Mailing

Both main Clerk's offices keep the same hours. The Gibson Courthouse clerk window in Roseville is open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., except for court holidays. The Historic Courthouse clerk window in Auburn keeps the same schedule. The juvenile clerk window in Auburn closes for lunch from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. The Tahoe Courthouse clerk window is also open 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on weekdays. Court holidays follow the published 2026 schedule on the court hours and holidays page.

Mail goes to one of two P.O. boxes depending on case type. Court mailing address for most divisions: P.O. Box 619072, Roseville, CA 95661-9072. Traffic mailing address: P.O. Box 619077, Roseville, CA 95661. Appeals also use P.O. Box 619072 with "Appeals Division" added to the address line. The court does not deliver to the courthouse street address for general mail.

Related Placer County Resources

For full court file lookups, see court records. For dissolution or marriage paperwork, see marriage and divorce records. For probate filings handled by the Clerk, see probate records. For the broader open records framework, see public records. For trial-court structure and department maps, see the Superior Court.