Find Cameron County County Clerk Records

About the Cameron County Clerk's Office

Sylvia Garza-Perez is the Cameron County Clerk. The office mission is to give strong customer service, improve daily practices, build staff skills, and keep a positive service operation. The County Clerk page lists values such as integrity, accountability, excellence, innovation, teamwork, and respect. The office says recording legal instruments is its most traditional and basic duty, and that these records take the most storage space and the most staff time of any single task.

The main office is on Levee Street in Brownsville. The court-facing civil and probate departments sit at the judicial building on Harrison Street, a few blocks away. So land records and court files are at two different addresses, which trips up many visitors.

What the County Clerk Does in Cameron County

The County Clerk records legal instruments, files county court cases, issues marriage licenses, keeps vital statistics, and collects fees. The office handles probate and guardianship filings through its Probate Department. It also keeps commissioners court minutes and records management for the county. Recording deeds, liens, and plats is the largest share of the work.

The office offers a long list of services to the public. Many are now online, while some still need a visit or a mailed form. The most common services are listed below.

• Official public records search for deeds, liens, plats, and foreclosures.
• Marriage license information and certified marriage copies.
• Vital statistics and county judicial case search.
• Probate filings, fee schedule, and online payments.
• Assumed business name (DBA), and a property alert feature.

County Clerk Branch Offices

The County Clerk serves a large county, so it runs offices beyond Brownsville. The branches handle many of the same services closer to where people live. Hours and days can vary by location, and the La Feria annex is open only on set days. Use the branch nearest you and call ahead to confirm a service.

Official Public Records and Land Records

The County Clerk runs the official records portal for recorded documents. That includes property and land records, plats, foreclosure sales, and commissioners court minutes. The index search is free, though document images or downloads may carry a fee. Older records have a separate historical portal.

Search the current index on the Cameron County Official Records Search. For documents from 1848 to 1912, the County Clerk links a historical site, the Cameron County historical Kofile portal. The current portal supports a search term, a date range, recorded-date filters, and a choice between index-only and full-text search. The office also markets a property alert feature, which can warn an owner about possible fraud against real property.

The office records far more than deeds. It handles assumed business names, often called a DBA, real property and land records, foreclosure sale notices, and commissioners court minutes. It also records military discharge documents, which are not freely public for every user under state law. The clerk lists hunting and fishing licenses, a Thank A Veteran program, vital statistics, and a fee schedule with payment options. Eligible filers may e-record documents under state law, and the office keeps a records management function for long-term storage and retrieval.

Marriage, Vital, and Probate Records

Marriage licenses and certified marriage copies are County Clerk records. A certified marriage record costs $21 per copy, and a verification of marriage only is $20. Mail requests use a check or money order, sent to the County Clerk's Office, ATTN: Marriage License, P.O. Box 2178, Brownsville, TX 78522.

The Probate Department files, records, and keeps probate records at the Harrison Street office. Case types include probate of a will, muniment of title, letters of administration, determination of heirship, small estate affidavits, and guardianships. A small estate affidavit applies only when there is no will, the estate is under $75,000, and no real estate is involved. For more on these files, see the probate records page and the marriage and divorce records page.

How to Request a Certified Copy

A certified copy is an official copy issued by the clerk for legal use. Banks, title companies, and agencies often ask for certified probate letters, certified marriage records, or certified county court orders. A plain copy works for personal review. The steps below cover a County Clerk copy request.

1. Find the record by name, year, or cause number, or search the official records portal first.
2. Download the right form, such as the Civil-Probate request form or the marriage record request form.
3. Fill in the party names, year, document type, and number of copies.
4. Submit with payment by mail or in person, and add any search fee.
5. Pick up the copy or wait for it by mail.

Note: For mailed marriage requests the office takes a check or money order only, and no refunds are given.

Cameron County Clerk Fees

Fees follow the county fee schedule and the request forms. Recording a real property document costs $35 for the first page, with smaller charges per added page. Copy and search fees apply to file requests. The amounts below come from official county forms and the fee schedule. Confirm the current rate before you pay.

Extra charges can apply, such as $0.25 for each indexed name over five and a $25 penalty for a missing grantee address.

Records Request Form Fields

The Civil-Probate request form asks for a set of fields so the clerk can locate the right file. Filling in the cause number and the party or decedent name speeds the search and avoids common-name mix-ups. The form lists many document choices, from a single order to the entire file.

Online Services and Remote Access

Many County Clerk tasks can start from home. The office promotes remote services that let a user search the public record, view a digital document image, and purchase or download a document from a home or business. This matters in a large border county where a trip downtown is not always easy.

Routing your request to the right department speeds things up. The Levee Street main office answers at (956) 544-0815. Civil and probate searches run through (956) 544-0826 at the Harrison Street office. Commissioners court minutes have their own line at (956) 982-5465, and records management answers at (956) 247-3511. The county's remote-services materials also list a records manager and a chief deputy as points of contact for harder requests. When in doubt, call the department that holds the record type you need rather than a general switchboard.

County Clerk vs District Clerk

Cameron County splits clerk work between two offices. Picking the wrong one is the top reason a search comes up empty. The County Clerk keeps official records, marriage, vital records, probate, and county court at law cases. The District Clerk keeps district court files, such as felonies, divorce, and larger civil suits.

So a deed, a marriage record, or a probate file points here, while a divorce decree or a felony file points to the District Clerk. For that side, see the District Clerk page. For the broader open-records framework and how to file a request, see the public records page.