Requirements and Duties
Court clerks serve an important role in the operation of the
court system in Tennessee. Clerks must attend each session of
court with all the papers in the cases on the docket and must
administer the oaths to parties and witnesses who testify in
a case. Clerks usually keep minutes of the court in a well-bound
book, but may keep this information in the form of a legible
computer printout so long as the clerk maintains the computer
printout as a permanent record. In addition, information required
to be kept as a record by any government official may be maintained
on CD ROM disks instead of bound books or paper records. Because
court clerks deal with voluminous paperwork, the storage and
retention of documents are important considerations. When a
case is appealed from a court of record, the clerk compiles
the record (papers) needed for the appeal, and it is extremely
important that the records of the clerk's office be well-organized
and accurate. Clerks maintain the rule docket and an execution
docket in which all court judgments or decrees are entered in
order of rendition by the court and in which all receipts and
disbursements in a case are entered. Clerks also maintain indexes
for all books and dockets that are kept by the office. Clerks
collect state and county litigation taxes, criminal injuries
compensation tax, county expense fees, funds for the impaired
driver's trust fund, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation fees,
misdemeanant jail per diems, fines, sheriff's fees, clerk's
fees, witness fees and other items of court costs. Clerks prepare
bills of costs in cases, account for these monies and make collection
efforts when these amounts are unpaid.
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