Rutherford County Chancery Court Records

What the Rutherford County Chancery Court Does

Chancery Court is Tennessee's equity court. It exists alongside Circuit Court but handles a different class of cases. Circuit Court covers most criminal matters and common-law civil disputes. Chancery Court handles equitable claims, family law filings, and a broad group of civil matters where the remedy is not just a money judgment but an order requiring or stopping some action. In Rutherford County, the Chancery Court operates within the 16th Judicial District, which covers both Rutherford and Cannon Counties.

The court is presided over by a Chancellor. The Chancellor decides cases and issues final orders, decrees, and injunctions. Most of the day-to-day administrative work falls to the Clerk and Master, who maintains the docket, manages filings, issues process, and handles copy and fee collection. The Chancery courtroom and the Clerk and Master office are both located at the main courthouse in Murfreesboro.

Chancery is not a small-claims or general-sessions type of court. Cases filed here tend to be more involved than a typical civil warrant. Many have multiple parties, financial accountings, or ongoing obligations like child support or guardianship oversight. That complexity means the Chancery records can be detailed and sometimes span years.

The Rutherford County Chancery Court website is the official source for contact information, dockets, forms, and filing guidance. The screenshot below shows the Clerk and Master home page.

The home page links to dockets, forms, probate forms, FAQs, and the e-filing portal for attorneys.

The Clerk and Master: Adam T. Dodd

Adam T. Dodd currently serves as the Rutherford County Clerk and Master. The Clerk and Master is appointed by the Chancellor under the Tennessee constitution and serves a six-year term. This is not an elected position. The Chancellor selects the Clerk and Master, and the Clerk and Master answers to the court in an administrative and ministerial role.

The Chancery site describes the Clerk and Master as the principal administrative aide to the Chancery Court. That role covers courtroom administration, records management, docket maintenance, revenue management, court minutes, official communications, and a range of court-related duties. In practical terms, if you need to file something, get a copy, pay a fee, or check a docket, the Clerk and Master office handles it.

Dodd also serves as Special Master for pendente lite hearings in divorce and paternity matters in both Chancery and Circuit Courts. A pendente lite matter is a hearing on temporary orders while the main case is still pending. Temporary support, custody arrangements, and similar issues can come before the Special Master while the divorce or paternity case works toward a final resolution. The Special Master role extends the Clerk and Master's work beyond pure records management into active hearing functions.

The About Our Office page at rcchancery.com gives more detail on the Clerk and Master's duties and the office structure.

The page describes how the office functions within Chancery and what the Clerk and Master handles day to day.

Chancery Court Case Types in Rutherford County

Chancery handles a wide set of case types. The court's official site lists the following matters as within its jurisdiction. Not all Chancery case types are public in the same way. Adoption records, for instance, are generally confidential under Tennessee law. Other types are open public records.

• Divorce - contested and uncontested divorce proceedings and final decrees
• Adoption and Surrender - formal adoptions and parental surrender filings (generally confidential)
• Paternity and Legitimation - establishment of paternity and related orders
• Orders of Protection - civil protective orders for domestic violence situations
• Child Support - initial support orders, modifications, and enforcement
• Conservatorship and Guardianship - court-supervised care for incapacitated adults or minors
• Probate-Related Matters - certain probate and estate issues (note: most Rutherford probate is handled by the County Clerk under General Sessions Probate Judge oversight)
• Real Estate and Partition - disputes over property ownership and forced partition suits
• Name Change - legal name change petitions
• Contracts and Debt - equitable contract disputes and debt enforcement
• Trusts - trust administration and trust-related disputes
• Contempt - enforcement of court orders through contempt proceedings
• Minor Settlements - court approval of settlements involving minors
• Foreign Judgments - registration and enforcement of out-of-state judgments

For Rutherford County divorce records, Chancery is the primary filing court. Final divorce decrees, temporary orders, and support agreements become part of the Chancery case file. For matters involving estates and wills, check the probate records page first, since most Rutherford County probate filings are with the County Clerk rather than Chancery.

How to Search Rutherford County Chancery Records

There are two main ways to search Chancery records. The county's free online portal covers Clerk and Master cases, and the Chancery site itself has a document search for forms and probate documents. Both are worth knowing.

The Rutherford County Online Court Records System at rutherford.tncrtinfo.com is the central public portal. When you search, set the court office filter to "Clerk and Master" to pull Chancery cases. You can search by party name or case number. The portal returns up to 2,500 results, so a common name may need a case year or case-number fragment to narrow it down. Once you find a case, the docket shows filing dates, hearing dates, and event entries. The portal went fully free on July 1, 2025, when the county stopped supporting subscription logins.

The Chancery site at rcchancery.com/dockets posts hearing calendars for Chancery dockets. Check the dockets page if you need to know what is set for a particular date or term rather than tracking one case. The forms pages at rcchancery.com/forms also include a document search interface where you can look up specific court forms and probate forms by keyword. Attorneys can use the e-filing portal at go.tybera.net for Chancery filings.

For older records or documents not available online, visit the Clerk and Master office in person. Bring the case number if you have it. Staff can pull the file for review, and copies can be ordered on the spot or by mail.

See the Rutherford County court dockets page for general guidance on reading and filtering docket results across all courts, including Chancery.

Chancery Copy and Certified Copy Fees

The Clerk and Master office charges set fees for copies. Regular photocopies are $0.50 per page. Certified copies carry an additional charge: the base fee is $5.00, plus $0.50 per page for the pages copied. So a two-page certified document would cost $5.00 plus $1.00, for a total of $6.00. Outstanding costs on the account must be paid before the office will provide copies.

Mail requests are accepted. A mail request for copies should include the case number, the style of the case (the names of the parties), a return mailing address, and a daytime phone number. Send mail requests to: Chancery Court, 116 W. Lytle St., Suite 5101, Murfreesboro, TN 37130. The office will confirm the cost before processing. Payment must be received before copies go out.

For certified copies needed for legal or official use, such as proof of a divorce decree or a name-change order, call ahead to confirm the exact page count so you can send the right amount. The office phone for general and case information is (615) 898-7860.

Fax Filing for Attorneys in Chancery Court

Attorneys can file documents by fax with the Chancery Court under Local Rule 13 and Rule 5A of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure. Not every document can be faxed. The office cannot accept petitions, complaints, or any document that requires an original oath or a filing fee by fax. Those must come in person or by mail.

For eligible documents, the attorney must fax a signed agreement to pay $5.00 plus $1.00 per page within five judicial days. The fax filing fee covers the cost of printing and processing the document. Fax documents received after 4:15 p.m. are treated as filed the next business day. The building closes to the public at 4:15 p.m., even though office hours run until 4:30 p.m., so timing matters for same-day fax filings.

Copies requested by fax from the office require a signed agreement to pay $3.00 plus $0.50 per page within five judicial days. Fax filings are an attorney convenience. Pro se litigants generally cannot use the fax-filing process and should bring or mail original documents instead.

Self-Represented Litigants and Legal Help

Many people come to Chancery Court without an attorney, especially for divorce, name changes, and orders of protection. The clerk's office accepts filings from self-represented litigants, but there are firm limits on what clerks can do. Understanding those limits saves time and frustration.

If you believe you qualify as indigent and cannot pay the filing fee, you may fill out an Affidavit of Indigency and submit it with your pleading or petition. The judge reviews it. If approved, the initial filing fee is deferred. At the end of the case, court costs may be assessed against a party, split between parties, or in rare cases waived by court order.

Free legal help is available for those who qualify or who want basic guidance. The Rutherford and Cannon County Bar Association sponsors a free legal clinic every Thursday from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Greenhouse Ministries, 309 South Spring Street, Murfreesboro, TN 37130. The clinic does not handle full representation, but attorneys are available to answer questions and point people toward the right path.

The Tennessee Supreme Court created justiceforalltn.org for self-represented litigants. The site has plain-language explanations of common legal processes and links to forms. The Tennessee Courts Self-Help Center and the Tennessee court forms page are also useful starting points. The Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands provides free civil legal services to income-qualifying residents.

The Clerk and Master office cannot recommend attorneys. For a local attorney referral, contact the Rutherford and Cannon County Bar Association.

The Chancery FAQ page covers many common self-represented litigant questions about fees, forms, and what to expect when you file.

The FAQ addresses copy fees, fax filing rules, indigency, and what clerks can and cannot help with.

Orders of Protection in Rutherford County Chancery

Chancery Court handles orders of protection in Rutherford County. An order of protection is a civil court order that restricts contact between individuals in a domestic or family situation where abuse, stalking, or threat has occurred. Filing for one starts with a petition, and a judge can issue a temporary ex parte order quickly if the situation warrants it before a full hearing is set.

Free help is available. Individuals who need an order of protection can contact Domestic Violence at (615) 896-7377. Domestic Violence can assist with the process, help with forms, and provide safety planning. If Domestic Violence cannot assist in a given situation and the person does not have an attorney, forms are available from the Chancery office or can be printed from the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts website.

Orders of protection records are court records, but sensitive information including protected party addresses and minor identifiers may be restricted or redacted in public copies. The record of the order itself is generally public, but the address of the protected party is often withheld. Check with the clerk if you have questions about what is available in a specific file.

Related divorce and family law records in Rutherford County often involve orders of protection as part of a broader Chancery case. The Chancery Court file for a divorce may include protective orders, temporary support orders, and other ancillary documents that are part of the same case file.

Chancery Court Forms and Filing Resources

The Chancery site maintains a forms library at rcchancery.com/forms. Forms available include probate forms and general Chancery filing documents. The page has a search interface so you can look up a form by keyword rather than browsing the full list.

The forms page at rcchancery.com is the primary online source for Chancery filing documents and probate form downloads.

The forms page includes a document search field and organizes forms by category, so you can find what you need without knowing the exact form name.

For name changes, the petition and supporting documents are filed with Chancery. For conservatorship and guardianship matters that go through Chancery rather than the County Clerk, the forms page has the relevant documents. Minor settlement approvals, foreign judgment registration, and partition suits each have their own filing requirements. If the forms page does not have what you need, call the clerk at (615) 898-7860 to ask about required documents before you come in.

The Rutherford County court records page covers how to access and order certified copies from all county courts, not just Chancery. The Circuit Court Clerk page covers the separate clerk office that handles Circuit Court filings, which is a different office from the Clerk and Master.

Chancery Court Office and Contact Information

The Clerk and Master office is in Suite 5101 of the main courthouse building on West Lytle Street in Murfreesboro. The office and building share the same address as Circuit Court and other county offices, but Chancery is in a different suite. Check signage in the building or call ahead if it is your first visit.

Note the 4:15 p.m. building cutoff. Even though office hours run to 4:30 p.m., you need to be inside by 4:15 p.m. to access the office. Plan your visit with that in mind, especially if you are coming in to file documents or pick up copies at the end of the day.

For docketing questions, call (615) 217-0063 directly. For case information, record requests, or copy orders, call the main number at (615) 898-7860. Mail requests for copies go to the Suite 5101 address above.

Related pages: the court dockets page explains how to read Chancery docket entries in the online portal. The Circuit Court Clerk page covers the Melissa Harrell office at the same courthouse. For estate and probate matters that route through the County Clerk rather than Chancery, see the Rutherford County probate records page.