Clay County Court Calendars Explained
Clay County runs several trial-court dockets, not one shared calendar. The Tennessee court directory places Circuit, Criminal, and Chancery Courts at the Clay courthouse. General Sessions and Celina municipal matters run on separate tracks of their own. Tie the setting to the right court first. Only then can you check its date. The county office pages give clerk contacts and hours, but they publish no daily hearing list, courtroom assignments, or online continuance feed. A paper notice or an old docket entry is a decent starting point. It is not proof the hearing still stands. Ask the clerk for the current setting, the type of event, the place, and whether the court has entered a reset or continuance in the case.
Clay County Session Rule
Under the 13th Judicial District Local Rules, Clay County holds a recurring session on the third Monday in April and October, and special sessions may be added. That rule-based setting is a sliver of the picture, though. Circuit, Criminal, General Sessions, Chancery, Juvenile, and municipal cases in Clay County can all carry settings of their own.
Key distinction. A recurring county-session date organizes part of the district schedule. Only the case notice, docket, court order, clerk, or counsel can verify a specific hearing.
District 13 covers more than Clay. Cumberland, DeKalb, Overton, Pickett, Putnam, and White Counties sit in it too. A district-wide document does not put every listed matter in Clay County, so read the county and court fields before treating a date as local.
Finding Your Court Date
The clerk-assisted route works best, since Clay County publishes no public daily calendar. Collect the court name, the case number and year, the case style, and the date on any notice. Then work the available channels in order.
- Identify whether the matter is in Circuit, Criminal, General Sessions, Chancery, Juvenile, or Celina City Court.
- Call the appropriate clerk and ask for the current next setting, setting type, and location.
- Ask whether the clerk permits confirmation at the counter, by email, fax, or mail. Published contact details do not prove that every channel accepts calendar requests.
- Compare the clerk's answer with the latest order or notice and contact counsel if represented.
- Confirm again close to the date, especially after a motion to continue or a reported schedule change.
The AOC clerk finder can point a request to the right office. Public Case History becomes useful only after an appeal is filed. No daily printed calendar or posting schedule is published, so simply ask the clerk whether either exists.
Clay County Clerk Routing
The office that handles vehicle registrations is not the same as the court clerk. For Circuit, Criminal, and likely General Sessions settings, start with Circuit Court Clerk Keshia Smith. Reach her at 931-243-2557. The county Circuit Clerk page lists the office at P.O. Box 749, Celina, TN 38551. Hours run Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Chancery and Juvenile
Clerk & Master L. Rene Davis
P.O. Box 332, Celina, TN 38551
931-243-3145
rene.davis@tncourts.gov
Celina City Court
City Court Clerk Shannon Boles
143 Cordell Hull Drive, P.O. Box 449, Celina, TN
931-243-2115
cityofcelina@twlakes.net
Chancery and Juvenile Court share the county's Clerk & Master page. Ask about confidentiality rules before chasing a juvenile setting. For a city traffic or ordinance matter, call the Celina City Court Clerk rather than assuming the county holds that docket.
How to Read a Court Setting
A court setting is one scheduled event, not the whole case. Local Rule 18 offers a helpful Chancery model for hearing notices. It requires the case style, the parties, the hearing place, the date and time, and an attendance declaration. Under that rule, the notice goes to the Clerk & Master at least 24 hours before the hearing.
| Date | The day assigned to the event; verify that no later order changes it. |
|---|---|
| Time | The stated start time, which may be a docket call rather than the exact moment the matter is heard. |
| Courtroom | The hearing place. Official sources list both Court House Square and Cordell Hull Drive locations, so confirm before travel. |
| Judge | The assigned judicial officer, which should be confirmed for the particular matter. |
| Setting Type | A hearing, motion docket, trial, review, arraignment, county session, or administrative setting. |
A summons may list an appearance deadline or a scheduled date and time. Detainer forms can show set and reset dates too. Those fields help you read a Clay County court date. But statewide samples do not prove the layout used in a specific local file.
Clay County Setting Terms
Short docket labels can hide big differences. When the clerk gives you a date, ask what kind of event it is and whether you must appear.
- Hearing
- A scheduled event at which the court considers a request or issue.
- Motion docket
- A group of motions set for the court to address.
- Trial
- The proceeding in which disputed claims or charges are decided.
- Review
- A later check on compliance, status, or progress.
- Reset
- A new date assigned in place of an earlier setting.
- Continuance
- A court-approved postponement to a later date.
A reset is not a dismissal. A motion date is not always a trial date. Those distinctions matter when you plan an appearance or request the right docket entry.
Continuances, Resets, and Cancellations
Asking for a continuance does not, by itself, move a Clay County court date. The court has to act. Confirm the new setting through the current docket, the order, or the clerk. Ask when the change was entered and whether a written notice or order exists. If a party has counsel, counsel remains the best source. When an online source and the clerk disagree, trust the originating trial court's current information. The statewide Public Case History site covers appeals only, and TnCIS lists no Clay office in its selector. Neither should override a Clay clerk's current trial-court setting. Write down who you spoke with, the date and time of the call, and the setting details you were given. Note: Calendar information can change after a notice is issued, so verify the setting shortly before the planned appearance.
Clay County Calendar Sources
The official Find a Court Clerk page maps the statewide route to the office that can confirm a Clay County setting.
That directory handles routing, but the local clerk still gives you the live date. The statewide fax-service rule sets out current terms for clerk fax service.
Before you fax a calendar request to any Clay County office, call and confirm someone actually accepts faxes there. The right channel varies by office. For background on the building itself, the National Register list for Tennessee documents the courthouse's historic listing and its place in Clay County's record.
Historic listing or not, the courtroom's present location still has to be confirmed with the office itself.
Clay County Hearing Access
Clay County's courts post no page covering video hearings, remote appearances, interpreters, parking, transit, or courtroom security. So do not assume you can appear remotely. Judges sometimes issue case-specific directions, and the clerk can tell you what applies to your hearing, along with the steps for an interpreter or accommodation request.
For help reaching county web content, the county accessibility statement gives 931-243-2161, clayexec@twlakes.net, and P.O. Box 387, Celina, TN 38551. Treat that contact as website accessibility help only. It does not keep the court calendar. Case scheduling stays with the proper clerk or court.
Clay County Court Date Locations
Confirm the address before you drive anywhere. The AOC courthouse directory lists 100 Court House Square in Celina. That address is the home of Circuit, Criminal, and Chancery Courts. County government pages, meanwhile, point to 145 Cordell Hull Drive for the government complex and some clerk office details. Each building may serve a different purpose. So the docket alone will not tell you which entrance or room your hearing is in.
A quick call to the right clerk fixes that. Have your case number ready. Ask which building and which room. Ask what time to arrive, and anything special about your case. Do the same before you come to view a court file in person. Clay County posts no official page on courtroom security, parking, transit, or daily room assignments. A write-up on the historic courthouse can tell you about the building's past. It cannot tell you where a hearing will be held today.
Mail is a different matter. Use the published P.O. Box for the correct clerk, and confirm the court and the request method first. Keep in mind that a mailing address is not proof your hearing happens at that site.
If You Miss a Court Setting
Move fast if you missed a Clay County court date. Call the clerk who handles the case. Call your lawyer too, if you have one. You want to know what the judge entered and whether a new hearing was set. Get the case number. Ask for the current status, the next setting, and any order tied to the missed appearance. Never assume the court reset the case on its own.
Missed a setting? Consequences depend on the court, case, and order, and may be serious.
Call the originating clerk at once and seek advice from a licensed Tennessee attorney about the proper next step.
Do not appear at a courthouse location based only on an old notice without checking the current instructions.
Traffic cases follow a set path, and the Clay County traffic ticket record material walks through it from citation to hearing. Where you turn next depends on the court. A missed municipal setting belongs with Celina City Court, while a county-level matter goes through the proper state trial-court clerk.