Judicial Functions

The Clerk of Superior Court is an Elected Official who has numerous judicial functions.

Judge of Probate

The Clerk handles the probate of wills and the administration of estates of decedents, minors and incompetents, and appoints guardians. The Clerk hears a variety of estate proceedings including the appointment of executors, administrators, and guardians, and matters relating to the determination of heirs and devisees, construction of wills, preservation of estate assets, auditing of estate accounts, among other things. The Clerk also hears special proceedings such as adoptions, competency determinations, legitimations, land partitions, name changes, foreclosures, and many other civil hearings.

Record Keeper

The Clerk is responsible for all clerical and record keeping functions of the superior court and district court.  The Clerk secures and maintains all matters filed in the Clerk's office. The Clerk supervises the jury service system that randomly issues summonses to residents of Craven County between one and three times per month. The Clerk processes the jury for civil and criminal trials, and Grand Jury.

Comptroller

The Clerk receives, invests, and disburses funds collected from court related activity, such as fines, traffic citations and court costs, restitution, minor accounts, surplus funds in estates and foreclosures, posting of property bonds, and claims of lien.

Administrator

The Clerk issues summonses, sets up the court file, dockets and indexes case files, and issues subpoenas. The Clerk also grants extensions of time and enters certain other orders in civil matters as allowed by statute.

Supervisor

The Clerk supervises and manages a staff of 32 assistant and deputy clerks who work in the various divisions: estates, special proceedings, civil, child support, criminal, juvenile, bookkeeping and cashier.