Lycoming County Prothonotary Office
The Lycoming County office is presented by the county as the Prothonotary and Clerk of Courts, with Holly Thomas listed as Prothonotary and Clerk of Courts. Pennsylvania uses a split clerk structure, so the Prothonotary side is the civil clerk for the Court of Common Pleas. That means the same official office page may show both civil and criminal clerk functions, but the record path is not the same for each file type.
For Lycoming County civil records, the Prothonotary handles many filings that other states might call district clerk or clerk of court work. The office is tied to civil complaints, divorce actions, judgments, liens, writs, appeals, copy requests, and civil docket access. A criminal case, criminal costs account, or certified criminal case copy belongs with the Clerk of Courts side. That distinction helps prevent a common delay: sending a civil copy request to the criminal clerk or asking the civil counter for a criminal docket certification.
Prothonotary and Clerk of Courts
Officeholder: Holly Thomas
48 West Third Street, 1st Floor
Williamsport, PA 17701
(570) 327-2251
Fax: (570) 320-8197
Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
The county's official Prothonotary page is the source for the local office location, public hours, passport hours, phone number, fax number, fee booklet, records-request form, and the civil online portal. The courthouse address is also the practical in-person address for many Common Pleas civil, divorce, family, judgment, and lien tasks.
Lycoming County Civil Records
Lycoming County civil records filed with the Prothonotary can include complaints, praecipes, judgments, liens, motions, orders, service returns, arbitration appeals, landlord appeals, civil judgment entries, divorce complaints, and other civil or family filings. Small civil claims and landlord-tenant cases may start in Magisterial District Court, so a complete search may require both the county civil channel and the statewide docket search.
The county also identifies a civil courts online portal for non-family civil suit filings and related access. That portal is useful for civil records, but it should not be treated as the only source. Family and divorce materials may have access limits, and some old or certified materials still require direct office handling.
The Unified Judicial System Case Search is the statewide fallback for public docket sheets from Courts of Common Pleas and Magisterial District Courts. For Lycoming County Prothonotary records, use it to confirm docket numbers, captions, filing dates, party names, case status, events, dispositions, and court activity before asking the office for a copy.
| Record type | Primary Lycoming County channel | Access note |
|---|---|---|
| Civil complaints and motions | Prothonotary and civil portal | Public docket data may be online; copies may require office request. |
| Divorce and family filings | Prothonotary | Docket entries may be public, but sensitive attachments can be restricted. |
| Judgments and liens | Prothonotary | Search by party name or docket number where available. |
| Landlord appeals and civil appeals | Prothonotary and UJS | Check Magisterial District Court dockets for the lower-court origin. |
| Criminal Common Pleas records | Clerk of Courts | Use Lycoming County Clerk of Courts routing for criminal copies. |
Lycoming County Prothonotary Access
The county's official Prothonotary and Clerk of Courts page is the starting point for the Lycoming County Prothonotary office details.
Use the office page for current hours, the courthouse floor location, phone contact, fax contact, passport notes, fee booklet links, and request-form links before visiting or mailing a civil-record request.
The county's civil courts online portal page gives Lycoming County Prothonotary users a separate online path for civil-suit records.
The civil portal helps with docket access, but certified copies, older files, and records outside the portal's scope still need Prothonotary office review.
Request Certified Civil Copies
A certified copy is a court-office copy with certification that it is a true record from the file. Lycoming County civil certified copies may be needed for appeals, judgment enforcement, name-change proof, divorce decrees, lien releases, and other legal uses. A plain printout from a docket portal is not the same as a certified copy.
- Find the docket number through the UJS portal, the civil portal, old paperwork, or the Prothonotary counter.
- Identify the civil or family document needed, such as a complaint, decree, order, judgment, lien entry, or docket sheet.
- Use the county request-for-access form and select the Prothonotary family or civil records option.
- Ask the office to quote the cost before mailing payment, especially if certification, attestation, exemplification, or archive retrieval may apply.
- Submit the request in person or by the method the office confirms, then keep a receipt or staff response until the copy is complete.
Note: Certified copies come from the issuing office, not from the public docket search or a third-party search box.
Lycoming County Request Form
The Prothonotary and Clerk of Courts request form covers both civil/family and criminal routing. For Prothonotary records, the civil side of the form matters most. A complete request should give the office enough detail to match the correct case and the exact document, because party-name-only requests can be slow when names are common or a person has several cases.
| Form field | Required in practice | How to use it for Prothonotary records |
|---|---|---|
| Date of request | Yes | Use the date the request is signed or submitted. |
| Requester name and phone | Yes | Give a daytime number for cost or file-location questions. |
| Prothonotary family or civil records selection | Yes | Select this for civil suits, divorce, family, judgments, liens, and similar civil files. |
| Case name or caption | Yes if known | List plaintiff and defendant, petitioner and respondent, or the family case caption. |
| Docket number | Best practice | Use the exact docket number from UJS, civil portal, or court papers. |
| Document or record requested | Yes | Name the order, decree, judgment, lien, pleading, docket sheet, or other item. |
| Number of copies and certification | Yes | State whether plain or certified copies are needed. |
Lycoming County Prothonotary Fees
The local fee booklet is the controlling source for detailed Prothonotary costs. The research confirms fee categories rather than a full line-by-line price list, so the safest approach is to check the county's 2026 Prothonotary and Clerk of Courts fee booklet before filing or ordering copies. Pennsylvania offices often distinguish filing fees, plain copies, certified copies, exemplified or attested records, writs, appeals, judgments, service costs, and search or retrieval work.
| Fee category | Office | What to verify before payment |
|---|---|---|
| Civil filing fees | Prothonotary | Complaint, appeal, judgment, lien, writ, divorce, and family filings may differ. |
| Plain copies | Prothonotary | Per-page rates and file-retrieval rules can vary by file type. |
| Certified civil copies | Prothonotary | Certification charges may be separate from page-copy charges. |
| Judgment and lien filings | Prothonotary | Indexing, satisfaction, revival, or appeal costs may apply. |
| Orphans' Court-related filings | Prothonotary or Orphans' Court channel | Estate, guardianship, accounting, or related filings may have separate schedules. |
Payment method is an office-level detail. Before mailing a request, call the Prothonotary to confirm the exact amount, payee name, and whether the office will accept checks, money orders, cash at the counter, or other forms of payment.
Public Access for Civil Records
Lycoming County Prothonotary records sit under Pennsylvania court-access rules. The Case Records Public Access Policy of the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania controls many access questions for case records, while the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law applies mainly to many state and local agency records. Right-to-Know is not a substitute for a sealed court file or a confidential family filing.
Restricted civil and family records can include juvenile material, adoption files, mental-health matters, custody evaluations, abuse-victim addresses, financial account numbers, full birth dates, medical details, and sealed filings. Divorce dockets may be visible while sensitive attachments remain restricted. The same idea applies to judgments and liens: public docket entries may be easy to see, but private identifiers should not appear in public copies.
Online and Counter Service
Use online tools first when the goal is to locate a docket number or confirm that a civil case exists. Use the Lycoming County civil portal for local civil access and the statewide UJS portal for Common Pleas and Magisterial District Court docket sheets. Then use the Prothonotary for certified copies, older paper files, document inspection, and civil records not available online.
For in-person service, bring the docket number, full party names, the approximate filing year, the document name, and a payment method the office accepts. For mailed requests, avoid sending payment until the office has confirmed the total. That matters for Lycoming County Prothonotary records because certification and file-retrieval costs can change the final amount.