Ala. Code
Code of Alabama

Ala. Code § 12-17-161 (2026)

Separate Office of Clerk of District Court May Be Established; Appointment and Removal of Clerk; Abolition of Separate Office; Participation in Supernumerary Fund.

✓ official Alabama Legislature (ALISON) text, current July 2026
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(a) Authority and responsibility for the operation of a separate clerk’s office for the district court of a county may be authorized by the Supreme Court upon the written request of the clerk of the circuit court or the judges of the district court. When the Supreme Court authorizes a separate clerk’s office for the district court of a county, the clerk of the circuit court shall not be the ex officio clerk of the district court and shall have no administrative responsibilities for and supervision over the operation of the office. Whenever a separate district clerk’s office is authorized, the administrative responsibility for and supervision of the records and clerical services of the respective district court is vested in an official who shall be known as the clerk of the district court, who shall perform all duties and responsibilities which, if no clerk for the district court was authorized, would have been performed by the circuit clerk.

(b) The clerk of a district court shall be appointed by the Administrative Director of Courts, with the advice and consent of the presiding judge of the circuit court and a majority of the district court judges of the district concerned. The clerk of a district court may be removed for cause by the Administrative Director of Courts and shall not be subject to the state merit system except for pay purposes.

(c) The separate office of clerk of district court may be abolished by the Supreme Court, and if abolished, the authority and responsibilities shall be assumed by the clerk of the circuit court.

(d) Any district court clerk who desires to be included under the supernumerary provisions for circuit clerks and registers in lieu of participation in the Employees’ Retirement System shall file a declaration to that effect with the Administrative Director of Courts during the month of August in the years 1993 to 1995, inclusive. Upon receipt of an election by any district court clerk to participate in the supernumerary fund for clerks and registers, the Administrative Director of Courts shall immediately notify the Secretary-Treasurer of the Retirement Systems of Alabama of the election. Upon receipt of the election, the retirement systems shall transfer, on or before the September 30 after the election, all of the employee contributions plus any other amounts, including, but not limited to, any interest on the account that the employee would be entitled to receive upon withdrawal from the retirement system, to the Clerks’ and Registers’ Supernumerary Fund provided in Section 12-17-143, so that the employee may begin participating in the fund on the ensuing first of October.

Upon the transfer of the funds, any district court clerk electing to participate in the supernumerary fund shall receive credit in the fund for all prior service that he or she had been given credit for under the Employees’ Retirement System.

Thereafter, any district court clerk who elects to come under the supernumerary fund for clerks and registers shall make contributions to the Clerks’ and Registers’ Supernumerary Fund as provided in Section 12-17-143.

Any person who has served as clerk of the district court prior to October 1, 1993, and has elected to participate in the Clerks’ and Registers’ Supernumerary Fund as provided in this section, may elect to become a supernumerary clerk of the district court of the county in which the clerk served, in the same manner provided in Section 12-17-140, if the clerk meets the requisite qualifications. It is the intent of this subsection that the provisions in the Clerks’ and Registers’ Supernumerary Fund laws that refer to circuit clerks shall be construed to also refer to district court clerks for purposes of the supernumerary fund; however, a supernumerary district court clerk’s salary shall be set at 75 percent of his or her salary as a district court clerk at the time such eligibility is achieved.

(Acts 1975, No. 1205, p. 2384, §7-105; Acts 1993, No. 93-485, p. 778, §1.)

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 7 cases, 1982–2019 · leading case: Upton v. Mississippi Valley Title Ins. Co., 469 So. 2d 548 (Ala. 1985).
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Upton v. Mississippi Valley Title Ins. Co., 469 So. 2d 548 (Ala. 1985). · cites it 2× “) Furthermore, Code of 1975, § 12-17-160, provides that the clerk of the circuit court shall serve as the ex officio clerk of the district court, unless, pursuant to § 12-17-161, this Court authorizes a separate clerk's office for the district court: "§ 12-17-160 "Except as…”
ALLSTATE INS., Co. v. Coastal Yacht Servs., Inc., 823 So. 2d 632 (Ala. 2001). “Likewise, § 12-17-94 and § 12-17-161, Ala.Code 1975, establishing the duties of circuit clerks and district clerks respectively, constitute the clerks' offices as the proper sites for such monitoring.”
State v. Higgins, 423 So. 2d 227 (Ala. 1982). “The State contends that two copies of one document would not serve for the two filings under § 26-12-8, because Rule 10(a), ARCP, requires that “[ejvery pleading shall contain- a caption setting forth the name of the court.” We agree that this would be better practice, but here,…”
Harris v. MedStar, Inc., 790 So. 2d 256 (Ala. 2001). “Likewise, § 12-17-94 and § 12-17-161, Ala. Code 1975, establishing the duties of circuit clerks and district clerks respectively, constitute the clerks' offices as the proper sites for such monitoring.”
Tolbert v. Ervin, 264 So. 3d 879 (Ala. Civ. App. 2018). · cites it 3× “Code 1975, § 26-12-2, which required that a notice of appeal from a paternity judgment be filed in both the circuit court and the juvenile court, as having been satisfied by the filing of one notice of appeal with the circuit-court clerk in a circuit in which no district-court…”
Tolbert v. Ervin, 264 So. 3d 879 (Ala. Civ. App. 2018). · cites it 3× “Code 1975, § 26-12-2, which required that a notice of appeal from a paternity judgment be filed in both the circuit court and the juvenile court, as having been satisfied by the filing of one notice of appeal with the circuit-court clerk in a circuit in which no district-court…”
Colburn v. Odom (N.D. Ala. 2019). · cites it 2× “” Fourth, Alabama Code § 12-17-161 provides, among other things, that a separate clerk’s office for a district court may be established, that a district court clerk is appointed by the Administrative Director of Courts, and that a district court clerk’s office may be abolished…”
— Ala. Code § 12-17-161(a) — 2 cases
Tolbert v. Ervin, 264 So. 3d 879 (Ala. Civ. App. 2018). “Code 1975, § 26-12-2, which required that a notice of appeal from a paternity judgment be filed in both the circuit court and the juvenile court, as having been satisfied by the filing of one notice of appeal with the circuit-court clerk in a circuit in which no district-court…”
Tolbert v. Ervin, 264 So. 3d 879 (Ala. Civ. App. 2018). “Code 1975, § 26-12-2, which required that a notice of appeal from a paternity judgment be filed in both the circuit court and the juvenile court, as having been satisfied by the filing of one notice of appeal with the circuit-court clerk in a circuit in which no district-court…”
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