Chambers County Circuit Court Overview
Chambers County belongs to Alabama's Fifth Judicial Circuit, which also serves Macon, Randolph, and Tallapoosa Counties. The District Attorney site describes the Fifth Judicial Circuit as covering more than 2,567 square miles and as the second largest geographical judicial circuit in Alabama. Within Chambers County, Circuit Court is the general-jurisdiction trial court for felony criminal cases, domestic relations, major civil actions, circuit civil appeals, and matters above District Court's limited civil jurisdiction.
The Circuit Clerk is the official record keeper and business manager for Chambers County Circuit Court and District Court proceedings. The county page names Lisa M. Burdette as Clerk of Court and lists the courthouse office in LaFayette and the Lanett annex. The Circuit Clerk's office maintains Circuit Civil, Circuit Criminal, Domestic Relations, Juvenile, District Civil, Small Claims, District Criminal, traffic, and cases by the Sheriff's Department and the cities of Valley, Lanett, and LaFayette.
The image below comes from the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama About page.
List of Chambers County Circuit Court and Related Courts
Chambers County does not use a numbered district-court-at-law structure. The local court table instead identifies Circuit Court judge offices, District Court, Probate Court, the Circuit Clerk, the Lanett annex, and magistrate or warrant functions. The local county court page still listed Judge Steve Perryman in the research file, while the research also notes a 2026 governor announcement that James Lewis "Luke" Farmer was appointed to the Fifth Judicial Circuit judgeship after Judge Perryman retired in February. Because the local page and appointment note differ, the table keeps the local-page context without presenting a new roster as final.
| Court / Office | Local Official or Contact | Address | Phone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Circuit Court | Judge Steve Perryman page listing; Judicial Assistant Jean Carlton | 2 South LaFayette Street, LaFayette, AL 36862 | (334) 864-4329; fax (334) 864-9702 |
| Circuit Court | Judge Isaac Whorton; Judicial Assistant Cathy Dabbs | 2 South LaFayette Street, LaFayette, AL 36862 | (334) 755-6080 |
| Circuit Court | Judge Ray Martin; Judicial Assistant Stephanie Smith | 2 South LaFayette Street, LaFayette, AL 36862 | (256) 825-1084 |
| District Court | Judge Terrance Brown; Judicial Assistant Crystal Hudmon | 2 LaFayette Street, LaFayette, AL 36862 | (334) 864-4323; fax (334) 864-4312 |
| Probate Court | Judge Paul Story; Deputy Clerk Nannette Brooks | 2 LaFayette Street, LaFayette, AL 36862 | (334) 864-4380; fax (334) 864-4394 |
| Circuit Clerk | Lisa M. Burdette | Suite B-114, 2 LaFayette St. S., LaFayette, AL 36862 | (334) 864-4348 |
| Lanett Annex | Circuit Clerk front counter | 610 S Gilmer Ave, Lanett, AL 36863 | (334) 644-7068; directory front counter (334) 644-7067 |
| Magistrates / Warrants | Clerk-appointed magistrates | Main courthouse and annex | Use clerk, sheriff, or police channels |
Circuit Court vs. District Court vs. Probate Court vs. Municipal Court
Alabama's Chambers County structure is not a county-court and justice-court model. Circuit Court is the general-jurisdiction trial court. District Court is a limited-jurisdiction trial court. Probate Court is a separate county office headed by the Judge of Probate. Municipal police and city court paths for LaFayette, Lanett, and Valley can matter for traffic, ordinance, police-report, and warrant-originated matters before or alongside a District Court record.
| Circuit Court | District Court | Probate Court | Municipal Paths | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Civil Scope | Original circuit civil matters over $20,000, plus appeals from District Civil, administrative appeals, and Probate Court appeals. | District civil matters from $6,000.01 to $20,000; small claims up to $6,000; unlawful detainer. | Estates, wills, guardianships, conservatorships, recording, name changes, and probate-related petitions. | City ordinance or municipal-originated matters where local police or city court channels are involved. |
| Criminal Scope | Felony-level criminal records and related circuit criminal proceedings. | District criminal, traffic, and lower criminal matters including cases by the Sheriff's Department and cities. | Mental-health commitments and limited probate-related proceedings, not the main criminal trial court. | LaFayette, Lanett, and Valley police-originated traffic, ordinance, incident, or warrant paths. |
| Family / Domestic | Domestic relations, including divorces, modifications, and contempt proceedings. | Not the primary domestic relations court in the research. | Adoptions are Probate Court matters and are restricted. | Not a domestic relations forum in the research. |
| Record Custodian | Circuit Clerk for Circuit Court files. | Circuit Clerk for District Court files. | Probate Judge / Probate Office. | Relevant city police or municipal channel, plus District Court where filed. |
How a Case Moves Through the Chambers County System
Case flow depends on the case type. A civil case may begin with a complaint, statement of claim, petition, filing fee, service, answer, hearing, trial, judgment, post-judgment collection, and appeal. A criminal case may begin with an incident or offense report, warrant request, magistrate probable-cause review, arrest or summons, initial appearance, district-court processing, grand-jury or circuit-court filing where applicable, arraignment, pretrial motions, plea or trial, sentence, probation, costs, and appeal. A domestic case adds service, answer, temporary orders, settlement, final decree, modifications, and contempt proceedings.
Case-flow diagram: Incident or claim › Clerk filing or warrant request › Case number assigned › Service or arrest process › Response or first appearance › Hearings and motions › Trial, plea, order, or judgment › Costs, sentence, collection, or compliance › Appeal or post-judgment request.
Criminal flow: Incident Report › Magistrate Review › Warrant or Charge › First Appearance › District or Circuit Processing › Indictment / Information if applicable › Arraignment › Pretrial › Plea or Trial › Sentencing › Appeal.
Civil flow: Complaint or Statement of Claim › Case Number › Service by Sheriff or Certified Mail › Answer › Hearing or Trial Setting › Judgment › Collection or Appeal.
Civil, Family, and Criminal Divisions
Circuit civil includes original matters above $20,000 and certain appeals. Local fee materials distinguish circuit civil filings up to $50,000 and over $50,000, but the jurisdictional point for this page is that Circuit Court handles the larger civil track and appeals from District Civil. District civil handles $6,000.01 to $20,000, and small claims handles disputes up to $6,000 with no jury.
Domestic relations is a Circuit Court division where divorce records are filed. Local domestic-relations materials state that a contested divorce defendant has 30 days from service to respond, and an uncontested divorce decree cannot be signed until 30 days have passed if all paperwork is in order. Circuit criminal covers felony-level records, while district criminal covers lower criminal matters. The directory routes circuit criminal questions to the circuit criminal division and district criminal or traffic questions to a separate division.
Fifth Judicial Circuit
The Fifth Judicial Circuit is the regional state-court framework for Chambers County. It includes Chambers, Macon, Randolph, and Tallapoosa Counties. Appeals from small claims or District Court matters can move to Circuit Court, and then appellate jurisdiction depends on the case type. Civil, domestic, workers' compensation, and certain administrative appeals may move to the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals. Criminal appeals move to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. Higher civil, constitutional, and supreme-review matters may move to the Supreme Court of Alabama.
The image below comes from the Middle District courthouse information page for Opelika.
Magistrate and Lower Courts
Magistrates matter most in the warrant and early criminal process. The Chambers warrant materials say a complainant must first file an incident or offense report with the Sheriff's Department or municipal police, tell the officer or deputy that they wish to proceed with a warrant, and have the officer or deputy enter a warrant request in the warrant system. A magistrate then reviews probable cause. The local warrant page names LaFayette, Lanett, and Valley as municipalities whose police reports may initiate this process.
Lower-court and municipal nuance is important in Chambers County because the courthouse is in LaFayette, but many users are in the Valley and Lanett area. The county operates a courthouse annex in Lanett, and the research warns not to flatten the Central-time LaFayette schedule and Eastern-time Lanett schedule into one generic office schedule. Court visitors should also account for local rules: appropriate dress is required, cellphones must be turned off, visitors should not enter while a witness is on the stand, and jurors are told to allow time for parking and metal detector screening.
The manifest image below comes from the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama district page.
