About the Murray County County Clerk
Jill Hall serves as the Murray County County Clerk. The office sits in the Murray County Courthouse in Sulphur, the county seat. It is the place of record for land and instrument documents tied to property in the county. When a deed is signed, a loan is secured, or a lien is filed, the paper is brought here to be recorded, stamped, and indexed so the public can find it later.
This office is not the court clerk. The County Clerk does not keep lawsuits, criminal files, or divorce decrees. Its job is the public record of real property and other recorded county instruments. Recording gives a document a date, a book and page, and a spot in the index. That record then puts the world on notice of the claim. The contact details below cover phone, mail, email, and walk-in hours for the office.
Murray County County Clerk
Clerk: Jill Hall
Murray County Courthouse
P.O. Box 442
Sulphur, OK 73086
580-622-3920
clerk@murraycountyok.gov
Hours: 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m.-4:30 p.m.
What the Murray County Clerk Records
The County Clerk records a wide set of documents that touch real property and county business. Each one is scanned, given an instrument number, and tied to a book and page. Most carry a legal description so the document can be matched to a specific tract of land. The list below shows the kinds of instruments that flow through the office and end up in the public index.
- Deeds that transfer title to real property
- Mortgages and deeds of trust that secure loans
- Liens, including mechanic, tax, and judgment liens
- Releases and satisfactions that clear a recorded debt
- Plats and subdivision maps that lay out lots and blocks
- Easements, leases, and right-of-way grants
Recording does not judge whether a claim is valid. It places the document on the public record so buyers, lenders, and title searchers can see it. A clear chain of title is built by reading these instruments in order, one transfer after the next, back through the years.
Note: The County Clerk records property instruments and does not decide ownership disputes, which are court matters handled through the District Court and the court clerk.
Murray County Land Records Online
The County Clerk publishes the county land index through OKCountyRecords. The public site at okcountyrecords.com/search/murray covers indexed data and images from September 1946 forward. New records are added in real time as the office records them, so a deed filed today can appear in the index soon after it is processed. The site notes that the records belong to the county clerk's office and that revenue from printing copies supports Murray County.
The portal opens with a basic search box. From there a user can jump to advanced search, open a full book list, view plat maps, and check the fee details for copies. The advanced page is where most title work gets done, since it lets a searcher mix a name, a date range, a party type, and a legal description in one query. Images of the recorded pages can be viewed on screen, and prints can be bought through the site.
How to Search Murray County Land Records
The fastest route to a recorded instrument is the online index. The steps below walk through a name or property search on OKCountyRecords from start to finish.
- Open the Murray County portal at okcountyrecords.com/search/murray and read the basic search box on the landing page.
- Click through to advanced search to reach the full set of fields for name, party type, book, page, series, date, and legal description.
- Enter a name in "Last, First" or business-name form, or set a book and page if you already have a recording reference.
- Narrow the result with a recorded start date and a recording end date, or pick a series year from 1946 forward.
- For a property search, add the legal description fields, such as section, township, range, and quarter, using the county format the site shows in its examples.
- Open the matching entry to view the instrument image, then order a print through the site or contact the County Clerk for a certified copy.
Note: Land records use OKCountyRecords, not the state court docket system, since court cases and recorded property instruments are kept in two separate places.
Murray County Clerk Search Fields
The advanced search on OKCountyRecords offers a set of fields that match how land records are indexed. A searcher can use one field alone or stack several to cut a long result list down. The table below lists each field, its type, whether it is required, and notes on the options or format the site expects.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Options / Format Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search | text | No | Basic global search box shown before advanced search. |
| Name | text | No | Format "Last, First" or "Business Name", such as Smith, John. |
| Party Type | dropdown | No | All parties, Grantees, Grantors, Issued Againsts, Lienholders. |
| Book | text / lookup | No | Includes a "See all books" link; can search a book and page. |
| Page | text | No | Used together with the book value. |
| Series | dropdown | No | All series; years 2026 back through 1946, plus 1911. |
| Instrument Number | text | No | Direct lookup by recorded instrument number. |
| Recorded Start | date | No | Start of a date range; clear link shown. |
| Recording End | date | No | End of a date range; clear link shown. |
| Legal Description | text | No | Use county format; the site links to examples. |
| Quarter Quarter | text | No | Example format such as NW NE. |
| Section | dropdown | No | Numeric sections 1-36 plus county values like 38, 39, 41, 51, 61, 71, 72, 81, 91, 99. |
| Township | dropdown | No | Values such as 15N, 1A, 1E, 1N, 2E, 2N, 3E, 3N, 4S, 5S, S, S2, and other recorded variants. |
| Range | dropdown | No | Values such as 1E, 1R, 1W, 2, 2E, 2W, 3E, 3W, 4E, 4W, E, W, S2E, and variants. |
| Quarter | dropdown | No | Very large list summarized as quarter/half/section combinations. |
Search by Book, Page, and Instrument
Older land work runs on books and pages. Each recorded document landed in a bound book at a set page, and that reference still points to the right image today. If a prior deed or a title report cites a book and page, plug those two values into the portal to jump straight to the record. The "See all books" link helps when a reference is partial or hard to read.
Newer records carry an instrument number, a unique tag the office assigns at recording. An instrument number search is the cleanest way to pull a single document with no guesswork. When neither reference is known, the legal description fields do the work. Section, township, range, and quarter values describe the land itself, so a searcher can find every instrument tied to one tract even without a name.
Names remain the most common starting point. A grantor is the party giving an interest, and a grantee is the party taking one. Setting the party type lets a searcher follow one side of a chain, such as every deed where a person signed as grantor over the years.
Certified Murray County Land Instruments
Viewing an image online is enough for most research. A certified copy is different. It carries the County Clerk's stamp and confirms the document matches the official record, which courts, title companies, and lenders may require. Certified instruments are obtained from the County Clerk rather than printed at home from a screen image.
To get a certified copy, contact the office with the book and page or the instrument number so staff can pull the exact record. Requests can be made by phone at 580-622-3920, by mail to P.O. Box 442, Sulphur, OK 73086, by email at clerk@murraycountyok.gov, or in person at the courthouse during posted hours. Bringing a recording reference speeds the search and avoids a fee for a longer staff lookup.
The portal links a current fee schedule for copies and prints, and revenue from those copies supports the county. Because amounts can change and may load on demand, confirm the current charge with the County Clerk before sending payment.
Note: A screen image and a home printout are not certified, so always request a certified copy from the County Clerk when a recorded instrument must be filed or used in court.
County Clerk and Court Clerk Roles
Oklahoma splits recordkeeping between two offices, and mixing them up sends people to the wrong counter. The County Clerk records land and instrument documents. The court clerk keeps the District Court case file. They sit in the same courthouse but hold very different records.
Court cases, criminal files, civil suits, divorce decrees, marriage licenses, and probate matters are not County Clerk records. Those are handled through the Murray County Court Clerk and the District Court. A reader who needs a divorce decree, a marriage license, or a probate file should go there, not to the land-record portal. Likewise, court cases are searched on the state docket system, not OKCountyRecords.
The line can blur after a probate or a lawsuit, because a court result may later be recorded as a land instrument. A deed that transfers estate property after probate, for example, gets recorded with the County Clerk even though the estate case lived in the District Court. The case stays a court record; the deed becomes a land record.
Public Access to Murray County Records
Recorded land documents are public under Oklahoma law. The Open Records Act sets the rule that public bodies keep their records open unless a record is made confidential by law. The text of 51 O.S. §24A.5 spells out which records stay open and which are treated as confidential, and most land and instrument records fall on the open side.
The same act covers how the public gets to inspect and copy those records. Under 51 O.S. §24A.6, a public body must allow inspection and copying during business hours under reasonable procedures. That is why the County Clerk keeps set office hours and offers both online viewing and counter access. A person who cannot find a record online can still ask staff to pull it during open hours.
The online index reaches back to September 1946. Documents recorded before that date, or paper files not yet imaged, may need a staff search at the courthouse. When that happens, the fallback chain is simple: search the portal first, then call, mail, email, or visit the County Clerk for records the online system does not show.