About the Avoyelles Parish Clerk of Court
Connie F. Desselle serves as Clerk of Court for Avoyelles Parish (the LCCA directory lists the name as Connie Desselle). The clerk's own homepage gives a precise timeline: elected on October 12, 2019, to a first term that began July 1, 2020, and re-elected without opposition in October 2023 to a second term running from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2028. Each term is four years, as the Louisiana Constitution sets for every parish clerk of the district court.
The office in Marksville wears several hats at once. It is the clerk of the 12th Judicial District Court, the ex officio recorder of conveyances and mortgages for Avoyelles Parish, and, as the homepage points out, the parish's chief election officer and custodian of voting machines. The homepage also says the office has 16 full-time employees and runs on fees rather than tax money.
Avoyelles was created on March 31, 1807, as one of Louisiana's original 19 parishes, and it takes its name from the Avoyel people, according to the clerk. The clerk's list of communities runs from Bordelonville and Bunkie through Cottonport, Hessmer, Mansura, Moreauville, and Plaucheville to Simmesport. The Census Bureau counted 39,684 residents in its 2020 base and estimated 38,373 for July 2024, across about 832 square miles of land.
Every parish office, with contact details, is in the Louisiana Clerks of Court directory.
Court records in Avoyelles Parish
Civil suits, successions, tutorships, and adoptions are filed with the clerk, and the recording and civil fees page explains that new filings require an advance deposit against court costs. The office began accepting e-filing on May 1, 2025, according to that page.
The clerk is plain about what its online system leaves out. The Cott Systems eSearch login page states: "No Criminal information is available on this site. You must contact our office." For criminal case information, then, the starting point is the clerk's office itself, not the subscription search. The criminal records guide explains why: the State Police repository is closed to the public, and when an arrest is missing its final disposition, the State Police point people to the clerk of the parish where the conviction happened.
For copies, the clerk's fee page (October 2026) lists $1 per page, and a certified copy costs $10 plus the copy fee. Under the Public Records Law, the custodian must present a record that is immediately available right away, and no one may be charged just to look at one. The statewide court records guide covers certified copies and what is confidential.
Land, mortgage, and property records
Avoyelles posts its recording schedule in detail. The fee page follows the uniform schedule from Act 173 of 2017, and as viewed in October 2026 it lists $105 for a document of 1 to 5 pages, $205 for 6 to 25 pages, and $305 for 26 to 50 pages. Those amounts include up to 10 names, a certified copy, and the LCRAA portal fee. The office also issues mortgage and lien certificates and records cancellations and maps or plats.
The office has accepted eRecording since July 1, 2021, through CSC eRecording. For research, the Cott Systems eSearch covers mortgages, conveyances, and other recorded documents; the clerk suggests calling the office for current image date ranges. The login page lists a day pass at $20.00, a month at $75.00, and a year at $800 (October 2026), with printing at $1.00 per page and a card fee of $0.30 plus 3 percent. New accounts must return a signed form before they are activated, so allow some lead time before a first search. The clerk's Links page also points to eClerks LA, the statewide portal run by the Louisiana Clerks' Remote Access Authority.
Avoyelles touches eight parishes, and two of them (Pointe Coupee and West Feliciana) send their appeals to a different circuit. Under Civil Code article 3346, land is recorded in the parish where it lies, so a farm that crosses the line needs a search in each parish. Neighboring recorders include the Rapides Parish Clerk of Court in Alexandria, the St. Landry Parish Clerk of Court, the Pointe Coupee Parish Clerk of Court, and the Concordia Parish Clerk of Court. See the property records guide for how Louisiana's public registry works.
Marriage licenses and family records
Marriage licenses come from the clerk's office in Marksville. The clerk's marriage page (October 2026) lists the fee at $27.50 in cash or money order, with a 4 percent fee for credit or debit cards, and the fee is not refundable. Only one applicant has to come in, but that person must bring every required document for both parties.
The Avoyelles page is firm about birth certificates: each applicant needs an official birth certificate or birth card bearing the state's raised seal, and the page says a driver's license, passport, or other ID cannot take its place. A birth certificate in a foreign language must be translated by that country's consulate, according to the clerk. The 24-hour waiting period applies, and the clerk notes that a district judge or justice of the peace in the parish where the license was issued may waive it. Louisiana licenses expire 30 days after issuance.
The same office sells certified Louisiana birth certificates ($34.00, or $48.00 for a certificate and card pair) and death certificates ($26.00), payable in cash or money order, per the clerk's site in October 2026. Recorded marriage certificates from Avoyelles stay with this clerk; the state's Vital Records Registry keeps marriage records only for licenses bought in Orleans Parish. Divorce judgments granted by the 12th Judicial District Court are copied and certified here too. The marriage records guide and the divorce records guide have the statewide picture.
Courts that serve Avoyelles Parish
Avoyelles is its own judicial district. The 12th Judicial District Court has two divisions, A and B, and the court's website describes a Drug Court program. Felony prosecutions in Avoyelles belong to this court, since Louisiana district courts have exclusive original jurisdiction of felony cases.
The parish also has two city courts, which split its wards between them. By statute, Marksville City Court covers the town of Marksville and wards one through six and eleven. Bunkie City Court, domiciled in Bunkie, covers wards seven through ten, has a small claims division, and shares jurisdiction with the 12th Judicial District Court in certain misdemeanor, civil, and juvenile matters. This guide does not link a website for either city court; if you are unsure which court has a case, call the clerk's office.
An appeal from the 12th is heard by the Court of Appeal, Third Circuit in Lake Charles. That differs from two Avoyelles neighbors: Pointe Coupee and West Feliciana are First Circuit parishes under R.S. 13:312.
Visiting the Avoyelles Parish courthouse
The clerk lists the office at 312 North Main Street in Marksville, and the contact page gives hours of Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. One small inconsistency is worth knowing: the 12th Judicial District Court's website gives the courthouse address as 301 North Main Street, while the clerk and the LCCA use 312. When in doubt, use the clerk's address and the P.O. box for anything sent to the clerk.
The Avoyelles Parish Courthouse is a four-story Classical Revival brick building from 1927. It is a contributing property in the Marksville Commercial Historic District, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Practical notes from the clerk's pages: birth and death certificates are cash or money order only, and card payments for marriage licenses carry a 4 percent surcharge.
Other Avoyelles Parish offices
David L. Dauzat is the sheriff, according to the Avoyelles Parish Sheriff's Office website. Outside Orleans every sheriff is also ex officio collector of state and parish taxes, so property tax bills in Avoyelles are paid to the sheriff, not to the clerk or assessor. The sheriff's offices guide explains the jail, civil process, and tax roles.
The Avoyelles Parish Assessor's website is the place for valuations and homestead exemption questions. Assessments can be reviewed first by the parish governing authority, then by the Louisiana Tax Commission, and finally by the courts. The assessors and property taxes guide walks through that process.
The parish governing authority is the Avoyelles Parish Police Jury. Its site promotes the parish as home of the Cochon De Lait Festival, the Corn Festival, and the Tunica-Biloxi Pow Wow.