About the Calcasieu Parish Clerk of Court
H. Lynn Jones, II has led the Calcasieu Parish Clerk of Court's office since 2004, according to the biography on the clerk's website, which also notes that Jones served as 2012 President of the Louisiana Clerks of Court Association. The Louisiana Clerks of Court Association directory carries the same July 2004 start. Voters elect the clerk to four-year terms.
The office serves a large parish. Calcasieu counted 216,785 people in the 2020 Census base, the seventh-largest total among Louisiana's 64 parishes, with a July 2024 estimate of 206,861. The clerk's About Us page puts the staff at about 120 people and says the office is funded entirely by fees and court costs.
The constitution makes the clerk the keeper of the district court record and the ex officio parish recorder of conveyances, mortgages, and other acts, as well as an ex officio notary public. State law also names the clerk chief election officer of the parish. In Calcasieu those duties spread into a long service list: civil and criminal filings, court minutes, the jury pool, elections, recordings, mortgage certificates, protective and restraining orders, criminal background checks, expungements, passports, and the recording of military discharge papers.
According to Wikipedia, Calcasieu was created on March 24, 1840, from St. Landry Parish, and it was once so large that it earned the nickname "Imperial Calcasieu" before being divided to form other parishes. The state's Local Louisiana page says the name means crying eagle and is said to have belonged to an Atakapa leader. For clerk contacts in every parish, see the Louisiana Clerks of Court directory.
Court records in Calcasieu Parish
All suits and prosecutions in the 14th Judicial District Court are filed with this office, which also keeps the court's minutes. Online, the clerk splits its records into three separately managed subscriptions, and civil and criminal access runs through Clerk Connect. The clerk's fees page (viewed October 2026) lists Clerk Connect access to criminal or civil records at $20.00 for one day, $55.00 for one month, or $660.00 for one year, each plus $1.00 per page. The civil side covers civil cases, divorces, successions and probates, and civil minutes; the criminal side covers the criminal index, case history, and minutes.
Criminal searching changed in 2026. The clerk's Online Search Services page says that as of September 14, 2026, online criminal records require a Clerk Connect Criminal Account. Questions about online searching can go to the IT Department email address posted on that page, and the same page warns that online records are not the official public records, which are kept in the clerk's offices.
Filing has also moved online. The clerk accepts civil and criminal e-filing through Clerk Connect, and its site notes that civil filing requirements changed effective January 1, 2026, with training materials posted for filers.
At the counter, the fees page lists a 10-year civil search at $15.00 per name. Louisiana's Public Records Law lets anyone obtain copies of public records subject to the law's exceptions, and a custodian may not charge simply for examining a record. Juvenile court records are confidential under the Children's Code apart from traffic matters, and an expunged arrest or conviction is withdrawn from public access though not destroyed. More detail is in the statewide guides to court records, civil records, and criminal records.
Land, mortgage, and property records
Land records in Calcasieu have their own online index, separate from Clerk Connect. It covers mortgages, conveyances, marriages, and miscellaneous recordings. According to the fees page, which says subscription prices were updated July 1, 2025, the Land Records e-Search costs $20.00 for one day, $45.00 for one month, or $540.00 for twelve months, plus $1.00 per printed page. The Online Search Services page links a PDF of the date ranges available; check it before you subscribe.
Recordings and cancellations can be submitted electronically through either of the clerk's two e-recording vendors, Simplifile and CSC. Certification of a mortgage or conveyance record costs $10.00, per the fees page in October 2026. The office also issues mortgage certificates and handles property research.
Under the Civil Code, a mortgage on land is recorded in the mortgage records of the parish where the land is, and other instruments go in that parish's conveyance records. Wikipedia says several parishes were later carved from Calcasieu, so a researcher tracing land now in Beauregard or Jefferson Davis back past 1913 may want to ask the Lake Charles office what it holds for those years. Land on Calcasieu's present borders may also need a search with the Beauregard Parish Clerk of Court, the Jefferson Davis Parish Clerk of Court, or the Cameron Parish Clerk of Court. Calcasieu also borders Newton and Orange counties in Texas, whose land records are outside Louisiana's system. The property records guide explains how the parish recording system works statewide.
Marriage licenses and family records
Marriage licenses in Calcasieu Parish are by appointment only. According to the clerk's Marriage Licenses page (October 2026), every couple must book a time between 9:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. by calling the marriage license line listed there, and walk-ins are not taken. Couples complete the application online before arriving, and only the bride and groom are allowed in the employee area.
The fees page lists the license at $27.50, payable by cash or credit card only, with no bills larger than $20 and a $2 processing fee on card payments. A certified copy costs $10, and a souvenir copy is available on request for $5.
State law requires a 24-hour wait after issuance before the ceremony. A judge, justice of the peace, or retired justice of the peace authorized to perform the marriage may waive that wait for serious and meritorious reasons. The Calcasieu clerk's page adds its own local practice: waivers come from the 14th Judicial District Court judges' office and are issued only in extenuating circumstances, at the judges' discretion. Every license expires 30 days after issuance.
The officiant returns the signed certificate to the clerk who issued the license within ten days, so Calcasieu marriages are recorded and certified here. The Louisiana Department of Health holds marriage records only for Orleans Parish licenses, and it does not issue divorce decrees at all; a certified divorce judgment comes from the clerk of the parish where the divorce was granted. See marriage records and divorce records for how those rules apply statewide.
Courts that serve Calcasieu Parish
The 14th Judicial District Court serves Calcasieu Parish alone. Its website lists Divisions A through H and Division J, a Magistrate Court, and a Family and Juvenile Court. The Family and Juvenile Court is a part of the 14th Judicial District Court rather than a separate court, and it sits in the North Annex at 1000 Ryan Street, where hearing officer conferences handle family matters. The court's site gives weekday hours of 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., so plan around the midday break. The clerk's About Us page says the Judicial Center next to the courthouse, built in 1994, is where all civil and criminal hearings are held.
Two city courts handle smaller cases inside their territories:
- Lake Charles City Court has two judges and a city marshal under R.S. 13:1952. Its civil jurisdiction is concurrent with the district court up to $50,000, and its website offers an online eviction search.
- Sulphur City Court has one judge and a city marshal, with the same $50,000 civil limit. Its website lists 501 Willow Avenue in Sulphur, and the City of Sulphur notes that the court and the Ward 4 Marshal keep separate websites.
Appeals from the 14th Judicial District Court are heard close to home: the Court of Appeal, Third Circuit is seated in Lake Charles.
Visiting the Calcasieu Parish courthouse
The clerk's main office is in the Historic Calcasieu Courthouse at 1000 Ryan Street in downtown Lake Charles. According to the clerk's About Us page, the courthouse was built in 1912, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is managed by the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury, and also houses the Registrar of Voters and the civil sheriff's office. Wikipedia adds that the previous courthouse burned in the Lake Charles fire of 1910. The clerk's site even mentions a local legend that the building is haunted by Toni Jo Henry, who was executed in 1942.
Parking is free. The clerk's Directions page points to the Police Jury lots at the corner of Pithon and Gill Streets and on Ryan Street north of the courthouse, as well as Civic Center parking on Lakeshore Drive.
Posted hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays, but the clerk's home page says passports and birth and death certificates are not processed after 3:30 p.m.
The Sulphur office
The clerk also runs the West Calcasieu Annex in Sulphur. Its page lists birth and death certificates, oaths of office, recording of mortgages, conveyances, and miscellaneous documents, certified copies, and new civil suits and successions among its services, and it says birth and death certificates are available only at the Sulphur office. The annex page gives weekday hours of 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with no certificate applications accepted after 3:30 p.m. Pleadings filed there are time-stamped and forwarded to the main office for processing. The clerk's own pages currently give conflicting locations for the annex, so confirm its current address on the clerk's website before you drive there.
Other Calcasieu Parish offices
The Louisiana Sheriffs' Association lists the sheriff as "Stitch" Guillory, with headquarters on East Broad Street in Lake Charles. The Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office website has a public records request page and an inmate roster. As in every parish except Orleans, the sheriff also collects property taxes. For context, see the guides to sheriff's offices and inmate search.
Wendy Curphy Aguillard is the Calcasieu Parish Assessor, per the Louisiana Assessors' Association, at calcasieuassessor.org. The assessors guide explains assessed value.
The Calcasieu Parish Police Jury is the parish's governing body and maintains the historic courthouse. The parish government guide explains how police juries operate.