About the Catahoula Parish Clerk of Court
Larisa Holley Field is the Catahoula Parish Clerk of Court, with the LCCA directory tagging the current tenure from July 2016. The office in Harrisonburg is the recorder for every deed and mortgage in the parish, the keeper of the Catahoula side of the 7th Judicial District Court's record, and the local election office. All three roles trace to Louisiana law: the constitution makes each parish's elected clerk of the district court an ex officio notary and recorder, and the Election Code names the clerk chief election officer of the parish.
Catahoula is a small parish with an old name. It was formed in 1808, shortly after the Louisiana Purchase, and according to the State of Louisiana its name comes from a Tensas word meaning big, clear lake. That lake, Catahoula Lake, is no longer in the parish. In 1910 the state split off the western section to create LaSalle Parish, and the lake now lies within LaSalle.
The Census Bureau counted 8,907 residents in its 2020 base and estimated 8,280 for July 2024, across 708 square miles of land. Harrisonburg is the parish seat.
Catahoula also shares its district court with another parish, Concordia. That arrangement shapes where records live, and it is the first thing to understand before calling. See the Louisiana Clerks of Court directory for every clerk.
Court records in Catahoula Parish
The 7th Judicial District covers two parishes, Catahoula and Concordia, under R.S. 13:477. Each parish has its own clerk of court, and each clerk keeps the suits filed in that parish. A case filed in Harrisonburg is a Catahoula record; a case filed in Vidalia is held by the Concordia Parish Clerk of Court. If you are not sure where a 7th Judicial District case was filed, check both.
For online research, the clerk's eClerks LA and Clerk Connect page links Clerk Connect for civil and criminal records. The access terms for Catahoula on Clerk Connect were not confirmed for this guide, so ask the office before paying for a subscription.
The clerk's Fees and Forms page posts forms for both sides of the docket. On the civil side it posts a fee schedule, eviction forms, pauper affidavits, and a clerk's suit affidavit. On the criminal side it posts an application for post-conviction relief and expungement instructions and forms. That matters because Louisiana allows only the statutory expungement forms to be used, and a clerk of a court with criminal jurisdiction may adapt them to show the court's name. Once an expungement motion is filed, the clerk serves notice on the district attorney, the State Police bureau, and the arresting agency.
The statewide guides to court records and criminal records explain access rules, including why state criminal history is closed to the public.
Land, mortgage, and property records
The Catahoula clerk records conveyances and mortgages, takes mortgage certificate requests, and posts cancellation forms and manufactured home immobilization forms on its Fees and Forms page. Online, the clerk links eClerks LA for land and marriage records. eClerks LA calls its Statewide Portal index free with an account and sells Parish Search subscriptions for viewing and printing images. The clerk's site does not mention electronic recording, so ask before you plan to eRecord.
Catahoula's 1910 split has a practical consequence for title work. Land that is in LaSalle Parish today was part of Catahoula before 1910, so a chain of title for that land may lead back to Harrisonburg; ask both the Catahoula clerk and the LaSalle Parish Clerk of Court in Jena which volumes each holds.
For current transactions, the Civil Code rule is simple: an act is recorded in the parish where the land is. Catahoula touches six parishes, Avoyelles, Caldwell, Concordia, Franklin, LaSalle, and Tensas, so property near any of those lines may need a second search, for example with the Avoyelles Parish Clerk of Court or the Franklin Parish Clerk of Court. The Louisiana property records guide explains what is recorded and why.
Marriage licenses and family records
Catahoula's clerk issues marriage licenses, and its Marriage License Requirements sheet is specific. As posted in October 2026, a license costs $27.50, a one-day waiver is $5.00, and a certified copy is $10.00. Applicants are asked to come in by 4:00 p.m. so there is time to complete the application. The sheet says Social Security numbers are required, but copies of the cards are not, and it lists three Catahoula Parish justices of the peace.
The 30-day life of a license and the 24-hour wait come from state law, and the Catahoula sheet repeats both, noting that a judge or justice of the peace can waive the wait. The sheet asks for an original or certified copy of each applicant's birth certificate, and R.S. 9:225 also calls for identification such as an unexpired driver's license or passport. Covenant marriage is available as an option on the license application if the couple completes the required counseling and declaration.
After the ceremony, the officiant has ten days to return the certificate to the Catahoula clerk, who forwards a copy to the state registrar of vital records by the fifteenth of each month. Certified copies afterward come from the clerk, not from Vital Records. Divorce judgments rendered in the 7th Judicial District Court for Catahoula filings are also certified here. More in the marriage records and divorce records guides.
Courts that serve Catahoula Parish
The 7th Judicial District Court serves Catahoula and Concordia parishes. The clerk's Courthouse Officials page places the judge's office on the second floor of the Catahoula courthouse and lists Honorable Clinton A. Magoun for Division A, pro tem. No court website was found. The district attorney's office, which the clerk links at 7thjda.org, is on the third floor.
The clerk's Courthouse Officials page lists the public defender's office in Vidalia, on Carter Street, rather than in Harrisonburg.
No city court was identified in Catahoula Parish.
Appeals from both 7th District parishes go to the Court of Appeal, Third Circuit in Lake Charles. Three of Catahoula's neighbors, Caldwell, Franklin, and Tensas, are Second Circuit parishes, so a case from just across those lines takes a different appellate route.
Visiting the Catahoula Parish courthouse
The clerk's office is in Room 101 of the Catahoula Parish Courthouse at 301 Bushley Street in Harrisonburg. The clerk's contact page gives hours of Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except legal holidays. Marriage license applicants should arrive by 4:00 p.m.
Much of parish government is under one roof here, and the clerk's Courthouse Officials page gives a room-by-room map: the assessor in Room 102, the police jury in Room 104, the registrar of voters in Room 111, the district judge's office on the second floor, and the district attorney on the third floor.
The courthouse itself dates to 1930. It was designed in the Classical Revival style by J.W. Smith & Associates and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The clerk's marriage requirements sheet repeats a point from the Department of Health: a license issued in Louisiana can be used only within Louisiana. The same sheet lists the office hours as 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays.
Other Catahoula Parish offices
Toney Edwards is the sheriff, according to the clerk's Courthouse Officials page, which lists the sheriff's office at 100 Pine Street in Harrisonburg. The office's website is catahoulaso.com. As in other parishes outside Orleans, the sheriff collects state and parish property taxes and runs the parish jail. See the sheriff's offices guide.
Matt Taylor is the assessor, with the office in Room 102 of the courthouse, per the same page. No assessor website was verified. The assessors and property taxes guide covers assessment and the homestead exemption.
The Catahoula Parish Police Jury, the parish governing body, has its office in Room 104. The clerk's page, which is undated, lists Donald Wayne Meyers as president. The registrar of voters, who handles voter registration separately from the clerk, is in Room 111; Louisiana's constitution has each parish governing authority appoint that registrar.