About the Claiborne Parish Clerk of Court
Claiborne Parish's records carry a scar from 1848. Before the seat settled in Homer, it moved from Russellville to Overton in 1836 and then to Athens in 1846, and a fire at Athens in 1848 destroyed the courthouse and every record in it. The present courthouse in Homer was built in 1860. Anyone tracing Claiborne records from before 1848 should expect that loss to show.
Brian M. Flynn is the Clerk of Court, and the Louisiana Clerks of Court Association lists him in office since November 2015. Shannon Skinner is chief deputy clerk and handles civil filings, according to the clerk's staff directory. The clerk's site points out that the office receives no property tax money and runs entirely on the fees it collects.
The duties are the ones Louisiana assigns every parish clerk: keeping the record of the district court, serving as recorder of mortgages and conveyances, acting as ex officio notary, and serving as chief election officer. In that election role, the clerk is a member of the parish board of election supervisors alongside the registrar of voters. The clerk's site posts election information and a court calendar.
Claiborne was formed in 1828 from Natchitoches Parish and named for William C. C. Claiborne, Louisiana's first governor. Parts of it later went to form Bossier Parish in 1843 and Webster Parish in 1871. The parish has two towns, Homer and Haynesville, and three villages, Athens, Junction City, and Lisbon. Census figures show 14,172 residents in the 2020 base and 13,537 in the July 2024 estimate, on about 754.8 square miles of land.
Contact details for all 64 offices are in the Louisiana Clerks of Court directory.
Court records in Claiborne Parish
Civil, probate, and criminal cases from Claiborne in the 2nd Judicial District Court are filed and kept here. The civil department collects advance deposits when a case opens and posts self-representation resources and protective order information on the clerk's site.
The online system is Clerk Connect, which the clerk calls its Public Records Search. The clerk's online records page (October 2026) lists plans at $20.00 a day, $75.00 a month, or $625.00 a year, plus $1.00 per printed page. Each plan includes three user licenses; extra licenses run $25.00 a month or $300.00 a year. According to that page, the civil index covers 1986 to the present, though not every suit has images, and criminal records cover 2002 to the present.
There is a free option. The same page says the records can be viewed at the clerk's office at no charge during business hours, which matches Louisiana's Public Records Law: a custodian may charge for copies but not for simply examining a public record. For anyone who needs a large batch of images, the clerk posts volume discounts on bulk record purchases.
Civil and criminal pleadings can be e-filed through Clerk Connect, according to the clerk's home page. Juvenile records are confidential under state law. For how these records work across Louisiana, see court records and criminal records.
Land, mortgage, and property records
Conveyance and mortgage indexes and images on Clerk Connect run from November 1, 1969, to within about two weeks of the present, according to the clerk. Anything older is in the office in Homer. Copies of conveyance and mortgage records made in the office cost $1.50 per page, per the online records page (October 2026). Recording fees, effective August 1, 2017, are $105 for 1 to 5 pages, $205 for 6 to 25 pages, and $305 for 26 to 50 pages. Electronic recording is available through Clerk Connect, and checks or money orders should be made payable to "Claiborne Parish Clerk of Court."
The parish's history complicates title work. Land that is in Bossier or Webster today was once part of Claiborne, so an old chain of title may cross parish lines even though the land never moved. Current transactions are recorded only in the parish where the land now lies. For property near Claiborne's edges, a second search may be needed at the Webster Parish Clerk of Court in Minden, the Union Parish Clerk of Court in Farmerville, or the Lincoln Parish Clerk of Court. Bienville Parish also borders Claiborne, and Columbia and Union counties in Arkansas lie across the state line.
The statewide eClerks LA portal, linked from the clerk's LCRAA page, offers a free index search across parishes after creating an account. The property records guide covers mortgage certificates and conveyance searches statewide.
Marriage licenses and family records
Marriage license indexes on Clerk Connect run from 1850 to the present, so the marriage series begins soon after the Athens fire. The clerk issues new licenses for $27.50, paid by cash, check, money order, or card with a convenience fee, according to its marriage page (October 2026). The office asks applicants to arrive by 3:30 p.m.
Only one applicant has to come in, but the license is not issued until both signatures on the application are notarized. Bring identification and certified birth certificates for both parties; the clerk can sell a Louisiana birth certificate for $34.00 if one is missing. State law accepts a driver's license, a government-issued ID card, or a passport, among other forms. A 24-hour wait applies after issuance, and the clerk's page says the district judge may waive it. The license is valid for 30 days.
The clerk prints certified birth certificates ($34; $48 with a wallet card) and death certificates ($26, for deaths after July 1, 2013) from the Louisiana Vital Records Registry.
Divorces granted in Claiborne are filed in the 2nd Judicial District Court record here. In an ordinary Louisiana divorce based on living apart, the required period is 180 days when there are no minor children and 365 days when there are; covenant marriages follow different rules. The divorce records and marriage records guides have the details.
Courts that serve Claiborne Parish
The 2nd Judicial District Court serves Claiborne, Bienville, and Jackson parishes. State law, R.S. 13:621.2, assigns Division A to Claiborne Parish, with Division B in Jackson and Division C in Bienville. All three judges run district-wide, serve six-year terms, and need only live somewhere in the district. No standalone website for the court could be loaded in October 2026. Files are kept parish by parish, so the Bienville Parish Clerk of Court in Arcadia holds Bienville's cases and the Jackson clerk in Jonesboro holds that parish's.
The Supreme Court's 2025 Guide to Louisiana Courts lists no city court in Claiborne Parish. Outside the four parishes with special juvenile courts, the district court has original juvenile jurisdiction, so Claiborne juvenile matters go to the 2nd JDC.
Appeals from Claiborne go to the Court of Appeal, Second Circuit in Shreveport.
Visiting the Claiborne Parish courthouse
The clerk's office is at 512 East Main Street in Homer, and the clerk's website shows it as the Claiborne Parish Clerk of Court Office Building. The historic parish courthouse in Homer, built in 1860, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 7, 1981, and is part of the Homer Historic District. Confirm which building you need before you go, because a hearing and a records request may not be in the same place.
The clerk lists weekday hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Marriage applicants should come by 3:30 p.m. The clerk's site does not publish a mailing address, fax, or general email, so use the phone number or the contact form on the site. Staff emails for individual departments are on the staff directory.
Other Claiborne Parish offices
Sam Dowies is sheriff, according to the Louisiana Sheriffs' Association, which lists the office at 300 Highway 146 in Homer, phone 318-927-2011. The Claiborne Parish Sheriff's Office runs a Tax and Civil Office at the same address (318-927-4807) and offers online property tax payment. The sheriff also keeps the parish jail; see inmate search and sheriff's offices.
Katie Coburn is the assessor, listed by the Louisiana Assessors' Association at 508 East Main Street in Homer, phone 318-927-3022, with a website at claiborneassessor.org. The assessor sets values; the sheriff collects the tax. The tax assessors guide explains both.
Claiborne One describes itself as the official site of the Claiborne Parish Police Jury, the sheriff's office, and the towns of Homer and Haynesville. The parish government guide explains how police juries work.