About the Grant Parish Clerk of Court
Randall K. "Randy" Briggs is the Grant Parish Clerk of Court, as the LCCA directory gives the name; the clerk's own website shortens it to Randall Briggs. The LCCA tags the current tenure as beginning in July 2016. As the Louisiana Constitution provides for every parish, the clerk is elected for a four-year term, and the office combines three public jobs: clerk of the district court, ex officio recorder of land records, and chief election officer for the parish.
Grant Parish was founded in 1869, during Reconstruction, and named for President Ulysses S. Grant. It was formed from parts of Rapides and Winn parishes. Even so, the clerk's Research Department says its property records are indexed back to 1843, about a quarter century before the parish existed. Colfax is the parish seat.
The 2020 Census base counted 22,176 people in Grant Parish, and the July 2024 estimate of 22,109 is almost unchanged. The parish covers about 644 square miles of land.
The clerk's website lists ten departments, which tells you how the work is divided: accounting, administration, civil, criminal, juvenile, mortgage, recording, registrar, research, and traffic. Knowing which department holds a record saves a transfer when you call. You can compare this office with every other parish in the Louisiana Clerks of Court directory.
Court records in Grant Parish
The Civil Department files civil suits and probate matters and issues citations, writs, and subpoenas. The Criminal Department receives felony charges filed by the District Attorney for the 35th Judicial District, sends bond forfeiture notices, and issues subpoenas. One jurisdictional point appears on the clerk's Criminal Department page: misdemeanors that happen inside city limits go to the municipal courts, while the clerk receives the felony bills of information and indictments. If you are looking for a misdemeanor ticket from inside a town, start with that town's court.
For remote research, the clerk's Quick Links point to Clerk Connect inquiry pages for Grant Parish civil and criminal records. The access terms for those searches were not confirmed for this guide, so check the Clerk Connect site or call the clerk before buying anything. The statewide eClerks LA portal, also linked by the clerk, indexes civil suits along with land and marriage records across all 64 parishes, though its search requires an account.
Louisiana's Public Records Law gives any person the right to a copy of a public record, subject to the law's exceptions, and a custodian who doubts that something is public must explain why in writing within five business days of a written request. Some court records are closed by law. Juvenile proceedings are confidential, and an expunged record is removed from public access even though it still exists. The guides to Louisiana court records and criminal records explain both rules.
Land, mortgage, and property records
Grant's Recording Department takes conveyance, mortgage, miscellaneous, and UCC documents. Two policies are worth knowing before you file. The Mortgage Department page says every cancellation goes first to its Cancellation Clerk for review, must be in authentic form (executed before a notary and two witnesses), and, with almost no exceptions, requires the original promissory note to cancel a mortgage. And the Recording Department page says original documents are not returned after recording; they become part of the parish archives, so keep your own copy.
The Mortgage Department issues mortgage, non-lien, and UCC certificates. Requests must be made in writing, and the clerk accepts them by fax or email. Electronic recording is available through Clerk Connect, which the clerk's Quick Links describe as eRecording for property records.
The Research Department is the place for title and family history work. It handles property records, mineral leases, divorce judgments, chattel records, UCC filings, and subdivision maps, all indexed back to 1843. For an online index of land and marriage records, the clerk's Quick Links also point to eClerks LA; for anything else, call the office.
Grant Parish has only four neighbors, and land near any of those lines may have to be searched twice. Louisiana's Civil Code sends each recorded act to the parish where the land sits. Those four recorders are the Rapides Parish Clerk of Court in Alexandria, the Natchitoches Parish Clerk of Court, the Winn Parish Clerk of Court in Winnfield, and the LaSalle Parish Clerk of Court in Jena. For statewide background, read the property records guide.
Marriage licenses and family records
The Grant Parish clerk's Marriage Department issues licenses. Its page says licenses generally must be bought at least 24 hours before the ceremony, they expire 30 days after issue, and both applicants must provide certified birth certificates and Social Security numbers. Payment is accepted in cash, check, money order, or credit card, with a 3.5 percent card fee, according to the page. The page also posts the license cost; call the office to confirm the current amount before you go.
State law adds a few rules that apply here as everywhere outside Orleans. A license can be issued in any Louisiana parish no matter where the wedding will be held, but the Department of Health warns that a Louisiana license cannot be used for a ceremony in another state. After the wedding, the officiant has ten days to file the certificate with the clerk who issued the license, and that clerk forwards a copy to the state registrar.
Family judgments from the 35th Judicial District Court, including divorce, stay in the Grant Parish record, and the Research Department lists divorce judgments among the records it searches. For more, see marriage records in Louisiana and divorce records.
Courts that serve Grant Parish
Grant Parish alone makes up the 35th Judicial District Court, which sits in the Grant Parish Courthouse at 200 Main Street in Colfax. The court's own website lists Judge Warren D. Willett and gives the court a phone number separate from the clerk's. Outside the four parishes that have special juvenile courts, the district court has original juvenile jurisdiction, and the Grant clerk's website lists a juvenile department among its offices.
This guide does not list a city court for Grant Parish. Misdemeanors inside town limits go to municipal courts, as the clerk's Criminal Department page explains, while felony cases belong to the district court.
Appeals from the 35th go to the Court of Appeal, Third Circuit, seated in Lake Charles. Grant's neighbors split on this point: Winn Parish appeals to the Second Circuit in Shreveport, while Rapides, Natchitoches, and LaSalle are Third Circuit parishes like Grant.
Visiting the Grant Parish courthouse
The clerk's office and the 35th Judicial District Court share the Grant Parish Courthouse at 200 Main Street in Colfax. The clerk's homepage gives office hours of Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except legal holidays.
Colfax has a hard history. The parish courthouse of that era was at the center of the April 1873 violence now called the Colfax Massacre, which was originally designated the Colfax Riot.
The clerk's website is a single-page application that loads each department page by script. If a page will not load, the phone is the reliable route. Written requests are required for mortgage and UCC certificates, so bring or send them on paper, by fax, or by email rather than asking at the counter.
Other Grant Parish offices
The Grant Parish Sheriff's Office is led by Sheriff Steven McCain, according to its website. Louisiana's constitution makes each sheriff outside Orleans the collector of state and parish property taxes, and state statute makes the sheriff keeper of the parish jail. The sheriff's offices guide and the inmate search guide explain those roles and the free LA VINE custody search.
Keith Maxwell, CLA, is the assessor, per the Grant Parish Assessor's Office website. The assessor's phone number on that site matches the number the clerk's Mortgage Department gives for the assessor. Homestead exemption filings and valuation questions go there; the assessors and property taxes guide covers the rules.
The Grant Parish Police Jury is the parish governing body.