About the Iberia Parish Clerk of Court
A wedding chapel is part of the Iberia Parish Clerk of Court's office. The Janell Derouen Wedding Chapel, inside the clerk's Suite 100 office in New Iberia, is free to use for ceremonies of up to 10 guests, according to the clerk's site. It was built by the retired staff member it is named for.
David Ditch is the Clerk of Court, with a tenure the Louisiana Clerks of Court Association (LCCA) directory dates to May 2019. Louisiana's constitution, in Article V, Section 28, sets up the office in every parish as an elected post with a four-year term and makes the clerk ex officio notary public and recorder of conveyances, mortgages, and other acts. In Iberia, that puts the 16th Judicial District Court's local record and the parish land books under one roof at 300 Iberia Street. The clerk is also the parish's chief election officer under the Election Code, and the clerk's site lists elections and jury duty among its services.
The office explains its funding on its website: it receives no property tax money and operates on fees set by the legislature.
Iberia Parish was formed in 1868 from parts of St. Martin and St. Mary parishes. The state's Local Louisiana page says Spanish settlers named it for the Iberian Peninsula, and it lists New Iberia and Jeanerette as cities, Delcambre as a town, and Loreauville as a village. The parish has about 575 square miles of land and about 466 square miles of water. Its population was 70,290 in the 2020 Census base and an estimated 67,540 in July 2024.
Other clerks' offices are listed in the Louisiana Clerks of Court directory.
Court records in Iberia Parish
Iberia's online court records reach back decades. Through Clerk Connect, according to the clerk's online subscriptions page, civil records are available from January 1, 1980, and criminal records from November 30, 1959. For anything older, the clerk also keeps a historical E-Search system (on the COTT platform) covering older civil, criminal, and land and mortgage records.
Subscriptions listed in October 2026 are $20 for one day, $125 for 30 days, or $750 for a year, with $1.00 per printed page. A useful policy appears on the same page: if you pay for a subscription on either Clerk Connect or eClerks LA, the office will mirror it on the other site after you contact them. Electronic filing in civil and criminal cases goes through Clerk Connect, and the clerk says an active account is needed but a paid subscription is not.
The clerk's home page also has a "Check Your Court Date" link to a Clerk Connect court event inquiry, which helps when you only need to know when a hearing is set.
Background checks are available at the counter, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., for $20. The clerk's page is careful to say these cover charges in Iberia Parish only, and that the City of New Iberia and other parishes are not included. Anyone may request one, but the requester must bring a copy of the driver's license of the person being checked. The State Police keep Louisiana's statewide criminal history repository closed to the public, so a parish-level search like this one is limited to local filings.
Other services listed on the clerk's home page include small claims, protective orders, property bonds, public records requests, and self-help forms. Juvenile court records stay confidential under the Children's Code, except traffic matters.
The statewide guides to court records and criminal records cover how these systems connect.
Land, mortgage, and property records
Iberia's land records online begin with the parish itself. On eClerks LA, the clerk's subscriptions page lists conveyance records and plats from 1868, mortgage records from January 1, 1959, and marriage records. Plats from 1868 are reached through the historical search.
Electronic recording follows one strict rule: the clerk's eRecording page says the office accepts e-recordings only through eClerks LA, and that since January 1, 2022, Simplifile and CSC submissions are no longer accepted. The clerk's Recording Fees page lists $110 to record 1 to 5 pages, an amount that includes a $5 Iberia Parish Government fee and a $5 portal fee (viewed October 2026). The office also issues mortgage certificates and handles cancellations. Recording has a separate fax, 337-365-7636.
Under the Civil Code, a sale or mortgage of land is recorded where the land sits. Iberia borders six parishes, and its history adds a wrinkle: since the parish was carved from St. Martin and St. Mary in 1868, a title chain that runs earlier than that year may lead into one of those two parishes. The St. Martin Parish Clerk of Court in St. Martinville and the St. Mary Parish Clerk of Court in Franklin hold those earlier books. For today's borders, check the Lafayette Parish Clerk of Court, the Vermilion Parish Clerk of Court, the Iberville Parish Clerk of Court, or the Assumption Parish Clerk of Court when land runs across a line.
The property records guide describes conveyance and mortgage records statewide.
Marriage licenses and family records
The Iberia clerk issues marriage licenses from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday to Friday, and couples can begin with an online application. According to the clerk's marriage page (viewed October 2026), the $35.00 fee covers the application and one certified copy issued after the license is filed, and additional certified copies are $6. Payment can be cash, check, money order, or card.
One party may apply with both parties' documents. Applicants born in Louisiana need a certified birth certificate or birth card from the state vital records registry; the clerk notes that hospital souvenir certificates do not qualify.
The waiting period is 24 hours from issuance, which is the rule in state law, and the license expires after 30 days. The clerk's page says a judge's waiver is needed to marry sooner; state law also lets an authorized justice of the peace grant that waiver for serious and meritorious reasons. The officiant files the completed certificate with the issuing clerk within ten days.
Couples who want a simple ceremony can use the free chapel in the clerk's office, bringing their own officiant or asking whether a staff member can officiate, per the chapel page.
A certified copy of an Iberia marriage comes from this office, since the state's Vital Records Registry keeps only Orleans Parish marriage records. The clerk also sells Louisiana birth certificates ($34) and death certificates ($26, for deaths after July 9, 2012), cash only and in person from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Divorce decrees are not issued by Vital Records; a certified copy comes from the clerk where the divorce was granted. See the marriage records guide and divorce records guide.
Courts that serve Iberia Parish
The 16th Judicial District Court serves Iberia, St. Martin, and St. Mary parishes, and its parishes split between two appeal circuits. Iberia and St. Martin appeal to the Court of Appeal, Third Circuit in Lake Charles, while St. Mary appeals to the Court of Appeal, First Circuit in Baton Rouge. For an Iberia case, the Third Circuit is the one that matters.
The clerk's district judges page puts the judges' office at 300 Iberia Street, phone 337-369-4466, and lists Divisions A through H. The court's website at 16jdc.org has a Family Courts section with a page for Iberia, which is part of the district court rather than a separate court.
Two city courts sit in the parish. New Iberia City Court is on the second floor of New Iberia City Hall at 457 East Main Street, phone 337-369-2334, according to the City of New Iberia, and R.S. 13:1952 gives it jurisdiction within the city limits. Its website is newiberiacitycourt.com. Jeanerette City Court is named in the Code of Civil Procedure's list of city courts; no official website was verified. The parish clerk's site does not describe city court records, so contact each city court directly about its files.
Visiting the Iberia Parish courthouse
The clerk's office is in Suite 100 at 300 Iberia Street in New Iberia, the same address the clerk lists for the district judges' office. The clerk's site gives office hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday, but several services stop earlier: marriage licenses and background checks at 4:00 p.m., and birth and death certificates at 3:30 p.m.
Bring cash for vital records, since the clerk accepts no other payment for them. For other services, ask in advance which payment types apply.
The clerk's website does not show a mailing address. The LCCA directory lists P.O. Drawer 12010, New Iberia, LA 70562-2010. Civil filings have their own fax, 337-365-0737. Questions about online subscriptions go to the subscription contact named on the clerk's online subscriptions page.
Other Iberia Parish offices
The Louisiana Sheriffs' Association lists "Tommy" Romero as Sheriff of Iberia Parish, and the office's website is iberiaso.org. The sheriff runs the parish jail and, outside Orleans, collects property taxes. The sheriff's offices guide and the inmate search guide explain more.
Ashlie M. Spiker, CLA, is the Iberia Parish Assessor, per her office's website at iberiaassessor.org. Assessed values can be appealed first to the parish governing authority, then to the Louisiana Tax Commission, and then in court. The assessors guide covers the details.
Iberia Parish Government, led by a Parish President and a Parish Council, is online at iberiaparishgovernment.com, where a notice on the home page quotes Parish President M. Larry Richard. The parish government guide explains how parish governments differ across Louisiana.