About the Lafayette Parish Clerk of Court
The Lafayette Parish Clerk of Court is a big operation, with a staff of more than 110 full-time employees, according to the clerk's site. That size tracks the parish: the Census Bureau counted 241,759 residents in its 2020 base and estimated 254,241 in July 2024, a gain of about 5 percent, all on roughly 269 square miles of land.
Louis J. Perret is the clerk. The Louisiana Clerks of Court Association (LCCA) directory dates his tenure to November 1999. The clerk's About page traces the office to 1823, when the legislature carved Lafayette Parish out of the western part of St. Martin Parish. The parish is named for the Marquis de la Fayette, and the state's Local Louisiana page lists its cities as Broussard, Carencro, Lafayette, Scott, and Youngsville, plus the town of Duson.
The job itself is set by the state constitution. Article V, Section 28 provides for a clerk of the district court elected in each parish for four years, who also serves as ex officio notary public and as the parish recorder of conveyances, mortgages, and other acts. The Election Code names the clerk chief election officer of the parish, and the clerk's FAQ notes that the office runs jury management and schools for election commissioners. The clerk also sells Louisiana birth certificates and death certificates for deaths after July 9, 2012.
The full statewide list of offices is in the Louisiana Clerks of Court directory.
Court records in Lafayette Parish
Court work in Lafayette is split into departments with their own phone numbers, which saves time when you call the main line. According to the clerk's site, civil records are at 337-291-6303, criminal at 337-291-6329, non-support at 337-291-6367, traffic at 337-291-6370, and jury at 337-291-6355. Civil and criminal also have their own fax numbers, separate from the administration fax.
ClerkConnect is the online gateway for court records. It shows unsealed civil and probate case information, family matters, and criminal and traffic case information, including the offense date, charge, case history, service, minutes, and disposition. The clerk's fees page (viewed October 2026) lists access at $10 for one day, $25 for 30 days, or $300 for 365 days. Printing is $1.00 per page, except minute entries, which are $10.00 each. Electronic civil and criminal filing also goes through ClerkConnect. For a free first look, the clerk's home page says eClerks LA offers a free index search of civil, probate, marriage, and land records.
Several departments handle matters that are not open to the public. The Juvenile Department covers delinquency, child in need of care, juvenile traffic, truancy, Families in Need of Services, and drug court cases, and those records are confidential. Louisiana's Children's Code makes juvenile court records confidential, with traffic violations the only exception. The Family Court and Non-Support Department works child support cases alongside the District Attorney.
The Traffic Department files citations, but it does not set or collect fines. The clerk says fines on tickets written by Louisiana State Police troopers and the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office are handled by the Sheriff's collections office, and that questions about other fines go to the sheriff in the parish of the agency that issued the ticket.
The clerk's FAQ also says the office does not provide divorce forms. For the statewide picture, see the guides to court records, criminal records, and civil records.
Land, mortgage, and property records
Lafayette's Recording Department takes in two to three hundred documents a day, according to its page, covering conveyances, mortgages, and UCC filings. Cancellations follow their own path: they must be in authentic form and go first to the Cancellation Clerk. Electronic recording is encouraged, and the clerk's home page offers several e-recording options, including Simplifile. The land records line is 337-291-6300, and Recording and Research share a fax.
Researchers in person use the Land Records and Copy Department, which has six public computers and property records indexed back to 1936. Copy requests can be emailed to the department at CopyDepartment@lpclerk.com.
From home, the paid Lafayette Parish eSearch covers the mortgage, conveyance, and UCC indexes, with document images from January 1, 1935. The fees page lists $20 for a day, $50 for 30 days, or $600 for a year, with printing at $1.00 per page and payment by credit card through PayPal. The clerk also promotes eClerks Alert, which the home page describes as free, personalized monitoring of land records across Louisiana parishes.
Louisiana's Civil Code puts a sale or mortgage of land in the records of the parish where the land is located, so a tract near the parish line may need two searches. The clerk's directions page places Acadia to the west and Vermilion to the south. A tract that runs west across the line belongs in the books of the Acadia Parish Clerk of Court in Crowley, and one to the south belongs with the Vermilion Parish Clerk of Court in Abbeville. The other neighbors are St. Landry, Iberia, and St. Martin; the St. Martin Parish Clerk of Court is also the place to look for instruments recorded before 1823, when today's Lafayette Parish was still part of St. Martin. The Iberia Parish Clerk of Court and St. Landry Parish Clerk of Court cover the remaining lines.
Read more in the Louisiana property records guide.
Marriage licenses and family records
Marriage licenses are issued at the courthouse from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday to Friday, and the marriage line is 337-291-6335. Couples can start online: the clerk's application gives a confirmation number, which you bring to the office within 30 days.
The clerk's marriage page (viewed October 2026) lists the fee at $27.50, plus $4.00 per page for each attachment, such as waivers, statements for applicants without a Social Security number, confidentiality requests, and parental consent forms. Payment is by cash or by credit or debit card. Card transactions carry a 3.00% convenience fee, with a $1.00 minimum on transactions under $33.00. A certified copy is $5.00, and the clerk will mail it after the license is recorded if it is paid for in advance.
The clerk says to buy the license at least 24 hours before the ceremony, which is Louisiana's statutory waiting period, and it expires 30 days from issuance. A judge or authorized justice of the peace may shorten the wait for serious and meritorious reasons. The license is good only for a ceremony in Louisiana, though state law lets a couple buy it in any parish regardless of where they live.
Once the ceremony is done, the officiant has ten days to return the certificate copies to the issuing clerk, which forwards a copy to the state registrar. Certified copies of Lafayette marriages come from this clerk, because Louisiana's Vital Records Registry keeps marriage records only for licenses purchased in Orleans Parish.
Divorce and custody judgments are part of the 15th Judicial District Court record. The state does not issue divorce decrees; a certified copy comes from the clerk in the parish where the divorce was granted. See the marriage records guide and divorce records guide.
Courts that serve Lafayette Parish
Lafayette shares the 15th Judicial District Court with Acadia and Vermilion parishes. The court's website lists Divisions A through M and a commissioner, plus pages for Family Court, Kids First, Families in Need of Services, misdemeanor probation, and specialty court. Family and juvenile matters are handled by the district court through the clerk's Family Court and Juvenile departments, not by a separate court. Each of the three parishes has its own clerk, so a 15th JDC case filed in Crowley or Abbeville is kept there.
Lafayette City Court sits in the city of Lafayette with two divisions, according to the clerk's public officials page, and it is also named in the Code of Civil Procedure's list of city courts. The parish clerk's site does not cover city court files, so ask the city court directly about those records.
Appeals go to the Court of Appeal, Third Circuit, which sits in Lake Charles.
Visiting the Lafayette Parish courthouse
The clerk's office is in the Lafayette Parish Courthouse at 800 South Buchanan Street in downtown Lafayette. The clerk's directions describe the courthouse as across from the parish jail on Lafayette Street, past the federal courthouse.
Security is strict, and it is worth reading before you go. All visitors and deliveries must use the entrances on the south side of the courthouse, and people and packages are searched. The clerk's home page lists prohibited items, including weapons and self-defense items, tobacco and e-cigarettes, lighters, cellphones and smart watches, recording devices, cameras, and all electronic devices, and says camera phones are not allowed. If you usually keep notes or a payment app on your phone, bring paper and a card instead.
Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday, except legal holidays and emergency closures ordered by the court, according to the clerk's hours page. When a clerk's office closes for a public emergency, state law extends the deadline for filing a pleading to the end of the first day the office reopens.
Passports are no longer handled here. The clerk sends applicants to the post offices at 1105 Moss Street in Lafayette and 5926 Cameron Street in Scott.
Other Lafayette Parish offices
The clerk's public officials page lists Mark Garber as Sheriff of Lafayette Parish, with the office online at lafayettesheriff.com. Outside Orleans, the sheriff collects state and parish property taxes along with running the jail and enforcing the law. See the sheriff's offices guide and the inmate search guide.
Justin Centanni is the Lafayette Parish Assessor, per the same page, and his office is at lafayetteassessor.com. The assessors guide explains how property is valued and how the homestead exemption applies.
Lafayette is governed by Lafayette Consolidated Government, which has a Mayor-President, a City Council, and a Parish Council, at lafayettela.gov. That arrangement is different from a police jury; the parish government guide explains the options.