About the Lincoln Parish Clerk of Court
Linda Cook has been the Lincoln Parish Clerk of Court for close to three decades. The Louisiana Clerks of Court Association (LCCA) directory tags the start of that tenure as October 1997. The office works out of 100 West Texas Avenue in Ruston, the parish seat, and its web pages now sit inside the Lincoln Parish government website instead of on a separate clerk domain. Old links to lincolnparish.org forward to lincolnparish.gov, so an older bookmark should still work.
The job itself is set by Article V, Section 28 of the Louisiana Constitution: a clerk of the district court is elected in every parish for a four-year term and serves as ex officio notary public and recorder of conveyances, mortgages, and other acts. In Lincoln Parish that means one staff keeps the suit records of the 3rd Judicial District Court, the parish's land records, and the machinery of local elections. State law names the clerk the parish's chief election officer, and the clerk's elections page adds that the office qualifies local candidates, trains election commissioners, and chairs the Parish Board of Election Supervisors. The clerk also manages jury service for 3rd JDC trials held in Lincoln Parish.
The Legislature formed Lincoln Parish on February 24, 1873, out of pieces of Bienville, Claiborne, Union, and Jackson parishes, and named it for Abraham Lincoln. It covers about 472 square miles of land. The Census Bureau's 2020 base counted 48,396 residents, and its July 2024 estimate was 48,243, a nearly flat line. Ruston and Grambling are the parish's two cities. Grambling State University is in Grambling, and the parish website also lists Louisiana Tech University among local schools.
For contact details on all the other offices, start from the Louisiana Clerks of Court directory.
Court records in Lincoln Parish
Civil filings cover ordinary lawsuits, probate matters (successions, interdictions, and emancipations), and adoptions, which the clerk's civil page marks as not public. Money claims under $3,000 can be filed on the Clerk's Docket, according to the same page. Civil minutes are kept by the office, and the civil fee sheet is posted as a PDF so filers can check advance costs before they arrive.
On the criminal side, the office files charging documents and keeps the minutes for Lincoln Parish cases in the 3rd JDC. The clerk's criminal page lists a criminal background search at $20.00 (viewed October 2026). Traffic is handled separately: citations written by the State Police, the sheriff's deputies, and local police in the parish come to the clerk and are set on a weekly traffic docket. Visitors should know that the clerk does not collect criminal or traffic fines at all. The criminal page sends fine payments to the Lincoln Parish Sheriff's Office at 318-251-5120.
For remote searching, the clerk uses Clerk Connect, a subscription portal that describes itself as providing search and printing for clerks of court. The clerk's online fee page (October 2026) sells separate Civil/Records and Criminal passes and lists prices of $25.00 for a day, $100.00 for a month, and $1,080.00 for a year, the last figure reflecting a 10 percent discount. One administrator can add up to five users, extra users cost $25.00 each, and copies print at $1.00 a page. The court records guide explains how these parish systems relate to the free statewide index on eClerks LA.
Two kinds of files are closed. The clerk's child support page says non-support records it files are confidential, and new non-support cases are opened through the District Attorney's Non-Support Division rather than at the clerk's counter. Juvenile court records are confidential under Children's Code article 412, apart from traffic matters.
Expungement motions are filed here as well. The clerk's expungement page says staff cannot give legal advice and lists the total at $550.00, paid by separate money orders. Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, an expunged record is removed from public access but is not destroyed, and it stays available to law enforcement. The criminal records guide covers who may see what.
Land, mortgage, and property records
The Recording department accepts conveyances, mortgages, and UCC filings. Its page carries a warning worth repeating: a recorded original becomes part of the parish archives and is not given back, so keep your own copy before you hand it over. The fee schedule for recording is posted as a PDF on that page.
Mortgage, non-lien, and UCC certificates are requested in writing, and the mortgage page says a request may be faxed. Mortgage cancellations go to the Cancellation Clerk first. According to the clerk's home page, recording and civil and criminal e-filing are all available through Clerk Connect. The site also links eClerks LA under the label "LCRAA Portal." State law required every district clerk to support electronic filing, recording, and remote access through that portal by January 1, 2026. eClerks LA's Statewide Portal is free for locating land, marriage, and civil index entries once you register an account, while document images come through a paid parish subscription.
Louisiana Civil Code article 3346 sends a mortgage or other act affecting land to the records of the parish where the land lies. Lincoln shares borders with five parishes, so a tract near a parish line may need a second search with the Union Parish Clerk of Court in Farmerville, the Ouachita Parish Clerk of Court in Monroe, or the Jackson Parish Clerk of Court. Because Lincoln was carved from four older parishes in 1873, anyone tracing a chain of title back past that year should ask the clerk where the earlier instruments can be found.
When a deed is recorded, R.S. 9:2721 requires the act to name the person responsible for property taxes and the address for tax notices, so the act itself shows who should receive tax notices. The property records guide walks through conveyance and mortgage searches statewide.
Marriage licenses and family records
The Lincoln clerk issues marriage licenses, and the marriage page (viewed October 2026) lists the fee as $27.50, cash only. Both parties are expected to come in; if one cannot, the absent party signs the application before a notary first. Bring certified birth certificates for both of you, photo identification, and Social Security numbers. If a Louisiana birth certificate is missing, the clerk's office can sell one for the state-mandated $34 per copy, also in cash.
State law sets the timing. A license is good for 30 days from issuance, and an officiant may not perform the ceremony until 24 hours after the license was issued, unless a judge or authorized justice of the peace waives that wait for serious reasons. The clerk's page also explains covenant marriage, a stricter form that couples choose on the application with a declaration of intent, and posts a printable application.
Recorded Lincoln Parish marriages stay with this clerk. The Louisiana Department of Health keeps marriage records only for licenses bought in Orleans Parish, so a certified copy of a Ruston or Grambling marriage comes from the clerk. Divorce works the same way: Vital Records does not issue divorce decrees, and a certified copy comes from the clerk where the divorce was granted. A divorce may be filed in a parish where either spouse is domiciled or in the parish of the last matrimonial domicile. Read more in the marriage records and divorce records guides.
Courts that serve Lincoln Parish
Lincoln and Union parishes together form the 3rd Judicial District Court under R.S. 13:477. The court's website gives the Lincoln Parish judges' office as the 3rd floor of 100 West Texas Avenue, the same building as the clerk, with an annex at 101 West Railroad Avenue. The Union Parish judges' office is in Farmerville.
Ruston City Court is a separate court with its own clerk. The City of Ruston lists it at 401 North Trenton Street, phone 318-251-8614. State law (R.S. 13:1952) recognizes it as the municipal court of Ruston, with one city judge and a city marshal, and extends its jurisdiction throughout Lincoln Parish. Outside the four parishes that have special juvenile courts, the Children's Code gives district courts original juvenile jurisdiction and lets city courts share it, which is why a juvenile matter could surface in either court.
Appeals from the 3rd JDC go to the Court of Appeal, Second Circuit, which sits at 430 Fannin Street in Shreveport.
Visiting the Lincoln Parish courthouse
The clerk's office is at 100 West Texas Avenue in downtown Ruston, in the building that also houses the 3rd JDC judges' office upstairs. The clerk's contact page gives hours of Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., excluding holidays. Its holiday page lists the 2026 closures, and they include General Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, 2026, along with Veterans Day on November 11 and the Thanksgiving Thursday and Friday.
There are two fax lines. The clerk's site lists 318-255-6004 for criminal and recording business and 318-513-6294 for civil. The email address on the clerk's contact page uses the lincolnparish.org domain, which differs from the LCCA's listing, so use the one the clerk publishes. Jury summons questions go to the Jury Office at 318-251-5121.
The clerk's website does not describe parking, entrances, or security screening, so call ahead if any of those matter to your visit. Under Louisiana's Public Records Law, staff may ask a requester's age and identification, and no one can be charged simply to look at a public record, although copies carry posted fees.
Other Lincoln Parish offices
The sheriff is the parish's chief law enforcement officer, keeps the parish jail, and outside Orleans collects state and parish property taxes. The Louisiana Sheriffs' Association lists Stephen Williams as Lincoln Parish Sheriff, and the office's site is lpsheriff.org. According to the clerk's criminal page, questions about paying criminal and traffic fines go to the Sheriff's Office at 318-251-5120. The guides to Louisiana sheriff's offices and inmate search explain the jail and tax roles.
The assessor sets property values for taxation. The Louisiana Assessors' Association lists Billy McBride as Lincoln Parish Assessor at 307 Homer Street, Suite 100, in Ruston, with a website at lpassessor.com. See the assessors and property taxes guide for how the homestead exemption works.
The Lincoln Parish Police Jury is the parish governing body; its pages are on the parish government website. Voter registration is handled by a registrar of voters appointed by that governing authority, not by the clerk.