About the Livingston Parish Clerk of Court
Livingston's population has grown in recent years. The Census counted 142,288 residents in its 2020 base and estimated 152,886 by July 2024, an increase of more than 10,000 people in four years, across roughly 648 square miles of land. The current Livingston Parish Courthouse on Government Boulevard was completed at the end of 2014, replacing a complex more than seventy years old, and it houses the clerk's main office.
Jason B. Harris became Clerk of Court on January 1, 2019. The office he holds is defined in the Louisiana Constitution: an elected, four-year post as clerk of the district court, carrying with it the roles of ex officio notary public and parish recorder of conveyances, mortgages, and other acts. Under the Election Code he is also Livingston Parish's chief election officer, and the clerk's website covers jury duty and criminal record checks alongside court and land work.
The parish's history explains a few quirks in its records. According to the clerk's history page, the Legislature created Livingston on February 10, 1832, by splitting St. Helena Parish in two, and the parish gave up territory in 1869 when Tangipahoa Parish was formed. The clerk says historians still disagree about whether the parish is named for Robert or Edward Livingston. The seat itself has moved several times, from Van Buren to Springfield, Port Vincent, and Centerville (Springville) before settling in the town of Livingston in 1941. The old courthouse in Springfield was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. Because the land was part of St. Helena Parish until 1832, anyone tracing a very old chain of title should ask the clerk where instruments from before that year are kept.
Every other clerk is listed in the Louisiana Clerks of Court directory.
Court records in Livingston Parish
The clerk files civil suits for the 21st Judicial District Court and keeps the criminal and traffic records for cases brought in Livingston Parish. The website links separate civil and criminal e-filing pages and also links Clerk Connect. Criminal record checks are offered as a service.
For traffic tickets, the clerk's FAQ lists three ways to pay: at the courthouse, by calling the 21st JDC's Collections Department at 225-435-7002, or online through a payment site linked from that FAQ.
Research help is free at the clerk's office, according to its research page, with copies at $1 per page (October 2026), and there is a Bar Association work area set aside for attorneys. Louisiana's Public Records Law gives any person the right to a copy of a public record, subject to exceptions such as confidential juvenile files and expunged records, and if a request is refused or goes unanswered for five business days, the requester can sue in the district court of the parish where the custodian's office is located.
Statewide, no single public database of criminal cases was found; eClerks LA indexes land, marriage, and civil records across parishes and does not describe a statewide criminal case search. For more, read about criminal records and court records in Louisiana.
Land, mortgage, and property records
The Livingston recording side is organized into a recording desk, a mortgage section that issues mortgage and non-lien certificates and handles cancellations, a conveyance section, UCC search certificates, mapping, and indexing. Conveyance indexes, both written and computerized, date back to 1875, according to the clerk.
Online land research normally runs through the clerk's Cott Systems eSearch, which covers land and plats, charters, conveyances, marriages, mortgages, recorded wills, and miscellaneous records. The login page lists $20.00 for 24 hours, $50.00 per month, or $300.00 per year, plus $1.00 per printed page (viewed October 2026). However, the clerk's site has posted a notice that the COTT system was restored for internal use while external viewing was still being restored. Check the clerk's home page for the current status before buying a subscription, and plan on an office visit if outside access is still down.
E-recording has been available since July 22, 2019, through CSC and Simplifile. One limit catches surveyors: the clerk says plats larger than 8.5 by 14 inches cannot be e-recorded and must be hand delivered or sent overnight. The clerk also promotes free eClerks Alert fraud notifications for up to five names per email address, statewide or by parish.
Five parishes border Livingston. Under the Civil Code, a mortgage or sale is recorded in the parish where the land lies, so a tract crossing the line into Ascension is also filed with the Ascension Parish Clerk of Court, and land that continues into Tangipahoa goes on record with the Tangipahoa Parish Clerk of Court in Amite as well. The other neighbors are East Baton Rouge, St. Helena, and St. John the Baptist; the St. Helena Parish Clerk of Court serves the parish Livingston was carved from. The property records guide covers the rest.
Marriage licenses and family records
The clerk's marriage license page (viewed October 2026) lists $31.00 for a license and $36 for a covenant marriage license, payable by cash or credit or debit card. Only the party who appears needs to sign the application. The page lists the documents Louisiana requires under R.S. 9:224 through 9:228 and posts the license form and the Louisiana Marriage Officiant Registration Affidavit.
Two points on the page are worth knowing. The clerk does not charge to process a waiver of the 24-hour waiting period, and the ceremony must take place in Louisiana. That second point matches state guidance: a license bought in Louisiana cannot be used for a wedding in another state. The license itself is valid for 30 days, and the officiant must file the completed certificate with the issuing clerk within ten days.
Birth certificates and death certificates (for deaths after July 7, 2012) are issued at both the courthouse and the Denham Springs office from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., according to the clerk.
Divorce, custody, and support cases are filed in the 21st Judicial District Court and kept by this clerk. Certified copies of a Livingston divorce decree come from this office, since state Vital Records does not issue them. The guides to marriage records and divorce records explain statewide rules.
Courts that serve Livingston Parish
Livingston shares the 21st Judicial District Court with Tangipahoa and St. Helena. The court's website lists elected judges in Divisions A through F and I through L, two hearing officers, and a range of programs: Adult Drug Court, Juvenile Drug Court, Veterans Treatment Court, FINS, TASC, misdemeanor probation, and the collections department. Judges' chambers are on the second floor of each parish courthouse. The court lists a Livingston phone number of (225) 686-7461 and a separate mailing address, P.O. Box 639, Livingston.
Denham Springs also has a city court. State law (R.S. 15:85.3) refers to the city court of Denham Springs and its marshal, but no official website for the court was found, and its address and jurisdiction could not be verified on an official page. Questions about a city court case belong with that court, not with the parish clerk of court.
Appeals from the 21st go to the Court of Appeal, First Circuit, whose clerk's office is at 1600 North Third Street in Baton Rouge.
Visiting the Livingston Parish courthouse
The clerk's main office is in the Livingston Parish Courthouse at 20300 Government Boulevard in Livingston. Its posted hours are Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., according to the clerk's hours page. That is half an hour earlier than the statewide default schedule, which Louisiana law allows clerks to extend.
A satellite office in Denham Springs, at 145 Del Orleans Avenue, Building 2, Suite E, uses the same phone and fax numbers and closes from noon to 1:00 p.m. A toll-free line, 877-854-1579, is also listed. Because vital records stop at 3:30 p.m. at both locations, arrive early if you need a birth or death certificate.
For questions about the online search site, the clerk lists esearch@livclerk.org. The clerk's website does not describe parking or security procedures at the courthouse.
Other Livingston Parish offices
The Louisiana Sheriffs' Association lists Jason G. Ard as Sheriff of Livingston Parish (LSA directory entry). The sheriff keeps the parish jail, executes court orders, and collects property taxes. People in custody can be located through LA VINE, which monitors parish jails and state prisons; the inmate search guide explains how.
Jeff Taylor is the assessor, with an office at 20400 Government Boulevard, according to the Louisiana Assessors' Association. The Livingston Parish Assessor's website handles property lookups, and the tax assessors guide explains the homestead exemption.
Livingston Parish Government operates with a parish president and a parish council, and the council keeps its own website, which the clerk links.