About the Ouachita Parish Clerk of Court
Ouachita shares the 4th Judicial District with Morehouse Parish. The 2020 Census base counted 160,366 residents, and the July 2024 estimate was 157,874, spread over about 610 square miles of land that include the cities of Monroe and West Monroe. Monroe is the parish seat. The parish also includes the towns of Richwood and Sterlington, was formed in 1807, and takes its name from the Ouachita people.
Dana S. Benson is the Clerk of Court, and the Louisiana Clerks of Court Association (LCCA) directory dates the current tenure to July 2020. The office itself is defined by Article V, Section 28 of the Louisiana Constitution: an elected clerk of the district court, chosen for four years, who is also ex officio notary public and the parish's recorder of conveyances, mortgages, and other acts. State election law adds the role of chief election officer for the parish, and the clerk's site carries election information alongside its court and land departments.
The clerk's website is organized by department, and the list shows how much passes through one office: Civil, Criminal, Traffic, Juvenile, Recording, Mortgage, Research, and Marriage, plus an election section and passport information links. The Registrar of Voters has a page on the same site but is a separate office; under the constitution, each parish governing authority appoints its registrar. The clerk's site lists the registrar's number as 318-327-1436.
The full statewide list is in the Louisiana Clerks of Court directory.
Court records in Ouachita Parish
Civil suits and probate matters are filed with the Civil department, which also issues citations, writs, and subpoenas, keeps the minutes, and collects advance cost deposits, citing R.S. 13:842. The Criminal department receives felony filings from the 4th Judicial District Attorney for Ouachita Parish cases, sends bond forfeiture notices, and handles subpoenas. Traffic citations are filed through the Criminal department as well, but the clerk's traffic page is explicit that the office neither sets nor collects fines.
Juvenile matters (delinquency and child in need of care) and adoptions are confidential, according to the clerk's juvenile page, and the Children's Code makes juvenile court records confidential except for traffic violations. Criminal non-support cases are also handled in that department.
Clerk Connect subscriptions
Remote searching runs through Clerk Connect, with separate civil inquiry, criminal inquiry, and property record searches. The clerk added non-support records on September 1, 2026, according to its announcement. That same announcement (viewed October 2026) lists a day rate of $20.00 for 24 hours, a month at $75.00, a year at $800.00, and a page rate of $0.50. Each subscription includes three licenses. Certified copies can be received online. Payment is by credit card only, with a third-party convenience fee of 3.49 percent (minimum $1.00). Subscription questions go to extension 3501 at the main number.
Filing rules that changed in 2026
A notice on the clerk's site says that beginning January 1, 2026, attorney filings must be made in person on paper or electronically, not by fax or mail, and it cites Act 352 of 2025. Electronic filing for civil, criminal, and land records runs through Clerk Connect. The clerk's fee table also breaks down the expungement total: $200 to the clerk, $250 to the state's criminal records bureau, $50 to the sheriff, and $50 to the district attorney, which adds up to $550. The Code of Criminal Procedure caps the total cost of an expungement order at $550, apart from exceptions it lists, and the clerk's table adds a $50 fee to the Department of Public Safety and Corrections in DWI cases. An expunged record is removed from public view but is not destroyed. More on these topics is in the guides to court records in Louisiana and criminal records.
Land, mortgage, and property records
The Recording department accepts conveyance, mortgage, miscellaneous, and UCC documents. Mortgage, non-lien, and UCC certificates are requested in writing, and the clerk's mortgage page accepts those requests by fax or by email to mortgage@opcoc.la.gov.
The clerk also runs a Research department whose job is to help members of the public search the property records themselves. According to its page, staff can point you to property transactions, mineral leases, separation and divorce judgments, chattel records, UCC filings, and subdivision maps, which are indexed in writing and on computer back to 1843.
From home, the property side of Clerk Connect is the parish's own system, and the clerk's Links page also lists eClerks LA, the portal of the Louisiana Clerks' Remote Access Authority. eClerks LA calls its Statewide Portal free for finding land, marriage, and civil index entries across parishes, though you need an account, and images sit behind a per-parish subscription.
Civil Code article 3346 sends each act affecting land to the parish where the land sits. Ouachita borders six parishes, so a survey along a parish line may require a search in Bastrop with the Morehouse Parish Clerk of Court, in Ruston with the Lincoln Parish Clerk of Court, in Rayville with the Richland Parish Clerk of Court, or in Columbia with the Caldwell Parish Clerk of Court. Union Parish was carved out of Ouachita in 1839, which can matter for older title work on land now in Union Parish. The property records guide explains conveyance and mortgage searches statewide.
Marriage licenses and family records
The Ouachita clerk issues marriage licenses through its Marriage department and offers an online application through Clerk Connect. The fee is not printed here because the clerk's own pages disagree with each other: the marriage page and the fee table give different amounts and payment terms. Check the clerk's site or call before you go.
The department's requirements, as posted, include certified birth certificates, Social Security numbers, and proof of divorce or a death certificate if either applicant was married before. State law fixes the timing: the license is valid for 30 days after it is issued, and the ceremony cannot happen until 24 hours have passed, unless a judge or authorized justice of the peace waives that delay for serious and meritorious reasons. State law lets a license be issued in any parish no matter where in Louisiana the ceremony happens, but the Department of Health says a Louisiana license cannot be used for a wedding in another state. The clerk's announcements list the parish's justices of the peace by ward and note which of them do not perform marriages, which saves calls for couples looking for an officiant.
Ouachita marriages, once recorded, are kept by this clerk; the Department of Health's Vital Records Registry holds marriage records only for Orleans Parish licenses. A certified Ouachita divorce decree also comes from the clerk, since Vital Records does not issue decrees. The clerk's fee list includes birth certificates at $34.00 and death certificates at $26.00 (October 2026). For more, read about marriage records and divorce records in Louisiana.
Courts that serve Ouachita Parish
Ouachita and Morehouse parishes make up the 4th Judicial District Court under R.S. 13:477. The court's website lists Divisions A through K, hearing officers, and a self-help center, and it serves both parishes. Morehouse cases are heard in Bastrop and kept by the Morehouse clerk.
Two city courts sit in Ouachita. Monroe City Court is at 600 Calypso Street, phone 318-329-2580, and its site lists hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, with traffic and misdemeanor, civil, juvenile, families in need of services, and probation sections. R.S. 13:1952 gives it three city judges, with civil jurisdiction over the city of Monroe and the third and tenth wards of the parish. West Monroe City Court has one city judge and a city marshal under the same statute; the Supreme Court's 2025 guide lists its civil line as 318-396-2767 and its criminal line as 318-397-6770. Each city court keeps its own records.
Appeals go to the Court of Appeal, Second Circuit, whose courthouse is at 430 Fannin Street in Shreveport.
Visiting the Ouachita Parish courthouse
The clerk's home page says only that the Ouachita Parish Courthouse is on South Grand Street in Monroe. The LCCA directory places the clerk at 301 South Grand Street, Room 104, while the 4th JDC's website lists the courthouse at 300 St. John Street, and the assessor's office is listed at 300 St. John Street, Room 103. The clerk's own site does not confirm a room number, so call 318-327-1444 before you go.
Posted hours are Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except legal holidays. The clerk's contact page lists no fax number (the LCCA directory gives 318-327-1462), so call before faxing anything. For mail, the clerk's contact page uses P.O. Box 1862, Monroe, LA 71201-1862, a ZIP code that differs from the LCCA's 71210-1862. The site also does not describe parking or security screening.
Other Ouachita Parish offices
The sheriff is the parish's chief law enforcement officer, keeps the jail, and, everywhere except Orleans, collects state and parish property taxes. The Louisiana Sheriffs' Association lists Marcus "Marc" Mashaw as Ouachita Parish Sheriff, at opso.net. The inmate search guide covers LA VINE and parish jail lookups, and Louisiana sheriff's offices covers tax collection.
The Louisiana Assessors' Association lists Stephanie Smith as assessor, with an office at 300 St. John Street, Room 103, phone 318-327-1300. The assessor's website is at opassessor.com. See the assessors guide.
The parish governing body is the Ouachita Parish Police Jury. The parish government guide explains how police juries work.