About the Plaquemines Parish Clerk of Court
Kim Turlich-Vaughan is the Clerk of Court for Plaquemines Parish, in office since July 2016 according to the Louisiana Clerks of Court Association (LCCA). Her website, which goes by the name of the district it serves (clerk25th.com), sums up the job in four parts: recorder of deeds and mortgages, clerk of the district court, treasurer for the court system, and chief election officer. The first and last of those come straight from state law. The Louisiana Constitution makes each district clerk the parish recorder of conveyances, mortgages, and other acts, and R.S. 18:422 names the clerk as the chief election officer of the parish.
The clerk's home page also says the office is funded by the fees it collects rather than by ad valorem (property) taxes.
The Census Bureau measures about 781 square miles of land and nearly 1,787 square miles of water in Plaquemines. Its 2020 Census base population was 23,511, and the July 2024 estimate was 22,289. Formed in 1807, the parish takes its name from the Louisiana French word for persimmons. It has no incorporated municipalities; Pointe a la Hache, the parish seat, and Belle Chasse are both census-designated places.
The clerk works from two locations. The parish courthouse, where the district court sits, is in Pointe a la Hache, while most day-to-day business and all mail go through a courthouse annex in Belle Chasse. The Louisiana Clerks of Court directory lists contact details for every other parish.
Court records in Plaquemines Parish
The clerk handles civil and criminal filings for the 25th Judicial District Court and keeps their records. Its website posts links for self-represented litigants and an explanation of the advance deposits charged when a civil suit is filed.
Index searching is free. The clerk's records portal, a Cott Systems E-Search site, lets anyone sign in as a guest at no charge and view the indices for every department: land, civil, and criminal. Guests cannot open document images or civil and criminal docket details; those require a paid subscription. According to the portal (viewed October 2026), a 24-hour subscription is $20.00, 30 days is $75.00, and a year is $500.00, each plus $.50 per page printed, with a credit card surcharge of $0.30 plus 3% per purchase. The site adds that subscription levels are being adjusted to LCRAA guidelines, so check current prices before you buy.
At the counter, the clerk's administration page says civil, criminal, traffic, marriage license, and mortgage and conveyance records are open for free inspection on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with no appointment needed. Copies cost $1.00 per page. Requests for other records go to Frank J. Borne, Jr., the Chief Deputy Clerk. That tracks the Public Records Law, which forbids charging anyone simply to look at a public record.
Some files stay closed. The clerk notes that juvenile criminal records and other sealed records can be reached only by petitioning the court, consistent with the confidentiality of juvenile proceedings under Children's Code article 412. Filing has changed too: the clerk ended fax filing on December 31, 2025, and civil and criminal e-filing now runs through CottFile. Read more in the guides to court records and civil records.
Land, mortgage, and property records
Deeds, mortgages, and UCC filings for the parish are recorded by this office, and its e-recording page sets out the electronic route. The clerk accepts documents from four vendors, Corporation Service Company (CSC), eRecording Partners Network (ePN), Indecomm Global Services, and Simplifile, adds no charge of its own for e-recording, and does not require filers to follow up with a paper original. According to the clerk, certified copies and receipts for e-recorded documents usually come back within an hour.
The free guest login on the records portal includes the land records indices, which makes it practical to check whether an act exists before deciding whether to pay for images. An act of sale filed for recording must also name the person responsible for property taxes and the address where tax notices should go, under R.S. 9:2721.
Under Civil Code article 3346, an act affecting land is recorded in the parish where that land is located. The Census Bureau's adjacency file lists three neighboring parishes for Plaquemines. Land close to the Jefferson line may need a search with the Jefferson Parish Clerk of Court in Gretna, and property near the St. Bernard boundary may appear in the records of the St. Bernard Parish Clerk of Court. Orleans, the third neighbor, records land through its clerk's Land Records Division in New Orleans. The property records guide has more on title searching.
Marriage licenses and family records
The Plaquemines clerk issues marriage licenses on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The clerk's marriage license page (viewed October 2026) lists a $35.00 fee that includes one certified copy, which the office provides once the license is recorded after the ceremony. Both parties appear in person, or they can have the application notarized in advance. Bring valid identification and certified birth certificates. The clerk also handles covenant marriage paperwork and registers marriage officiants.
A Louisiana license cannot be used until 24 hours after issuance, a wait that an authorized judge or justice of the peace may waive for serious and meritorious reasons. It expires after 30 days, and it is valid only for a ceremony in Louisiana. Once the wedding is over, the officiant has ten days to return the signed copies to the issuing clerk. To order additional copies of a recorded license with a credit card, the clerk asks for an authorization form sent by email.
Divorces, custody, and support cases are filed in the 25th Judicial District Court, and the clerk keeps those judgments. A certified divorce decree comes from the clerk of the parish that granted the divorce, not from the Department of Health. The clerk's website also lists birth and death records, passports, and a Social Security card page. See the guides to marriage records and divorce records.
Courts that serve Plaquemines Parish
Plaquemines Parish makes up the 25th Judicial District Court on its own. According to the clerk and the court's website, the court has two divisions, Division A and Division B, with chambers on the second floor of the Plaquemines Parish Courthouse at 18055 Highway 15 in Pointe a la Hache. The court's site lists juvenile matters under Division B, and juvenile records follow the confidentiality rules described above.
Appeals go to the Court of Appeal, Fourth Circuit, which sits in New Orleans and hears appeals from Plaquemines, Orleans, and St. Bernard. Its clerk's office is on Royal Street.
Visiting the Plaquemines Parish courthouse
Pick your office carefully. The Courthouse Annex at 301 Main Street, Suite 108, in Belle Chasse is the clerk's main public office and its mailing address, and the clerk lists its hours as 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays. The Plaquemines Parish Courthouse in Pointe a la Hache, the parish seat, opens at the same time but closes at 4:00 p.m., according to the clerk's hours and locations page. Because the two offices keep different hours, call first if your errand depends on a specific record or person.
Do not mail anything to the Pointe a la Hache courthouse. The clerk asks that all mail go to P.O. Box 40 in Belle Chasse. The clerk's general email address is info@clerk25th.com.
Other Plaquemines Parish offices
The sheriff serves as chief law enforcement officer and, as in every parish but Orleans, collects state and parish property taxes. The Louisiana Sheriffs' Association lists Gerald A. Turlich Jr. as Plaquemines Parish sheriff (ppso.net). For statewide context, see sheriff's offices.
Sara Taylor, CLA, is the assessor. Her website (plaqueminesassessor.com) lists a Belle Chasse office at 106 Croatian Way and a Pointe a la Hache office at 18055 Highway 15 that sees people by appointment only. The assessor keeps different hours from the clerk, so check before visiting; the assessors guide covers assessments and the homestead exemption. Plaquemines Parish Government, led by Parish President Keith Hinkley, is online at plaqueminesparish.gov.