About the Rapides Parish Clerk of Court
Karan A. Corley is the Clerk of Court for Rapides Parish, and the Louisiana Clerks of Court Association (LCCA) directory dates the current tenure to December 2024. Louisiana's constitution makes this an elected parish office with a four-year term, and it names the clerk ex officio notary public and parish recorder of conveyances, mortgages, and other acts. In practice that means one office in Alexandria keeps two very different kinds of paper: the court record of the 9th Judicial District Court and the public land records for the whole parish. Under the Election Code the clerk is also the chief election officer of Rapides Parish.
Rapides was created in 1807, and its name comes from the French word for rapids. Alexandria is the seat of a parish that counted 130,016 residents in the 2020 Census base, with a July 2024 estimate of 125,899. The parish spans about 1,324 square miles of land.
One detail shapes every search here. According to the clerk's own history page, Rapides Parish records begin in 1865 because earlier records were destroyed in a courthouse fire during the Civil War. The office has kept records on computer since 1984, and the clerk says its system is linked with the Rapides Parish Sheriff and the District Attorney. The clerk's website organizes the work into civil, criminal, recorder, public service, and marriage license departments, which is a useful map for knowing whom to ask.
For the other 63 offices, see the Louisiana Clerks of Court directory.
Court records in Rapides Parish
The Civil Department handles civil suits, clerk's suits, adoptions, and successions, and it prepares the record when a case is appealed to the Third Circuit. The Criminal Department takes felony, juvenile, misdemeanor, and traffic filings for the 9th Judicial District Court and receives expungement filings. The clerk's site notes that the Criminal Department does not accept fax filings, while civil filings have their own fax line listed on the site.
Remote searching runs through RAPID E-Search, the clerk's subscription system. According to the clerk's website (viewed October 2026), civil and probate suits are indexed from October 1984 with images from March 1994, criminal cases are indexed from January 1984 with images of bills of information from May 2003, and traffic records reach back to January 1990. The same page lists access at $20.00 for a 24-hour day, $60.00 for a 31-day month, or $600.00 for a year, with per-page printing charges on top. Redacted copies can be ordered online and stay available for 30 days, but certified copies must be requested in person or by mail.
At the counter, the Public Service Department handles copies, certified copies, name searches, and extracts of court minutes. The clerk's posted schedule (October 2026) lists suit copies at $1.00 per page plus $5.00 for certification and a one-name, one-index search at $20.00. Louisiana's Public Records Law lets any person obtain a copy of a public record, subject to the law's exceptions, and bars charging anyone simply to examine a record. Juvenile court records are confidential by statute, so juvenile matters filed with the Criminal Department are not open the way adult cases are.
Parties can also pay civil suit fees online through the clerk's website if they have the suit number; the site says this does not cover City Court. Civil eFiling is available through the LCCA's eFileLA service, and the clerk also lists Clerk Connect for civil and criminal eFiling. The statewide guides to court records in Louisiana, civil records, and criminal records explain how these systems fit with state law.
Land, mortgage, and property records
The Recorder's office records deeds, mortgages, and other instruments and issues mortgage certificates. On RAPID E-Search, conveyances and mortgages are indexed with images from January 1984, and a separate recording index reaches back to January 1865 for older instruments. The subscription also covers chattel mortgages, charters and articles of incorporation, notary and other bonds, oaths of office, plats, and the parish tax roll from tax year 1987, according to the clerk's site.
Recording copies carry a different certification charge than suit copies: the clerk's October 2026 schedule lists $1.00 per page plus $10.00 to certify. Filers can eRecord through CSC eRecording or through eClerks LA, both announced on the clerk's site. The site also promotes eClerks Alert, a free eClerks LA service that monitors land records for new filings.
Louisiana's Civil Code sends a mortgage, sale, or other act affecting land to the records of the parish where the immovable sits. That matters in Rapides because seven parishes share its borders. A tract that crosses into Grant Parish has to be searched with the Grant Parish Clerk of Court in Colfax as well, and land along the Avoyelles line may also show up in the records of the Avoyelles Parish Clerk of Court. Along the other borders, the Vernon Parish Clerk of Court and the Natchitoches Parish Clerk of Court keep their own books. The Louisiana property records guide covers how conveyance and mortgage records work statewide.
Marriage licenses and family records
The Rapides clerk issues marriage licenses. According to the clerk's marriage license page (October 2026), a new license costs $27.50 in cash or $28.05 by credit card and is non-refundable; certified copies of a previously recorded license are $6.00 each. The page posts a printable application, an officiant registration affidavit, and a list of the parish's justices of the peace by ward.
A Louisiana license is good for 30 days, and the ceremony cannot take place until 24 hours after the license is issued unless a judge or authorized justice of the peace waives the delay for serious reasons. After the wedding, the Rapides clerk asks couples to wait at least 10 days and then have one party bring in the white copy to be recorded and sealed. The marriage index on RAPID E-Search reaches back to January 1865, although it has no images.
Divorce judgments, custody orders, and support judgments are part of the 9th Judicial District Court record. The state's Vital Records office does not issue divorce decrees; a certified copy comes from the clerk in the parish where the divorce was granted. The 9th Judicial District Court also runs a Hearing Office for child support and domestic violence matters. See the guides to marriage records and divorce records for the statewide rules.
Courts that serve Rapides Parish
Rapides Parish alone makes up the 9th Judicial District Court. The court's website lists Divisions A through G, the Hearing Office, a Rapides Adult Drug Court, and a Behavioral Health Court, with the court's offices in Suite 501 of the same Murray Street building as the clerk.
Two city courts handle smaller matters inside their territories. Alexandria City Court sits at 515 Washington Street, at the corner of Sixth Street, and according to the City of Alexandria its jurisdiction is limited to Wards 1, 2, and 8 of the parish. Pineville City Court is on Main Street in Pineville, and state law extends its juvenile and civil jurisdiction to Ward Eleven of Rapides Parish. City court matters are handled by those courts rather than the district clerk; the clerk's online payment page, for example, excludes City Court cases.
Appeals from the district court go to the Court of Appeal, Third Circuit, which sits in Lake Charles.
Visiting the Rapides Parish courthouse
The clerk's office is on the first floor of the Rapides Parish Courthouse at 701 Murray Street in downtown Alexandria. The clerk's general information page says the courthouse parking garage is entered from Foisy Street, and more parking is available in the lot at the corner of Washington and 8th Streets. Posted hours are Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except legal holidays, according to the clerk's website.
Bring the suit number, instrument number, or the names and approximate dates you are searching; staff work faster from specifics. If you need a certified copy, plan on asking at the counter or by mail, because the online system only produces uncertified and redacted copies.
The clerk's website also carries a scam warning dated March 9, 2026: emails claiming to be a "Notice to Appear" are not from the court, and the clerk states that official notices requiring an appearance in Rapides Parish are not sent by email. Anyone who gets such a message can call the clerk's office directly to check.
Other Rapides Parish offices
The sheriff is the parish's chief law enforcement officer, runs the parish jail, and outside Orleans also serves as collector of state and parish property taxes. The Louisiana Sheriffs' Association lists Mark Wood as the Rapides Parish Sheriff, with the office online at rpso.org. For jail locator tools, see the inmate search guide, and for how sheriffs work across the state, see Louisiana sheriff's offices.
Property values are set by the assessor. Richard I. "Rick" Ducote, Jr., CLA, holds that office, and his website says real property records are online and free. The assessors and property taxes guide explains how assessed value and the homestead exemption work.
The Rapides Parish Police Jury, a nine-member body, describes itself as the governing authority for the parish. Its site is rppj.com, and the parish government guide covers how police juries differ from parish councils.