About the Red River Parish Clerk of Court
Stuart R. Shaw has led the Red River Parish clerk's office since August 2000, according to the Louisiana Clerks of Court Association. His office is in Coushatta. The clerk's website describes four official capacities: Clerk of Court, Recorder of Deeds and Mortgages, Jury Commissioner, and Election Official. It adds that the office is funded through fees set by statute.
Those roles come from state law. The constitution makes each parish clerk an elected official with a four-year term and ex officio recorder of conveyances, mortgages, and other acts. The Election Code names the clerk chief election officer of the parish and custodian of its voting machines. In Red River that last job is concrete: the clerk's services page says the office programs and delivers the voting machines, trains election commissioners, and reports results.
Red River Parish was created by the legislature in 1871 from pieces of Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, DeSoto, and Natchitoches parishes, and it takes its name from the Red River. The 2020 Census base counted 7,622 people, and the July 2024 estimate is 7,238. Its land area is about 389.0 square miles. Coushatta is the parish seat and its only town; Edgefield, Hall Summit, and Martin are villages.
A useful quirk for visitors: the clerk, the sheriff, and the assessor all list the same street address, 615 East Carroll Street. Several errands can be handled at one address.
Every other clerk's office is listed in the Louisiana Clerks of Court directory.
Court records in Red River Parish
All district court cases from the parish are filed here, in the 39th Judicial District Court. The civil page covers civil suits, successions and other probate matters, and the advance deposit schedule a filer pays when opening a case. The criminal desk receives what the district attorney files, including indictments, bills of information, and juvenile matters, and it handles expungement motions.
For a fee, the clerk will search for criminal history; the criminal page lists a background search at $20.00 (October 2026). That search reflects this parish's court only. The State Police keep Louisiana's central criminal history file closed to the public, and when that file lacks a final outcome for an arrest, the State Police point people to the clerk of court, district attorney, or city prosecutor in the parish where the case was handled. In Red River, the clerk's criminal desk is one of those places to ask.
Online, the clerk uses ClerkNet at search.redriverclerk.com. The recording page says ClerkNet is available around the clock to search civil and criminal records, file pleadings electronically, and pull conveyances, mortgages, and UCC filings. A login is required, and the clerk's site does not publish subscription prices, so call before setting up an account. Civil and criminal pleadings can both be e-filed through that portal.
Public records that are on hand must be shown to a requester right away under Louisiana law; if a record is in active use, the custodian has to set a time within three business days. Juvenile files stay confidential. The court records and criminal records guides cover the statewide picture.
Land, mortgage, and property records
Conveyances, mortgages, miscellaneous instruments, and UCC documents are recorded by the clerk acting as recorder. A mortgage or lien certificate covers a ten-year search. Recording fees on the clerk's page, effective August 1, 2018 and viewed in October 2026, run $105.00 for 1 to 5 pages, $205.00 for 6 to 25 pages, and $305.00 for 26 to 50 pages. Title companies can eRecord through CSC or EPN, the two vendors the clerk approves, after contacting the office to set up access.
Red River is surrounded by five Louisiana parishes and touches no other state. Since a land transaction is recorded in the parish where the land is, property near the edges often takes two searches. Because the parish was formed in 1871 from parts of its neighbors, title research reaching back before that year may involve a parent parish's books, so ask the clerk what its own volumes cover. Researchers may need the Natchitoches Parish Clerk of Court, the DeSoto Parish Clerk of Court in Mansfield, or the Bienville Parish Clerk of Court as well as Coushatta. Bossier and Caddo border the parish too, and the property records guide explains how Louisiana's conveyance and mortgage books work.
Marriage licenses and family records
The Red River clerk issues marriage licenses the same day you apply, according to its services page. Both parties must come in person with photo identification and their Social Security numbers. The fee is $32.50 and is not refundable, and a certified copy of a recorded license is $5.00 (October 2026). The license is valid for 30 days, for a ceremony inside Louisiana.
One correction matters here. The clerk's marriage information describes a longer waiting period than current law. Since a 2018 amendment, R.S. 9:241 sets the wait at 24 hours from the time the license is issued, and the license itself shows the exact time and date it was issued. A judge, a justice of the peace, or a retired justice of the peace authorized to perform the marriage may waive the wait on serious and meritorious reasons.
After the ceremony, the officiant returns the completed certificate to this clerk for recording. Marriage records for Red River licenses are kept here, not by state Vital Records, which holds only Orleans licenses. The clerk also prints certified birth certificates ($34) and death certificates ($26). Divorce and custody judgments in the 39th Judicial District Court are part of the civil record, and certified copies come from this clerk. The marriage records and divorce records guides go further.
Courts that serve Red River Parish
Red River Parish makes up the 39th Judicial District Court on its own. No official website for the court could be found; the clerk's site carries the heading "39th Judicial District Court, Red River Parish," and the clerk is the place to ask about dockets and filings. District judges in Louisiana serve six-year terms.
The Supreme Court's 2025 Guide to Louisiana Courts lists no city court in Red River Parish. Under the Children's Code, the district court exercises juvenile jurisdiction in parishes without a special juvenile court, and Red River has none. Louisiana district courts have original jurisdiction over civil and criminal matters generally, with exceptions the constitution lists, and the constitution also continues justice of the peace courts and mayors' courts.
Appeals go to the Court of Appeal, Second Circuit, which sits at 430 Fannin Street in Shreveport.
Visiting the Red River Parish courthouse
The clerk's office is at 615 East Carroll Street in Coushatta, with mail going to P.O. Box 485. It opens at 8:00 a.m., a half hour earlier than the statewide default, and closes at 4:30 p.m. on weekdays, according to the clerk's home page. The office closes on all state and federal holidays, and the clerk's home page has carried weather closure notices, so check it before a long drive.
The clerk's website is at redriverclerk.com without the "www." prefix; the "www" version of the address failed a security certificate check in October 2026. The clerk also serves as a passport acceptance facility, with an execution fee of $35.00 listed on its services page (October 2026). Parking and building access are not described on the site.
Other Red River Parish offices
Glen Edwards is sheriff, according to the Louisiana Sheriffs' Association listing for Red River Parish, which shows the office at 615 East Carroll Street with phone numbers 318-932-4221 and 318-932-5753 and lists a civil deputy tax collector. The sheriff is the parish's property tax collector and keeper of the parish jail. See sheriff's offices and inmate search for how those functions work statewide.
Dovie Beard is the assessor. The Louisiana Assessors' Association lists the office at the same East Carroll Street address, mailing to P.O. Box 509, phone 318-932-4922, and the Red River Parish Assessor has a website. The tax assessors guide explains assessments and the homestead exemption.
The Red River Parish Police Jury governs the parish. Its site lists seven police jury districts with a juror for each.