About the Richland Parish Clerk of Court
Inside the Richland Parish Courthouse in downtown Rayville, the clerk's office is split across two floors. According to the clerk's home page, the recording division is on the first floor, and the civil and criminal divisions are upstairs on the second floor. Knowing that before you arrive saves a trip up and down the stairs: deeds and mortgages are recorded downstairs, while lawsuits and criminal cases are handled one level up.
Melissa C. Morris is the Clerk of Court. The Louisiana Clerks of Court Association (LCCA) directory tags the current tenure as starting in January 2023. It is an elected, four-year constitutional office (Const. art. V, sec. 28) that combines three jobs: clerk of the 5th Judicial District Court for cases filed in Richland, ex officio notary public, and recorder of the parish's conveyances, mortgages, and other acts. Louisiana's Election Code also makes the clerk the parish's chief election officer, and the clerk's site says the office oversees elections, election equipment, and election personnel.
The clerk's site says the office is funded entirely by fees and court costs. It also lists services that go beyond court and land files, including military discharge records, birth certificates, protective orders, and other miscellaneous legal documents.
Richland Parish was officially created on September 29, 1868, and the state says its name reflects its rich, fertile land. Rayville is the parish seat, Delhi is the other town, and Mangham is a village. The 2020 Census base counted 20,043 residents, the July 2024 estimate was 19,643, and the parish covers about 556 square miles of land.
The Louisiana Clerks of Court directory lists every parish office.
Court records in Richland Parish
Civil filings, including expungement motions, and criminal filings each have their own staff contacts on the clerk's site, and both divisions work from the second floor. The clerk accepts civil and criminal e-filing through Clerk Connect and takes debit and credit cards, according to its announcements.
Searching is moving online. The clerk's quick links now include a "Clerk Connect Inquiry" marked new, and its announcement says civil inquiry is available on Clerk Connect, a subscription service. For other records, the same announcement is blunt: records and marriage license search are available through eClerks LA "only." eClerks LA's Statewide Portal can search civil, family, and probate indexes across parishes for free once you register, and images require a paid Richland subscription. The portal does not describe a statewide criminal case search, so criminal case questions go to the office.
A few practical limits apply to everyone. Juvenile court records are confidential under the Children's Code, apart from traffic violations. Expunged records are removed from public access, though they are not destroyed and remain available to law enforcement. For a public record, the Public Records Law lets any person get a copy, with fees set by the custodian and posted, and it forbids charging anyone simply to examine a record.
For more on how case files are kept statewide, see court records in Louisiana and civil records.
Land, mortgage, and property records
The first-floor recording division takes land records and UCC filings. The clerk announces that e-recording is accepted through eClerks LA, the portal of the Louisiana Clerks' Remote Access Authority (LCRAA). State law made every district clerk a member of LCRAA and required each clerk to facilitate electronic filing, recording, and remote access through its portal by January 1, 2026. eClerks LA also runs a free monitoring service for land and criminal records called eClerks Alert.
Civil Code article 3346 records each act affecting land in the parish where the land is, and Richland touches seven parishes: Caldwell, East Carroll, Franklin, Madison, Morehouse, Ouachita, and West Carroll. A tract near one of those lines may need a search in Monroe with the Ouachita Parish Clerk of Court, in Winnsboro with the Franklin Parish Clerk of Court, in Bastrop with the Morehouse Parish Clerk of Court, or in Tallulah with the Madison Parish Clerk of Court. Richland was created in 1868, so for older title work, ask the clerk where instruments recorded before that year are kept.
When a deed is recorded, Louisiana law requires it to name the person responsible for property taxes and the address for tax notices (R.S. 9:2721). Property value questions go to the assessor, listed at the same 708 Julia Street address as the clerk. The property records guide covers searches statewide.
Marriage licenses and family records
The Richland clerk issues marriage licenses. Couples can fill out the application online through eClerks LA, but the clerk's announcement makes clear that nothing is processed until the couple comes to the office. The license fee itself was not found on any page linked from the clerk's site, so call 318-728-4171 to confirm the amount and accepted payment. The clerk's fee table does list a certified copy of a marriage license at $5.00 plus the copy fee (viewed October 2026).
The statewide rules frame the process. Applicants present a certified birth certificate and identification such as a valid driver's license or passport. A license may be issued in any Louisiana parish, no matter where the ceremony will be, and it stays valid for 30 days. The ceremony cannot happen until 24 hours after issuance, unless a judge or authorized justice of the peace waives the wait for serious and meritorious reasons. Couples who want a covenant marriage choose it on the application and file a declaration of intent.
Once a Richland marriage is recorded, certified copies come from this clerk. The state Vital Records Registry keeps marriage records only for Orleans Parish licenses. A divorce granted in Richland Parish becomes part of the 5th JDC record here, and Vital Records does not issue divorce decrees. Statewide detail is in the marriage records guide and the divorce records guide.
Courts that serve Richland Parish
The 5th Judicial District Court covers three parishes under R.S. 13:477: West Carroll, Richland, and Franklin. The court's website lists the Richland Parish Courthouse at 708 Julia Street in Rayville, with the clerk's phone and fax numbers. The other two parishes keep their own courthouses in Oak Grove and Winnsboro, and their clerks keep their own records.
Richland has no city court in the Louisiana Supreme Court's 2025 Guide to Louisiana Courts. Richland is not one of the four parishes with a special juvenile court, so under the Children's Code the district court has original juvenile jurisdiction here. Mayors' courts and justice of the peace courts continue to operate statewide under the constitution, subject to change by law.
Appeals from the 5th JDC go to the Court of Appeal, Second Circuit, at 430 Fannin Street in Shreveport.
Visiting the Richland Parish courthouse
Plan your entrance. A notice on the clerk's site says visitors may enter the courthouse only through the front doors. Visitors with disabilities may use the north side entrance, but must call 728-2071 to be let in; the Louisiana Sheriffs' Association lists 318-728-2071 as the sheriff's business phone.
Office hours are Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except legal holidays, per the clerk's site. The main phone number on the clerk's website, and on the 5th JDC's site, is 318-728-4171. The LCCA directory lists 318-728-7000, a number that does not appear on the clerk's site, so use 318-728-4171. Mail goes to P.O. Box 119 in Rayville.
The clerk's site does not describe parking or security screening. Its contact page does list staff email addresses by task: civil filings and expungements, criminal filings, records (land, marriage licenses, and birth and death certificates), UCC filings, and elections.
Other Richland Parish offices
The sheriff is the parish's chief law enforcement officer, keeps the jail, and collects property taxes outside Orleans. The Louisiana Sheriffs' Association lists Neal G. Harwell as Richland Parish Sheriff, at richlandso.org. The guides to Louisiana sheriff's offices and inmate search explain what each office holds.
The Louisiana Assessors' Association lists Emmett "Lee" Brown, III, as assessor, at 708 Julia Street, Suite 115, phone 318-728-4491, which places the assessor's office in the courthouse building with the clerk. The assessor's website is rpao.org. See the assessors guide.
The Richland Parish Police Jury is the parish governing authority. No official website for it was found.