About the Terrebonne Parish Clerk of Court
Jodie P. Burton is the Clerk of Court for Terrebonne Parish. The Louisiana Clerks of Court Association (LCCA) lists her in office since December 2025, and the clerk's administration page confirms her name. Some printed directories prepared before that date, including the Louisiana Supreme Court's 2025 Guide to Louisiana Courts, still show her predecessor, so rely on the clerk's own pages for the current officeholder.
The office does what Louisiana's constitution and Election Code ask of every district clerk: it keeps the record of the 32nd Judicial District Court, it serves as the parish recorder of conveyances, mortgages, and other acts, and it runs elections as the parish's chief election officer. The Houma office divides that work among many departments. The clerk lists departments for appeals, archives, birth and death certificates, bookkeeping, civil processing, civil records, conveyance and copy, criminal processing, criminal records, elections, indexing, jury, maps, marriage licenses, minute clerks, mortgages, passports, and recording.
Terrebonne was established on March 22, 1822, from the southern part of the old Lafourche Interior Parish, and its name is French for "good earth." Houma, the parish seat, is named for the Houma people. The Census Bureau counted 109,584 residents in the 2020 base and 103,864 in its July 2024 estimate, with about 1,230 square miles of land and 852 square miles of water. The Census Bureau's adjacency file lists three neighboring parishes: Lafourche, Assumption, and St. Mary. Find the rest of the state's clerks in the Louisiana Clerks of Court directory.
One caution about the clerk's website. When this guide was researched in October 2026, the home page carried unrelated third-party gambling text that did not come from the office. This page links only to the clerk's individual department pages, and it is wise to confirm anything important by phone at 985-868-5660.
Court records in Terrebonne Parish
Civil and criminal case files for the 32nd Judicial District Court are handled by separate processing and records departments on each side, and the clerk also lists an Appeals Department and a staff of minute clerks. The constitution lets each clerk appoint minute clerks with the district judges' approval.
Copies of court records come through the Conveyance/Copy Department, which says it can reproduce records from 1822 to the present. Its examples include judgments of divorce, emancipations, sheriff's sale records, powers of attorney, and DD 214 military discharges. That 1822 start date is the same year the parish was established.
Remote searching uses the clerk's subscription portal at search.terrebonneclerk.org. Its login page lists several numbered subscription options and $1.00 per printed page, and it states that subscriptions and copies are not refundable, but the plan names did not display when this guide was researched, so ask the office which plan fits before paying. The clerk also points users to eClerks LA, the statewide portal, and to its free alerts, which notify you when a document bearing a registered name is recorded.
For filing, the clerk's site lists civil e-filing through Clerk Connect and criminal e-filing through Tybera. Remember that some records never become public. Juvenile court records are confidential by statute, and an expunged arrest or conviction is removed from public access, though the record itself still exists. The court records guide and criminal records guide cover those statewide rules.
Land, mortgage, and property records
The Recording Department takes in conveyances, mortgages, and miscellaneous documents. Two practical points from its page: oaths of office and military discharges are filed free of charge, and original documents filed with the clerk are not returned, so plan to order a certified copy if you need one. The page names CSC eRecording as the clerk's electronic recording provider, and the clerk has also announced e-recording through Clerk Connect. UCC filings can be made electronically through the Louisiana Secretary of State.
Two basement departments serve researchers. The Map Department, formerly called Microfilm, sits in the basement of the clerk's office, helps customers research maps and documents, and scans, preserves, and indexes original maps. The Archives Department, created in 2018 and located in the basement of the old courthouse building, is digitizing the clerk's records so that every original has an electronic version. The Conveyance/Copy Department keeps indexes to plats, partnerships, wills, and corporations, and it also holds the Terrebonne Genealogical Society's cemetery tomb indexes.
Louisiana Civil Code article 3346 sends every act affecting land to the records of the parish where the land lies. Terrebonne and Lafourche share a long history and a common boundary, so a title search near that line may require a visit to the Lafourche Parish Clerk of Court in Thibodaux. Land across the St. Mary line is recorded by the St. Mary Parish Clerk of Court, and the third neighbor's records are kept by the Assumption Parish Clerk of Court. The property records guide explains conveyance and mortgage searches statewide.
Marriage licenses and family records
Marriage licenses are not issued at the Main Street office. The Marriage License Department works from 310 Church Street in Houma, which the clerk describes as directly across the street on the west side of the Old Courthouse building. According to the clerk's marriage license page (viewed October 2026), the fee is $28.00 plus $5 for each additional attachment, such as a waiver or translation. Payment is cash only; credit cards are not accepted.
Bring state-certified birth certificates and an original driver's license, passport, or government-issued identification. The clerk specifically says a TWIC card and the LA Wallet digital license are not accepted. An online application is available, but applicants must then appear with their documents within 10 days of submitting it. The license has to be bought at least 24 hours before the ceremony, may be used only in Louisiana, and expires 30 days after issue. The clerk's page also lists covenant marriage requirements; under Louisiana law, a covenant marriage requires premarital counseling and a declaration of intent filed with the license.
The same Church Street office issues certified birth certificates for Louisiana births from 1903 forward ($34.00, or $48.00 with a birth card) and death certificates for deaths since July 7, 2012 ($26.00), cash only and in person only. Divorce judgments are part of the court record, and the Copy Department lists them among the records it copies; a certified decree comes from the clerk of the parish where the divorce was granted. See marriage records and divorce records.
Courts that serve Terrebonne Parish
Terrebonne Parish is the only parish in the 32nd Judicial District Court. A court website could not be confirmed when this guide was researched, but the clerk links the 32nd JDC Self-Help center for people handling their own cases.
The City Court of Houma, which the clerk links from its Other Agencies page, is a separate court. Its website covers civil cases, evictions, small claims, criminal and traffic matters, and juvenile matters within its jurisdiction, and the Louisiana Supreme Court's 2025 Guide to Louisiana Courts lists its own clerk and court administrator.
Appeals go to the Court of Appeal, First Circuit in Baton Rouge, which also hears appeals from neighboring Lafourche and Assumption.
Visiting the Terrebonne Parish courthouse
Know which building you need. The clerk's main office is at 7856 Main Street in Houma, while marriage licenses and birth and death certificates are handled across the street from the Old Courthouse at 310 Church Street. The Archives Department works in the basement of the old courthouse building, and the Map Department in the basement of the clerk's office. The clerk states that its hours apply to all of its offsite locations as well as the main office.
Mailing addresses were not shown on the clerk's department pages reviewed for this guide; the LCCA directory lists P.O. Box 1569 in Houma. Several departments share a fax line, 985-868-5143, and the Archives Department has its own. Because the clerk's home page has been unreliable, a quick phone call is the safest way to confirm closures, holiday schedules, or anything else that changes.
Other Terrebonne Parish offices
The Louisiana Sheriffs' Association lists Timothy Soignet as Terrebonne Parish sheriff (tpso.net). Outside Orleans, the sheriff also collects state and parish property taxes. See sheriff's offices and inmate search for more.
The assessor's office is in the Government Tower in Houma and is online at tpassessor.org; the tax assessors guide explains how values and exemptions work. Terrebonne is governed by the Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government, with Parish President Jason W. Bergeron, at tpcg.org. The parish government guide describes the forms local government takes in Louisiana.