About the Vernon Parish Clerk of Court
Jeffery K. Skidmore is the Vernon Parish Clerk of Court, and the LCCA directory names Jennifer Bordelon as chief deputy. The LCCA tags the current tenure as starting in July 2016. Under the Louisiana Constitution the clerk is elected parishwide for four years, acts as clerk of the 30th Judicial District Court, and serves as ex officio notary and recorder of the parish's conveyances and mortgages. The clerk's homepage also notes the election duties: chief election officer and custodian of voting machines for Vernon Parish.
The parish has a clear founding story on the clerk's community page. The legislature created Vernon Parish on March 30, 1871, from portions of Natchitoches, Rapides, and Sabine parishes, and named it after Mount Vernon, George Washington's home. Leesville, the parish seat, was incorporated on February 15, 1900. Fort Polk, built in 1941 as a training site, sits near Leesville, and the clerk's page describes the post as covering 311 square miles.
Vernon is large on the map. Its 1,326.7 square miles of land make it slightly larger than Rapides, while its population was 48,746 in the 2020 Census base and an estimated 45,819 in July 2024. It is also one of the parishes that borders Texas, sharing a line with Newton County.
The office runs on departments, and the phone menu on its directory page tells you which one to ask for: Civil is option 1, Criminal and Minute Clerks option 2, Mortgages and Conveyances option 3, Marriages and Birth Certificates option 4, and Bookkeeping option 5. Contact details for every other clerk are in the Louisiana Clerks of Court directory.
Court records in Vernon Parish
Civil Services handles lawsuits and family cases, such as divorces, filed in the 30th Judicial District Court. Its page posts the advance deposits that took effect in April 2025, for example $400.00 for a divorce without custody, as listed in October 2026. The same page asks parties in an ongoing suit to call before filing a motion to make sure enough money remains on deposit. Civil e-filing is available, and the clerk's site explains the process on a separate eFilings page.
Criminal filings and minutes are kept by the Criminal and Minute Clerks. The clerk lists a separate fax line for Civil and Criminal, apart from the general office fax, which is worth knowing if you are sending a filing rather than a records request.
Vernon's online system covers recorded documents rather than full court files, so contact the office for suit records. For older matters, the clerk's Genealogy page says most of the office's records begin in 1871, the year the parish was formed, and that charters, civil suits, criminal records, marriages, mortgages and conveyances, successions, and plats can be researched in person at the office.
The State Police describe Louisiana as a closed record state for criminal history, and they name the clerk of court, the district attorney, or the city prosecutor of the parish of conviction as sources for a missing disposition. Expunged records are removed from public access, and juvenile records are confidential. The court records guide and the criminal records guide explain these limits statewide.
Land, mortgage, and property records
The clerk's Recording page describes online access through a Cott Systems indexing system covering mortgages, judgments, and conveyances. The start date is stated three ways: the Recording page says 1971 in one place and 1961 in another, while the Cott login page says conveyance indexes and images now run from November 1960. Confirm the range with the office before relying on it. The Cott login page (October 2026) lists a day at $20.00, a month at $100.00, and a year at $1,000.00, with copies at $1.00 plus a card service charge of $0.30 and 3 percent per transaction. Marriage indexes appear in the same system, though copies of marriage certificates must be requested from the office.
Vernon accepts electronic recording through four vendors named on the Recording page: CSC, EPN, Indecomm, and Simplifile. The page also posts cancellation forms. The clerk's homepage features eClerks LA as well, describing it as the statewide authority's one-stop shop for doing business with Louisiana clerks.
Vernon has five Louisiana neighbors and one Texas neighbor. Louisiana land is recorded in the parish where it lies, so a tract near the line may require searches at the Rapides Parish Clerk of Court, the Natchitoches Parish Clerk of Court, the Sabine Parish Clerk of Court, the Beauregard Parish Clerk of Court, or the Allen Parish Clerk of Court. Land across the state line in Newton County, Texas, is outside the Louisiana recording system altogether. Since Vernon was formed in 1871 from Natchitoches, Rapides, and Sabine, a title search reaching earlier than that year may lead to one of those three offices. See the property records guide for how the public registry works.
Marriage licenses and family records
Vernon's marriage license fee is $40.00, according to the clerk's Marriage Licenses page as viewed in October 2026. Both applicants must appear in person, and the page says they must arrive at the clerk's office before 4:00 p.m. A license expires 30 days after it is issued, and the 24-hour wait can be waived by a district judge or a justice of the peace. The page posts the application, Covenant Marriage Act materials, and community property documents, and it lists the parish's justices of the peace by ward.
Couples choosing a covenant marriage should know it is a different legal status. Under R.S. 9:272 it requires premarital counseling and a declaration of intent filed with the license-issuing official, and divorce is available only on the exclusive grounds listed in R.S. 9:307, never by mutual consent.
Certified birth certificates are also issued at the Leesville office, in person, according to the homepage. Recorded marriage certificates stay with the Vernon clerk; the state Vital Records Registry holds marriage records only for Orleans licenses. Divorce judgments from the 30th Judicial District Court are certified by this clerk as well. More detail is in the guides to marriage records and divorce records.
Courts that serve Vernon Parish
The 30th Judicial District Court serves Vernon Parish only. The clerk's Judges page lists three divisions, A, B, and C, with all three judges at the courthouse address on South 4th Street. No separate court website was verified during research for this guide; a domain listed in some directories showed only a placeholder page.
Leesville has a city court. Under R.S. 13:2485.1, the City Court of Leesville has territorial jurisdiction throughout Ward 1 of Vernon Parish, and it replaced the Ward 1 justice of the peace and constable and the Leesville mayor's court. City court cases are kept by that court, not by the district clerk.
Appeals from the 30th go to the Court of Appeal, Third Circuit in Lake Charles. All five of Vernon's Louisiana neighbors appeal to the Third Circuit as well.
Visiting the Vernon Parish courthouse
The clerk's office is in the Vernon Parish Courthouse at 215 South 4th Street in Leesville. The courthouse, associated with the year 1910 and built in the Classical Revival style, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Read the clerk's homepage notice before you go: purses, backpacks, and cell phones are not permitted in the courthouse. Leave them in the car. The clerk's posted hours are Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., unless the office is closed for a legal holiday, but marriage license applicants need to be there before 4:00 p.m.
The clerk is the parish's chief election officer, and the homepage posts closure notices, including closures on election days. Check the homepage before a trip, especially around holidays and elections.
Other Vernon Parish offices
John S. "Sam" Craft is the sheriff, according to the Louisiana Sheriffs' Association, which lists the office at 1203 South Fourth Street in Leesville and gives a social media page rather than a standalone website. Outside Orleans, the sheriff also collects state and parish property taxes, and by statute every sheriff is keeper of the parish jail. See the sheriff's offices guide and the inmate search guide for the official custody lookup.
The Vernon Parish Assessor's website was not reachable when this guide was researched, so no assessor details are given here. The assessors and property taxes guide explains what the office does in every parish.
The Vernon Parish Police Jury is the parish governing authority.