About the Washington Parish Clerk of Court
Johnny D. Crain, Jr. is the elected Clerk of Court for Washington Parish, and the Louisiana Clerks of Court Association (LCCA) lists him in office since July 2012. His office describes its own functions plainly: it is the clerk of the district court, it runs the Jury Commission Office, and the clerk is the chief election officer of the parish. The Louisiana Constitution adds the recording role, making each district clerk ex officio notary public and the parish recorder of conveyances, mortgages, and other acts, so deeds, mortgages, and UCC filings for the whole parish come through this one office in Franklinton.
Washington Parish was carved out of St. Tammany in 1819 and named for George Washington. Franklinton became the parish seat on February 10, 1821. The Census Bureau puts the parish at about 670 square miles of land and roughly 6 square miles of water, and it counted 45,457 people in its 2020 base and estimated 45,090 in July 2024.
The Census Bureau's county adjacency file lists only two Louisiana neighbors for Washington Parish, St. Tammany and Tangipahoa, along with four Mississippi counties: Marion, Pearl River, Pike, and Walthall. The Louisiana Clerks of Court directory lists every parish clerk on the Louisiana side.
Court records in Washington Parish
The clerk's home page sorts its court work into three groups. Civil and domestic filings cover adoptions, commitments, divorce, motions to appeal, name changes, nonsupport, petitions, rules to show cause, small claims and clerk's suits, successions, probate, and tutorships. The criminal side handles misdemeanor and felony cases, traffic, expungements, and criminal background checks. A third group covers juvenile matters, including children in need of care and delinquency cases, which Louisiana keeps confidential under Children's Code article 412.
There are only two ways to file a civil or criminal pleading here, according to the clerk: electronically through CottFile, or by walking it in. Mail and fax are not listed as filing options on the clerk's online services page. Separate fax lines exist for the civil and criminal departments, but the office's stated rule is e-file or walk-in.
The clerk did not publish an online court docket search on the pages reviewed for this guide. For a suit record, plan to call, visit, or send a written request. The office asks that public records requests be mailed in writing to the attention of the Custodian of Records at P.O. Box 607, Franklinton, LA 70438. Under the Public Records Law, a custodian who questions whether a record is public must answer a written request with a written determination within five business days, and no one may be charged merely to examine a record. Copies cost $1.00 per page, a price the clerk's home page says took effect May 1, 2025.
Louisiana has no public statewide criminal history search; the State Police describe Louisiana as a closed record state. That makes the parish clerk the practical source for a local disposition. The statewide guides to court records and criminal records explain the rest.
Land, mortgage, and property records
Recorded land instruments in Washington Parish include mortgages, conveyances, UCC filings, affidavits, oaths, and bonds. The clerk's fee page (viewed October 2026) lists general recordations at $120.00 for 1 to 5 pages, $220.00 for 6 to 25 pages, and $320.00 for 26 to 50 pages. Those totals include the $5.00 LCRAA portal fee and a $15.00 parish government surcharge, and an additional certified copy is $10.00. At the counter the office takes cash, check, money order, or a credit or debit card; by mail, only a check or money order.
For remote searching, the clerk uses a Cott Systems E-Search site that requires an account and password. Subscription prices were not shown on the login page when this guide was written, so ask the office before you sign up. The same page links PropertyCheck, a Cott service that watches for fraudulent filings against a name. Electronic recording is available through three vendors the clerk names: CSC, Simplifile, and ePN. UCC filers can also use the Secretary of State's UCC eZFILE system, which the clerk links for Washington Parish.
Louisiana records an act affecting land in the parish where the land is located (Civil Code article 3346), and the Washington Parish clerk's books cover land inside this parish. A tract near the St. Tammany line may need a search with the St. Tammany Parish Clerk of Court in Covington, and property near the Tangipahoa boundary may belong in the records of the Tangipahoa Parish Clerk of Court. The property records guide explains how conveyance and mortgage searching works across the state.
Marriage licenses and family records
Marriage licenses in Washington Parish are handled by appointment. The clerk's home page (viewed October 2026) says applications are taken for Washington Parish residents only, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on weekdays, and that the license fee is $32.50. If you pay in cash, the clerk asks for exact change. Appointments are made by phone at 985-839-4663. State law separately allows a license to be issued in any parish, whatever the couple's residence or the ceremony location, so a couple living elsewhere can apply with the clerk in their own parish.
Once a license is issued, Louisiana's rules apply no matter which parish issued it. The ceremony cannot take place until 24 hours have passed, unless an authorized judge or justice of the peace waives the wait for serious and meritorious reasons. The license expires 30 days after issuance. Couples who choose a covenant marriage say so on the application and file a declaration of intent with the issuing official.
The same office sells certified birth certificates ($34) and death certificates ($26), again by appointment and for residents only, with a 3:30 p.m. cutoff for those requests. Divorce judgments and custody and support orders from the 22nd Judicial District Court are kept by the clerk, and a certified divorce decree comes from the clerk in the parish where the divorce was granted. Read the guides to marriage records and divorce records for statewide rules.
Courts that serve Washington Parish
Washington Parish shares the 22nd Judicial District Court with St. Tammany. The court sits at two courthouses, the St. Tammany Parish Justice Center in Covington and the Washington Parish Courthouse at 908 Washington Street in Franklinton, and its contact page lists phone numbers for two of its divisions at the Franklinton location. According to the court, misdemeanor court in Franklinton meets in whichever courtroom the day's docket assigns, and a sign in the lobby points visitors to the right room.
Bogalusa City Court handles city court matters for Bogalusa. The Louisiana Supreme Court's 2025 Guide to Louisiana Courts lists a clerk of court for that court, separate from the parish clerk in Franklinton, so ask the city court directly for its files.
Appeals from Washington Parish go to the Court of Appeal, First Circuit in Baton Rouge.
Visiting the Washington Parish courthouse
The clerk's website lists the office at 908-B Washington Street in Franklinton, and the district court gives 908 Washington Street as the address of the Washington Parish Courthouse. The LCCA directory describes the clerk's location as the courthouse building at the corner of Washington and Main streets.
General office hours were not posted on the clerk's pages reviewed for this guide, so call before you make the drive. Several services are appointment-only, and the clerk sometimes closes for local events: the office was closed October 21 to 23, 2026 for the Washington Parish Free Fair, and the clerk's home page carries notices like that one. Bring exact change for cash payments where the clerk asks for it, and bring names, dates, and any instrument or suit numbers you have.
Other Washington Parish offices
The sheriff is the parish's chief law enforcement officer and, outside Orleans, its collector of state and parish property taxes. The Louisiana Sheriffs' Association lists Jason Smith as Washington Parish sheriff, with the office at wpso.la.gov. See sheriff's offices for how that office works statewide.
James A. "Jimbo" Stevenson, Jr. is the assessor; the clerk's site links his office, which is online at washingtonparishassessor.org and lists (985) 839-7815 as its phone. The assessors guide explains assessments and the homestead exemption. Washington Parish Government lists its office at 909 Pearl Street in Franklinton on wpgov.org.