About the Winn Parish Clerk of Court
Chesney Creel Chandler is the Winn Parish Clerk of Court, according to the LCCA directory, which tags the current tenure as beginning in July 2016. No official website for the Winn office could be found. The LCCA lists none, and searches during research for this guide turned up only third-party directories. The Louisiana Department of Health's office directory does confirm the location, Room 103 of the courthouse at 119 West Main Street in Winnfield, along with the office phone and fax numbers.
That means the phone, the mail, and the counter are the way to do business here. It does not change what the office is. By constitution, Winn Parish elects a clerk of the district court for a four-year term, and the clerk is ex officio notary public and parish recorder of conveyances, mortgages, and other acts. The Election Code adds the role of chief election officer for the parish, and local candidates for parish and municipal office qualify with the clerk.
Winn Parish was established in 1852 from lands that had belonged to Catahoula, Natchitoches, and Rapides parishes, and it is named for Louisiana legislator Walter Winn. Part of the Kisatchie National Forest lies inside the parish. The Census Bureau counted 13,750 residents in its 2020 base and estimated 13,405 for July 2024, spread across 950 square miles of land and fewer than 7 square miles of water.
For clerks that do publish websites and online records, browse the Louisiana Clerks of Court directory.
Court records in Winn Parish
Every civil, criminal, family, and probate case in the 8th Judicial District Court is filed with the Winn clerk. The court's own FAQ explains how matters reach the docket: all court matters are scheduled by filing a motion and order with the Clerk of Court. In other words, getting a matter on the 8th Judicial District Court's calendar starts with a filing at the clerk's office.
No online case search for Winn Parish was verified. The statewide eClerks LA portal shows Winn in its parish menus, and eClerks LA says its Statewide Portal indexes civil suits, land records, and marriage records for all 64 parishes, but Winn's actual participation could not be confirmed. State law did set a deadline that applies here: R.S. 13:754 required every district clerk of court to facilitate electronic filing, recording, and remote access through the LCRAA portal by January 1, 2026. Ask the office what Winn offers today.
The Public Records Law covers requests made in person, in writing, or electronically. A custodian must show a record that is immediately available right away; if the record is in active use, the custodian must set a time within three business days. Copy charges vary by office, and the law requires a custodian that charges to post its fee schedule. For criminal matters, the State Police say Louisiana is a closed record state and name the clerk of court, the district attorney, or the city prosecutor of the parish of conviction as sources for a case's final disposition. The guides to court records and criminal records explain these rules in more depth.
Land, mortgage, and property records
Deeds, mortgages, liens, and other recorded acts for Winn Parish land are kept by this clerk, because Louisiana's Civil Code places each recorded instrument in the records of the parish where the immovable is located. With no online land index confirmed, plan on searching Winn land records at the clerk's office or calling ahead to ask what is available remotely.
Winn's history adds a step for older titles. The parish was carved in 1852 from parts of Catahoula, Natchitoches, and Rapides, so a chain of title that runs back before that year may continue in one of those parishes' records. The Natchitoches Parish Clerk of Court and the Rapides Parish Clerk of Court both publish online systems, which can make that part of the search easier.
Current land near the parish line raises the same issue in a different way. Winn shares borders with Bienville, Caldwell, Grant, Jackson, LaSalle, and Natchitoches. A tract that straddles the line with Grant is recorded partly with the Grant Parish Clerk of Court in Colfax, and one that crosses into LaSalle is recorded partly with the LaSalle Parish Clerk of Court in Jena. See the property records guide for how conveyance and mortgage records work.
Marriage licenses and family records
Winn-specific marriage license details (fee, payment methods, cutoff times) are not published online, so call the clerk's office before you go. State law answers the basic question of who issues a license: in every parish except Orleans, it is the clerk of court.
The statewide rules give you a checklist to bring to that call. Each applicant must present a certified birth certificate (Louisiana-born applicants may use the short-form card) and a valid photo ID such as an unexpired driver's license or passport, plus covenant marriage paperwork if the couple chooses it. Minors under 16 cannot be licensed at all. Once issued, the license is valid for 30 days, and a 24-hour wait applies unless a judge or authorized justice of the peace waives it for serious reasons.
A Louisiana license can be bought in any parish, regardless of where the ceremony will be held, so a Winn couple may use a license from a neighboring parish whose requirements are posted online. The officiant returns the signed certificate within ten days to the clerk who issued the license, and that clerk keeps the record. Divorce judgments granted in the 8th Judicial District Court stay with the Winn clerk, since certified decrees come from the clerk in the parish where the divorce was granted. The marriage records guide and the divorce records guide have more.
According to the Department of Health directory, the Winn clerk's office also provides birth certificates.
Courts that serve Winn Parish
The 8th Judicial District Court is made up of Winn Parish alone and has one elected judge, Judge Anastasia Wiley, according to the court's website. It sits in the Winn Parish Courthouse at 119 West Main Street, the same building as the clerk.
Winnfield also has a city court. The City Court of Winnfield is named in Code of Civil Procedure article 4843, which sets the civil jurisdiction of Louisiana's city courts. Its address and contact details were not verified for this guide, and its records are separate from the district court's.
The appeal route is what sets Winn apart in this part of the state. Under R.S. 13:312, Winn is a Second Circuit parish, so appeals go to the Court of Appeal, Second Circuit in Shreveport. Its neighbors Grant, LaSalle, and Natchitoches send their appeals to the Third Circuit in Lake Charles, while Bienville, Jackson, and Caldwell share Winn's Second Circuit assignment.
Visiting the Winn Parish courthouse
The clerk's office is in Room 103 of the Winn Parish Courthouse on West Main Street in Winnfield. The Louisiana Sheriffs' Association places the sheriff's office in Room 106 of the same building.
No posted hours for the clerk could be found. Louisiana law sets a default schedule for clerks' offices of 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays except legal holidays, and lets a clerk open earlier or close later, so confirm by phone before you make the trip.
If you are going to court rather than just to the clerk's counter, the 8th Judicial District Court posts rules worth reading in advance. Court begins at 9:00 a.m. unless your notice says otherwise. Purses, backpacks, cell phones, and other electronic devices are not allowed in the courtroom, and shorts, caps, hats, and lounge pants are not permitted. For juvenile cases, only the parties and their parents or guardians are admitted.
Other Winn Parish offices
The Louisiana Sheriffs' Association lists Josh McAllister as sheriff of Winn Parish. The website the association lists for the office did not load during research, so none is linked here. The sheriff collects state and parish property taxes in Winn, as in every parish outside Orleans, and is keeper of the parish jail. See Louisiana sheriff's offices.
An official website for the Winn Parish Assessor was not verified. The assessor is elected parishwide for four years and sets the value of taxable property; the assessors and property taxes guide explains the process.
The State of Louisiana's Local Louisiana page lists the Winn Parish Police Jury as the parish's local government. The jury's own website could not be loaded for this guide, so it is not linked here.