How to Find Louisiana Court Records (2026)

In person. Go to the clerk of court in the parish where the case was filed — the Clerk of Civil District Court or Clerk of Criminal District Court if the case is in Orleans Parish. Bring the case number if you have it; if not, the party names and an approximate year. Most clerks keep public terminals for searching the index at no charge, and copies are paid at the counter.

By mail. Write to the clerk with:

• the case number, or the full names of the parties and the year filed;
• exactly which document you need (for example, "the final judgment of divorce");
• whether you need a plain or certified copy; and
• a check or money order for the fee, or a request for a fee quote first.

Call ahead to confirm the current per-page and certification fees, since they are set locally by each clerk within the statutory maximum in Title 13 of the Revised Statutes, not by a single statewide fee schedule.

Online. Many parish clerks sell a subscription — often through ClerkConnect, an in-house eSearch system, or re:SearchLA — that lets you view case indexes and, for an added fee, document images or certified copies. Coverage, pricing, and date ranges differ by parish, so check the specific clerk's website rather than assuming statewide coverage.

Records older than the online index. Louisiana's online indexes typically go back only ten to twenty years, and document images are usually available only from a more recent date than the index itself. Older files may be on microfilm or in off-site storage, and the clerk may charge a search fee to retrieve them.

Louisiana's Public Records Law (Revised Statutes Title 44) presumes public records — including most court filings — are open, and R.S. 44:31 gives any adult the right to inspect, copy, or reproduce a public record unless a specific law says otherwise. Several categories are removed from public view:

• Expunged arrests and convictions. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Articles 971–995 (this subject was formerly numbered R.S. 44:9) let a person move to expunge an arrest that did not lead to conviction, or, after a waiting period, certain misdemeanor and felony convictions. Expungement removes the record from public access — it does not destroy it — and law enforcement, prosecutors, and certain licensing boards can still see it.
• Juvenile records. Delinquency and child-in-need-of-care proceedings in juvenile or family court are confidential under the Louisiana Children's Code, with narrow exceptions for certain serious offenses.
• Adoption records. Adoption proceedings are sealed by statute.
• Domestic-abuse and protective-order records. Access to some of the underlying case information may be restricted to protect the petitioner.
• Records under a court-ordered seal. A judge can seal specific documents or an entire record for good cause shown, most often in family-law and juvenile matters.

Because the clerk of court is a public official under R.S. 44:1, most non-sealed civil and criminal filings are open on request even without an online account — the fee and wait time simply depend on whether the clerk offers a paid online portal or requires an in-person or mailed request.