Access Plaquemines Parish Clerk Records

Plaquemines Parish Clerk of Court

The Plaquemines Parish Clerk of Court is Kim Turlich-Vaughan. Her office is the constitutional parish clerk for the 25th Judicial District Court, not one part of a split clerk system. The Clerk serves as Recorder of Deeds and Mortgages, Clerk of the District Court, Treasurer for the court system, and Chief Election Officer for Plaquemines Parish. That combined role matters because civil suits, criminal case files, probate and succession filings, marriage records, mortgage and conveyance records, UCC filings, copy requests, and certifications all connect back to the same elected office.

The Clerk describes its mission as preserving accurate records and providing convenient access to documents filed in the office. It also explains that the office is not funded by ad valorem taxes. Operations are funded through fees for filings, copies, certifications, recordings, and related services, with many charges set by the Louisiana Legislature. That fee-funded model is why a free online index can coexist with paid scanned images, per-page print costs, and certification charges.

The official hours and locations page shows the Belle Chasse annex and the Pointe-a-la-Hache courthouse as working Clerk locations.

The two-location setup reflects how Plaquemines Parish court access works in practice: proceedings are held in Pointe-a-la-Hache, while mailing, annex services, and many government offices are centered in Belle Chasse.

Plaquemines Parish Clerk Duties

The Clerk's court role is broader than filing papers at a counter. For the 25th Judicial District Court, the office receives pleadings, keeps case records, issues court documents, preserves minute entries and judgments, collects court-related fees, and supplies plain or certified copies. In the recorder role, the Clerk maintains mortgage, conveyance, UCC, marriage, and related public records. The same office also handles election duties and serves as court treasurer.

For a reader trying to find a record, the practical rule is simple: district court files and recorded public instruments usually begin with the Clerk, while sheriff arrest reports, crash reports, traffic citation copies, local background checks, and warrant records begin with the Plaquemines Parish Sheriff's Office. The Clerk's file may later show the filed charge, court minutes, disposition, judgment, sentence, or appeal documents after a court case opens.

The Clerk history page describes the office as the repository for Plaquemines Parish records dating back to the 1790s.

That history explains why older Plaquemines Parish Clerk records may involve handwritten instruments, French-language entries, land books, marriage records, and civil lawsuits that do not search like modern electronic files.

• District court filings for civil, criminal, traffic, family, juvenile, probate, succession, interdiction, and related cases
• Recorder records for conveyance, mortgage, UCC, marriage, and similar public instruments
• Plain copies, certified copies, certifications, minute entries, and conformed copies
• Marriage-license records, birth and death certificate services, and passport execution services listed in the fee schedule
• Election, court-treasury, preservation, indexing, imaging, and public-access duties assigned to the Clerk

Plaquemines Parish Clerk eSearch

The main online access channel is the Clerk's Cott eSearch portal. Guest users receive free access to indices for land, criminal, and civil records. The portal states that guest access is indices only. Guest users cannot view or print images, and the portal does not provide docket information. Subscribers can buy category-specific access or combined access for scanned images, with image printing priced separately.

Coverage varies by record type. Civil indices begin December 24, 1924, with civil images from December 1924. Criminal indices begin January 4, 1966, while criminal images begin September 6, 2006, with earlier images still being added. Marriage indices begin January 1, 1896, and marriage images begin July 2, 1896. UCC indices and images begin January 1, 1990. Conveyance records are broader, with images linked to indices from the parish's establishment except certain early Notarial Books.

Request Plaquemines Certified Copies

Certified copies are used when an ordinary printout is not enough. A certified court document or recorded instrument carries the Clerk's certification and is the safer route for court filing, title work, licensing, employment verification, official proof, or any matter where an online index is not acceptable. The research source also notes that the online version is not the official public record.

The Clerk links a Service Request/Credit Card Authorization Form for civil advanced costs, criminal searches, general searches, copies, and recorded marriage-license copies. The exact form fields were not fully captured, so requesters should provide enough identifying information for staff to locate the record and calculate fees.

1. Identify the record type, such as civil case, criminal case, marriage record, mortgage, conveyance, UCC, succession, or divorce case.
2. Gather the case number, instrument number, party names, filing or recording date, and document name if available.
3. Contact the Clerk's office by phone, email, mail, or in person to confirm copy availability and total cost.
4. Submit payment and delivery instructions through the Clerk's accepted channel, using the credit-card authorization form only where appropriate.
5. Use the certified copy from the Clerk, not a portal image, when the document must serve as official proof.

Plaquemines Clerk Request Fields

A copy request works best when it gives staff enough detail to distinguish one Plaquemines Parish Clerk record from another. Case numbers and instrument numbers are useful when known. Names, dates, record type, and copy type become more important for older records, marriage records, succession files, and cases where the requester only has partial information.

Plaquemines Parish Clerk Fees

Louisiana law authorizes district court clerk fees, and the Clerk publishes a local fee schedule for filings, copies, certifications, record services, marriage records, and vital-record services. The statute source for district clerk fees is La. R.S. 13:841. Exact totals can vary when multiple pages, exhibits, service requests, certifications, or recording costs are involved.

The district court clerk fees statute is the state-law source behind the local fee authority discussed in the Clerk's schedule.

The state fee authority pairs with the local schedule, so a requester should confirm the current total before mailing a check or relying on a portal estimate.

Plaquemines Clerk Department Contacts

The Clerk publishes staff contacts by department, which helps route civil, criminal, jury, elections, recording, and archive questions. Use the main number when unsure, then ask for the correct department. Certified-copy requests and record searches should include enough information for the relevant civil, criminal, or recording staff member to locate the file.

Plaquemines Clerk Records History

The Clerk's history and technology story is unusually important in Plaquemines Parish. The old courthouse was heavily damaged by fire in January 2002. The Clerk's office did not close. Staff worked from portable buildings, moved records into tractor trailers, and then relocated to temporary parish government space in Belle Chasse. The current elevated courthouse on the destroyed courthouse site was dedicated on August 8, 2019, after construction began in late 2015.

Paperless court records also have local context. The Clerk's 25th JDC page states that recent technology changes include digital imaging, record preservation, electronic filing, and electronic judicial signatures. It says the Clerk no longer maintains paper case folders and plans to back-image civil and criminal records. Those steps protect records from theft, manipulation, fire, flood, and natural disaster while improving public access to court and parish records.

The Plaquemines Parish government page gives the broader local government setting for these record offices.

That parish setting is why Clerk records, court proceedings, parish government, the District Attorney, public defender, and sheriff records often point users between Belle Chasse and Pointe-a-la-Hache.