Louisiana, court records
Louisiana trial court records are kept by the clerk of court in each parish; the Supreme Court and the five courts of appeal keep their own dockets. Federal cases are in PACER.
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Every card below goes to the government office responsible for that record.
Court records
Louisiana Supreme Court additional links page, which lists the websites of city and parish courts in Louisiana.
Open official site Louisiana city and parish court linksCourt records
Louisiana Supreme Court Children and Families Division, home of the court's Court Improvement Program for child in need of care cases.
Open official site Louisiana Supreme Court Children and Families DivisionCourt records
Home of the Louisiana Supreme Court, the state's highest court, with its press releases and the office of the judicial administrator.
Open official site Louisiana Supreme CourtCourt records
Louisiana Court of Appeal, First Circuit, 1600 North Third Street, Baton Rouge, phone 225-382-3000, with decisions, docket and online case records.
Open official site The Louisiana Court of Appeal First CircuitCourt records
Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeal in Shreveport: nine judges elected from three districts in the 20 northernmost parishes.
Open official site The Louisiana Court of Appeal Second CircuitCourt records
Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal website, with court news, closing notices and instructions for emergency filings.
Open official site The Louisiana Court of Appeal Fourth CircuitCourt records
Louisiana Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal: court information, case records, opinions and docket, with its local rules and filing fee schedule.
Open official site The Louisiana Court of Appeal Fifth CircuitCourt records
Supreme Court Drug and Specialty Court Office, which awards state funds to Louisiana drug and specialty court programs each year and monitors them.
Open official site Louisiana Drug and Specialty CourtsCourt records
Federal district, bankruptcy and appeals court records online. A PACER account is needed; documents cost $0.10 per page, capped at $3 per document.
Open official site PACER, federal court recordsCourt records
Find the federal district, bankruptcy and appeals courts that serve any location, or look up a federal court by name.
Open official site U.S. Courts, Federal Court FinderGuide
Each Louisiana parish has a clerk of court who keeps that parish's civil and criminal court files; ask that clerk for searches and copies.
The Supreme Court and the five circuit courts of appeal post their own decisions and dockets; the First Circuit offers online case records.
Guide
Louisiana divorces are district court suits in the parish of filing, or Family Court suits in East Baton Rouge Parish, and the parish Clerk of Court keeps the record. Under the Public Records Law, La. R.S. 44:1 and 44:31, any person of the age of majority may inspect, copy or reproduce the suit record unless a specific law provides otherwise or the court has sealed it under its inherent power. The record holds the petition, the judgment of divorce, community property partition pleadings and judgments, child support worksheets and the sworn income and expense affidavits that judicial districts require under their own versions of Title IV, Rule 35.1 of the District Court Rules, such as the 1st Judicial District rule that has them filed in the record before a support trial.
Each parish clerk keeps its own index, and the Clerks' Remote Access Authority portal, eClerks LA, searches land records in all 64 parishes and now also includes indices for marriage records and civil suits. Copies at the clerk's office are capped at one dollar a page by La. R.S. 13:841. The Louisiana asset search page explains what the affidavits and partition judgments show.
Record guide
At a glance
More Louisiana records on this site: Louisiana public records, Free Background Checks.
Straight answers
Open only the answer you need.
State court records are usually free to view at the courthouse and often free online, with per-page fees for certified copies. PACER charges $0.10 per page (capped at $3.00 per document), waived under $30 per quarter.
No. A sealed case is hidden from the public docket index by court order. Its existence may still be confirmable by number, but documents are not accessible.
Civil cases involve disputes between parties (contracts, torts, family). Criminal cases are brought by the government. Both are indexed by the same court clerks but tracked in separate sub-dockets.
Not in one search. PACER covers all federal courts. Most states have a statewide judiciary portal that covers their state courts, but a few require per-county lookups. This page links to Louisiana's official portal.
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Every state page lists that state's official court record sources, each opened and verified.