Getting West Feliciana Parish Court Records
The West Feliciana Parish Clerk of Court keeps the filings of the Twentieth Judicial District Court. Those filings belong to the parish. Its public-search link sends civil and criminal users to the Cott service. Pick "VERDICT CIVIL" or "VERDICT CRIMINAL" there. It is a local index tool, though, not a free statewide docket. You can also request records at the counter, by phone, by mail or email. Another option is asking about inspection during office hours. The statewide LCRAA/eClerks layer offers one more remote route, but it does not replace the local custodian. Start with the court and the record type. A 20th JDC case belongs to the Clerk. A justice-of-the-peace matter, a St. Francisville ordinance matter, or a citation may sit with another office. When a record is not online, give the office the division if you know it. Add a case number or caption, a rough date range, and the document you want. Say whether you need a plain or certified copy.
- Check the Clerk’s public-records route and select the civil or criminal module that matches a 20th JDC matter.
- Use the local Cott West Feliciana portal if paid index and image access fits the request.
- Test the LCRAA/eClerks statewide portal for participating-clerk access, keeping its coverage limits in mind.
- Call the Clerk at (225) 635-3794 or inspect the public file at the courthouse counter when an online result is incomplete.
- Send a narrow written request by mail, email, or fax when staff directs that route; state the court, record category, date range, copy type, and return method.
- Ask the named lower court, town, Sheriff, appellate court, or federal court when the file did not originate in the 20th JDC.
Note: A missing online index result can mean a different court, an older record, incomplete coverage, or a lawful restriction. It does not always mean there is no case.
West Feliciana Parish Clerk Records
The Clerk's Court page says the office receives civil, family, probate, juvenile, adoption, and criminal pleadings. Every lawsuit, succession, and criminal matter gets docketed, numbered, and indexed there. The office also keeps daily minutes. These briefly summarize what happened in a proceeding. So the Clerk is the right contact for a docket entry, a minute, a filed pleading, a judgment copy, or a certified court copy. Those all come from the parish's district court. Certification is not the same as a portal print. Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure article 251 makes the Clerk the legal custodian of court records. It also gives the office power to certify copies under the court seal. A web image or plain printout can help you spot a filing, but it is not automatically a Clerk-certified copy.
West Feliciana Parish Clerk of Court
Basement, 4785 Prosperity Street
St. Francisville, LA 70775
(225) 635-3794
Court Record Types
What the Clerk holds goes well beyond a docket sheet. The office describes a filing system covering litigation records, successions, and criminal proceedings, while a daily minute can give a shorter account of a hearing. The right product depends on your purpose and the file's status. Ask for the specific record. A broad request for everything tied to a name rarely helps.
- Docket entries and daily minutes that show the sequence of public court events.
- Civil pleadings, service papers, motions, orders, and judgments where public.
- Criminal charging papers, public minute entries, dispositions, and eligible copies.
- Succession and probate material, subject to the public status of each item.
- Certified copies or extracts of court minutes issued by the Clerk when available.
Family, juvenile, adoption, and protected-person files call for a category check first. An index listing or a public docket event does not mean every attachment can be copied.
West Feliciana Parish Electronic Records
The Clerk's electronic-filing procedure, adopted May 12, 2025, treats filing and public searching as two different things. Registered users file through the Clerk/LCRAA system linked to Tybera. The public records index is a separate route. Once an electronic filing is accepted, it becomes the official electronic court record. Its filing time is the confirmation time. The procedure also explains why a public copy may lack data from an original filing. Filers must omit or partly redact personal identifiers. And Code of Criminal Procedure article 14.1 treats electronic access under rules comparable to paper access, subject to restrictions. The system aims to run around the clock except during maintenance or system failure. That is no promise every record image is publicly displayed. Note: The public index and the electronic-filing service are separate paths. So an accepted filing does not guarantee a public image or free search display.
Inside a West Feliciana Parish Court Record
Work outward from the identifier when you read a West Feliciana Parish court record. Check the court and division first. Then comes the case number, the case type, the caption, and the filing date. The chronological register and daily minutes show what was filed or decided over time. The public site publishes no local case-number pattern. So repeat the number exactly as the Clerk or a notice gives it rather than guessing at a format.
| Court and division | Shows whether the matter is a 20th JDC West Feliciana file and, when shown, its assigned division. |
|---|---|
| Case number | The Clerk-assigned identifier used to retrieve the matter; confirm any format with the Clerk. |
| Caption and roles | Identifies the parties or the State and accused when that information is public. |
| Docket and minutes | Chronological filings, settings, hearings, orders, and brief proceeding summaries. |
| Outcome and access marker | May show a judgment, disposition, costs, appeal, or a restricted and redacted status. |
Minutes can report an action without attaching the pleading or judgment image. Request the underlying document or a certified copy if you need the complete filed record.
West Feliciana Parish Record Requests
Louisiana law gives adults the right to inspect public records, with some exceptions carved out. Louisiana Revised Statutes 44:31 states that principle. R.S. 44:32 adds that the custodian must present records for examination. Copy fees must be reasonable, and written procedures are allowed. Nothing in these statutes opens protected court material to the public. What they do support is a focused request. Aim it at the office that actually holds the file.
If the court docket or document you want is not online, write to the West Feliciana Parish Clerk of Court, P.O. Box 1843, St. Francisville, LA 70775. Name the court: 20th Judicial District Court, West Feliciana Parish. Say whether the case is civil, criminal, family, probate, or juvenile. Say whether you need the docket, the minutes, or a specific filing. Give a date range and how you want the response sent. The Clerk publishes no separate court-record request form. The office also sets no fixed response deadline, so confirm the current procedure before mailing any payment.
Note: The parish-government public-records form covers parish-held government records. It does not replace a court-file request to the Clerk.
Fees and Certified Copies
The Clerk's local criminal-fee page breaks its products into three groups: ordinary copies, certified copies, and extracts of minutes. Those are the published rates the office itself lists. The civil fee schedule is a different animal. It mostly sets advance deposits for filing actions rather than a general certified-copy or docket-sheet rate. Ask the office first. Confirm any amount for a civil copy, a transcript, an electronic document, or a record search before you send funds.
| Published item | Amount or instruction |
|---|---|
| Regular criminal copy | $1.00 per page |
| Certified criminal copy | $10.00; the fee page does not state whether a page charge also applies |
| Extract of court minutes | $15.00 |
| Cott portal print | $1.00 per page under the vendor’s prepaid account, separate from Clerk certification |
| Civil certified copy or general docket-search fee | Not located in official local sources; confirm with the Clerk |
A certified copy carries the Clerk's certification. An extract of minutes is a separate listed product, so tell the office which one you need.
West Feliciana Parish Transcript Route
A court record and a hearing transcript do not come from the same desk. The 20th JDC FAQ points one way. Transcript requests go to the court reporter for the judge who handled the case. The Clerk, meanwhile, supplies judgment copies from the court where the case was heard. Division pages list court-administration and reporter contacts for court-specific questions.
The split matters. A docket entry can confirm a hearing happened while holding none of the spoken record. Start with the Clerk's index or notice. Pull the court, division, case number, and hearing date from it. Then contact the right court reporter. Ask about the transcript procedure and current fee. Do not assume a minute entry includes a transcript. A transcript request does not return a certified judgment either.
Sealed Records and Public Access
West Feliciana Parish court records have real limits. Public access stops at several doors. Juvenile, adoption, protected family, expunged, sealed, and personal-identifier material may be withheld or redacted. A remote index sometimes shows nothing more than a restricted indicator. Older files may sit in paper form, and some fall outside a subscription's coverage dates. Do not chase protected material on your own. Ask the Clerk whether a public portion exists. The Clerk can also tell you what rule governs the rest.
Key Rules:
La. C.C.P. art. 251 identifies the Clerk as legal custodian and supports public examination during office hours unless another law restricts access.
La. R.S. 44:31 gives an adult a right to inspect, copy, or reproduce public records subject to statutory exceptions.
La. R.S. 44:32 permits reasonable copy fees and procedures but does not charge merely for examining a public record.
La. R.S. 13:5992 provides a limited electronic criminal-minute route for covered cases and excludes traffic violations.
For a 20th JDC record, the Clerk can confirm what is public and how to get a copy. A town court, justice court, or traffic custodian must answer for its own file.
West Feliciana Parish Record Limits
West Feliciana Parish records do not all live in one index. Cott is the Clerk-linked local route for civil and criminal records. LCRAA/eClerks works through participating clerks. Neither proves full coverage. Not every document, lower-court case, or older record can be searched from home. The parishwide justice court offers no standalone public docket portal. The St. Francisville QuickCourt route is narrow. It handles municipal tickets and payments.
Traffic violations need separate routing too, because Louisiana's criminal-minute statute leaves out traffic violations. Follow the court or agency printed on the citation. Bring the matter to the Clerk only when it is truly a 20th JDC file. Federal cases belong to the Middle District of Louisiana. They are not with the parish Clerk. These boundaries matter. They keep a West Feliciana Parish court record search tied to the office that can actually locate and certify the record.
Note: Posted fees, access rules, coverage dates, and office routing can all change. Confirm current instructions with the originating custodian.