State Resources
Louisiana
Louisiana is the one state that never adopted English common law, and it shows in the records. Parishes not counties, notarial acts not deeds, community property by default, and a clerk of court in each parish who holds far more than a clerk does anywhere else.
At a glance
| Record | Held by | Cost | Online |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business and entity search | Secretary of State — Commercial Division | Free to search | Yes |
| UCC filings | Clerks of court, indexed centrally by the Secretary of State | Fee for searches | Yes |
| Professional licenses | Individual boards; State Licensing Board for Contractors | Free | By board |
| Property and land records | Clerk of court (conveyance and mortgage records); parish assessor | Varies by parish | By parish |
| Court records | Clerk of court, by parish | Varies by parish | By parish |
| Criminal records | Louisiana State Police, Bureau of Criminal Identification | Fee; consent required | Consent required |
| Vital records | Department of Health, Vital Records Registry | Certified copies carry a fee | Yes |
| Unclaimed property | Department of the Treasury | Free | Yes |
| Voter and resident records | Secretary of State | Free | Yes |
Worth knowing about Louisiana
The parish clerk of court holds nearly everything
In most states, records are scattered across a recorder, an assessor, a court clerk and a register of deeds. In Louisiana the clerk of court in each of the 64 parishes is usually all of them at once.
One office typically holds:
- Civil and criminal court filings for the district court
- Conveyance records — property transfers
- Mortgage records — kept as a separate index from conveyances
- Marriage licenses, successions (probate), and notarial acts
That concentration is genuinely useful. One phone call to a parish clerk can answer property, court and marriage questions together.
The thing to know is that conveyances and mortgages are separate indexes. Searching one isn’t searching the other, and a mortgage or judgment recorded against a person won’t appear in a conveyance search.
Orleans Parish is different from everywhere else — it separates the functions across the Clerk of Civil District Court, the Clerk of Criminal District Court and a separate Land Records Division. Treat New Orleans as its own system.
Civil law changes what exists to find
Louisiana runs on the Civil Code, not common law, and several differences matter to an investigator.
Community property is the default. Property and debt acquired during a marriage belongs to both spouses unless they signed a matrimonial agreement. On an asset search that means the spouse isn’t a side issue, and a judgment may reach community property.
Notarial acts. A Louisiana notary has powers closer to a civil law notary than to a stamp-and-sign notary elsewhere — they draft and execute authentic acts. An authentic act is self-proving evidence, which makes recorded notarial documents unusually reliable.
Successions are what Louisiana calls probate, and forced heirship still applies in limited circumstances — certain children can’t be disinherited. A succession file can therefore name heirs the will didn’t.
Terminology. Parish not county. Succession not probate. Usufruct is a right to use and enjoy property somebody else owns — a surviving spouse commonly holds one over community property, which means the person living in a house may not be the owner of record and that’s entirely normal here.
Record by record
Business and entity search
Open business search →- Held by
- Secretary of State — Commercial Division
- Cost
- Free to search
Free entity search returning status, formation date, registered agent, and officers and members with addresses — Louisiana discloses more principals than many states.
An annual report is required, so an entity in good standing has been refreshed within the year.
UCC filings
Open Business Services →- Held by
- Clerks of court, indexed centrally by the Secretary of State
- Cost
- Fee for searches
Louisiana files UCC financing statements through the parish clerks of court into a central state index — a hybrid arrangement that’s unlike most states.
A UCC-1 names the debtor, the secured party and the collateral. Louisiana also has its own security device, the collateral mortgage, which is recorded in the parish mortgage records rather than as a UCC filing.
Professional licenses
- Held by
- Individual boards; State Licensing Board for Contractors
- Cost
- Free
No single statewide lookup. The State Licensing Board for Contractors publishes license status and classification free, and the most useful of them for asset and liability work.
Property and land records
- Held by
- Clerk of court (conveyance and mortgage records); parish assessor
- Cost
- Varies by parish
The parish clerk holds conveyance and mortgage records in two separate indexes — see above. The parish assessor holds ownership and assessed value.
Louisiana has a large homestead exemption and the assessor records who claims it. That claim is a residency statement made by the owner to a public body.
Remember usufruct: the person living in a property may hold a right to use it without owning it, and that’s normal rather than suspicious.
Court records
Open Louisiana Supreme Court →- Held by
- Clerk of court, by parish
- Cost
- Varies by parish
No statewide public case search. Each of the 64 parish clerks runs its own, and quality varies widely — East Baton Rouge, Jefferson and St. Tammany publish good online access; small rural parishes may publish nothing.
Orleans Parish splits civil and criminal into separate clerks. Search both.
Criminal records
Open Louisiana State Police →- Held by
- Louisiana State Police, Bureau of Criminal Identification
- Cost
- Fee; consent required
Louisiana doesn’t sell a name-based criminal history to the general public. A check on another person requires the subject’s signed authorization and fingerprints.
The practical route is the parish clerks. Note that Louisiana expungement removes the record from public access entirely.
Vital records
Open vital records →- Held by
- Department of Health, Vital Records Registry
- Cost
- Certified copies carry a fee
Births and deaths from the state registry. Louisiana restricts certified copies tightly.
Marriage records are held by the clerk of court in the parish where the license was issued — except Orleans Parish, where the state registry holds them.
Unclaimed property
Open unclaimed property →- Held by
- Department of the Treasury
- Cost
- Free
Free name search. The holder named on a reported item is a confirmed bank, insurer or employer relationship with a last known address.
Voter and resident records
Open voter portal →- Held by
- Secretary of State
- Cost
- Free
Individual registration lookup confirming status and parish. Louisiana sells the bulk voter file to qualifying requesters.
Public records requests in Louisiana
- Statute
- La. Rev. Stat. §§ 44:1 et seq. (Public Records Law)
- Response deadline
- Three business days
- Appeal to
- District court (mandamus)
- Appeal window
- No fixed deadline
Three business days to produce or to state in writing why not. The Louisiana statute is strongly worded and the state constitution contains an express right of access, which courts take seriously.
There’s no ombudsman. The remedy is mandamus in district court, and it is designed to move quickly — the statute allows for expedited handling. A requester who prevails recovers attorney fees and costs, and civil penalties of up to $100 per day can run against the custodian personally for an arbitrary refusal.
Personal liability for the custodian is the part worth citing. It’s unusual and it concentrates minds.
The Act limits requests to persons of the age of majority and courts have read a residency element into it in places, but in practice Louisiana custodians rarely raise it.
What Louisiana will not give you
- Name-based criminal history. Not sold to the public. Consent and fingerprints required.
- Expunged records. Removed from public access entirely.
- Driver and vehicle records. Closed under the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act.
- Juvenile records. Not public.
- A statewide case search. Does not exist. 64 parish clerks, plus Orleans as its own thing.
Course
How to Find Out Where Someone Banks
UCC filings, business registrations and lien records all point at the same thing: who holds the money. The course walks the full sequence, including the free sources on this page and the ones that cost.
See the bank locate courseRelated
- Texas — next door, 254 counties
- Mississippi — the other Gulf state
- Property records: finding the owner
- Judgment liens and where they attach
- UCC filings name the lender
Fees and procedures verified August 2026. Clerks change their counter rules more often than the statutes change — call before you drive.