Access Richland Parish Clerk Records

Richland Parish Clerk of Court Office

The official Richland Parish Clerk of Court site identifies Melissa Morris as Clerk of Court. Richland Parish uses one parish Clerk of Court office, not a split district-clerk and county-clerk system. That matters because the same office receives Fifth Judicial District Court filings and also handles records work that is not a court case, including mortgage, conveyance, UCC, marriage, military, election, notarial, and copy functions.

The office is in Rayville and is the practical starting point for most Richland Parish court record requests. Formal felony filings, civil pleadings, probate or succession matters, divorce judgments, certified marriage copies, and older recorded documents can all point back to the Clerk. Some sheriff and jail records are held by the Sheriff's Office instead, and some misdemeanor matters may route to municipal courts when the event occurred inside city limits.

The Clerk contact page is the source for the office contact card below.

The contact component screenshot preserves the published address, phone, fax, email, and weekday hours used for Richland Parish Clerk of Court copy and filing requests.

Use those office details when a record is not available through an online payment or document route.

Richland Parish Clerk Departments

The Clerk's local value is in its department-level routing. The Civil Department files civil suits, probates, and related matters. It indexes suits, maintains docket and minute books, keeps cost records, files pleadings and exhibits, and endorses the fact and date of filing. Civil Processing issues citations, writs, subpoenas, and other process in the name of the State of Louisiana and affixes the court seal.

The Criminal Department receives formal charges from the District Attorney for felony matters arising in Richland Parish. It works with bills of information, indictments, motions, orders, minutes, subpoenas, evidence, bond-forfeiture notices, and imaged filings. Misdemeanors may be handled in municipal courts if the offense occurred inside city limits. Otherwise, formal charges may reach the Fifth Judicial District Court through the Clerk.

• Civil Filings and Expungements: Amy Dallas and Janet Lockwood are listed for civil filings, probate-related filings, and expungement contacts.
• Criminal Filings: Catherine Middleton and Reka Davis are listed for formal criminal filings and related district court records.
• Records Department: Lisa Hampton and Kimberly Peters are listed for land records, marriage licenses, birth and death certificate applications, and research records.
• UCC Filings: Willie Anderson is listed for Uniform Commercial Code filing work.
• Clerk contact: Melissa Morris is listed at melissa@richlandparishclerk.com.

The Records and Research Department is important for older Richland Parish records because the official page says written index and computer access reaches back to 1843 for property transactions, mineral leases, separation and divorce judgments, chattel records, UCC filings, subdivision maps, and other recordings. It also says the department uses original records, microfilm, and electronic imaging from recordation.

Richland Parish Clerk Forms

The official Clerk documents route lists form titles used by the Rayville office. The research source did not extract the inside fields of each PDF or DOCX, so a copy request should not assume hidden fields that were not verified. The safe approach is to identify the form by title, then ask the Clerk's Office for current filing and copy requirements before submitting it.

The documents route image shows the official form area that feeds records, marriage, expungement, civil, election, and recording workflows.

Because the form list comes from the Clerk's own system, use the listed titles as the verified source of available document types.

Richland Parish Clerk Fees

The official Clerk fee API supplies the copy, certification, recording, and civil-cost items below. Fees can change, and some filings have service, indexing, postage, or multi-record charges. For a court record request, ask the Clerk whether the item is a Copy Department item, Records Department item, civil filing, recording, or mail/email/fax copy.

The fee API also lists page-tiered small succession charges, conveyance or mortgage recording charges, tutorship or interdiction advance costs, adoption deposits, and motion or petition advances. Civil Cost Accounting collects advance payments under R.S. 13:842 and accrued costs under R.S. 13:843, including jury trial costs, deposition costs, and expert witness fees.

Request Richland Parish Certified Copies

A certified copy is a copy that the Clerk certifies as an official record of the office. Certified copies are often needed for marriage proof, recorded instruments, probate orders, judgments, and court filings. A plain photocopy may be enough for personal research, but official transactions usually require a certification charge and the per-page copy fee.

1. Identify the record type first: civil case, criminal case, probate or succession matter, marriage record, conveyance, mortgage, UCC, military record, or other recording.
2. Gather known search details, such as party names, case number if known, document title, filing or recording date range, book and page if known, and the number of copies needed.
3. Contact the Clerk by phone, mail, email, fax, or in person. Fax copy requests are available when the requester has an account.
4. Ask whether the request is handled by the Copy Department or Records Department because certification fees differ.
5. Pay the copy, certification, postage, email, or fax charge required before release or mailing.
6. Review the returned copy for the seal, certification language, document pages, and any redaction or access limits.

Richland Parish Court Judges

The official judge API lists Fifth Judicial District Court Divisions A, B, and C with judges and court reporters. Those divisions serve the three-parish district that includes Richland, Franklin, and West Carroll. The Clerk is not the judge, but the judge data helps requesters route a district court filing or hearing record to the right division.

The judge API image is included because it is an official structured source tied to Richland Parish district court records.

Use the division and judge names when asking about a hearing record, minute entry, or order from a known division.

Richland Parish Jury Duty

The official Clerk jury duty page places jury administration with the jury commission for the Fifth Judicial District Court in Richland Parish. Jury Commissioners named in the research are James F. Hatch, Ramona N. Haire, Josette Wilkins, and Melissa Morris. Prospective jurors are randomly selected by computer.

The jury duty screenshot documents the official jury information source used for juror pay, mileage, selection, and courtroom rules.

Jury records and summons questions should be handled through the Clerk and the court instructions on the summons, not through a general records search.

Civil jurors are subpoenaed for each civil judge's jury week, and the party calling the civil jury trial pays the cost in full. After verdict, the party cast with costs must also pay additional juror-service costs. Petit juries are picked as needed and paid through the Criminal Court Fund through the District Attorney's Office. Grand juries are picked twice a year and serve six-month terms.

Note: The jury page contains one apparent phone typo, so use the main Clerk contact number from the contact page.