How to Get Court Records
Amy Matirne Patin, the Iberville Parish Clerk of Court, keeps the court records of the 18th Judicial District Court. Start with the Clerk's Online Imaging/eSearch or eClerks LA. Civil searches also run through Clerk Connect. What you pull remotely is a convenience copy, and access or page charges may apply. A released image is not the official public record. The counter is the direct path when a record is missing or a certified copy is needed. Staff routing happens there too.
- Identify the court, docket number, division, caption, document type, and approximate date.
- Check the appropriate official online route for a released index entry or image.
- For a complete or official copy, contact the Clerk's Civil, Criminal Records, Family, or Records Management desk.
- Mail a narrow written request after confirming current payment and return-mail instructions.
- Use the city, mayor's court, or JP custodian when the file did not originate in 18th Judicial District Court.
Iberville Parish Clerk of Court
58050 Meriam Street, first floor
Plaquemine, LA 70764
225-687-5160
Mail: P.O. Box 423, Plaquemine, LA 70765-0423
The Clerk posts apatin@ibervilleclerk.com, a civil and main fax line at 225-687-5260, and a criminal fax at 225-687-5263. Phone and email can steer a request toward the right department, but neither replaces a written order when the office requires one.
Iberville Parish Court Record Types
Three Iberville Parish court-record products often get confused. A docket or index is a structured account of what was filed, ordered, set, or disposed. It shows events, not paperwork. A filed document or image is the paper behind an event, such as a petition, motion, citation, judgment, or exhibit. A certified copy is a Clerk-authenticated version for places that require formal certification. Which one you need decides what to request.
| Record product | What it provides | Best route |
|---|---|---|
| Docket or index | Case identifier and chronological filing or event trail. | Online Imaging/eSearch, eClerks LA, Clerk Connect, or counter. |
| Filed document or image | Paper behind a listed event, where released. | Online image path or Clerk request. |
| Certified copy | Clerk-authenticated official copy. | Clerk's office or a confirmed mail order. |
Note: an online image and a certified copy are different products, even for the same filing.
Types of Court Records
The Clerk is the repository for civil suits and filings, criminal and juvenile proceedings, marriages and divorces, adoptions, and district-court proceedings. Docket work centers on four divisions. Civil, family, probate, and criminal are the useful split. The Civil Department handles suits, family matters, probate, adoption, divorce, motions, judgments, citation and service. All District Court criminal proceedings live in Criminal Records.
- Civil suits, answers, motions, orders, notices, subpoenas, and judgments.
- Family, custody, child-support, divorce, adoption, and probate filings, subject to access limits.
- Criminal proceedings, minute entries, filings, settings, pleas, dispositions, and judgments where public.
- Transcript requests, which follow the court reporter channel rather than an ordinary Clerk image request.
- Separate Plaquemine City Court, St. Gabriel Mayor's Court, and JP files.
Iberville Parish Court Record Limits
The Online Imaging information page spells out the reach of the court docket material you can open from home. Civil indices reach back to 1990. Civil images start at 2008. Criminal indices go back to 2000, and criminal images to 2014. The page calls all of it released records, meaning recorded, indexed, verified, and released for public viewing. An official number can exist before that status. Online copies are not official, the page warns. Fees run as daily, monthly, or yearly access charges plus per-page charges, and the page posts no specific subscription or image price. An index hit is not a complete case file. For an older matter, ask Records Management what it holds as paper, microfilm, or an archived index.
What a Court Record Contains
Every request starts the same way. Forms ask for the docket number and Division. Civil forms carry an 18th Judicial District Court, Parish of Iberville, State of Louisiana heading and a case title. Party labels, financial entries, and setting blocks inside the authenticated portal are another matter. Ask the clerk what a full case screen shows.
| Docket number | Local case identifier; a published standard number format was not located. |
|---|---|
| Division | Forms use a Division field, with 18th Judicial District Court divisions A through D. |
| Caption or style | Formal title, such as plaintiff or petitioner versus defendant or respondent. |
| Filing or document | May include motion, order, judgment, citation, notice, subpoena, or other submitted paper. |
| Released status | Online availability can depend on indexing, verification, and release. |
Iberville Parish Court Transcript Route
A transcript is not an ordinary docket image. It captures what was said in the courtroom. The 18th Judicial District Court posts transcript request information, and the court reporter is the right source for that product. Give the reporter the case number, the proceeding date, the judge, and the portion of the proceeding you need. Ask about price, deposit, and timing too. The courts publish no local per-page transcript rate. The split matters when a docket lists a hearing. What you may need is the words spoken there. The Clerk routes court-file requests, while the court reporter controls the transcript product, and a federal exhibit fee seen on Middle District of Louisiana materials is not an Iberville state-court copy fee.
Certified Copies and Fees
The Clerk's fee table lists $5 for each certified copy and $3 for a stamped copy. Civil searches cost $10. Criminal searches run $20 per name. Payment for the criminal search must be a money order or cashier's check. The table never says whether a fee is per page, document, certification, or request. Confirm the practical total before a large order.
| Item | Published fee | Scope to confirm |
|---|---|---|
| Certified copy | $5 each | Page or certification basis and turnaround. |
| Stamped copy | $3 | Document or page basis. |
| Civil search | $10 | Whether per name, case, or date range. |
| Criminal search | $20 per name | Money order or cashier's check restriction is posted. |
| Plain or remote image | Not published | Ask the Clerk about current access and page charges. |
Iberville Parish Court File Custodian
The 18th Judicial District Attorney's public-record request process covers only material that office holds. It is no substitute for a Clerk-held court file. The DA asks for a written request. It should carry your name, mailing address, and daytime telephone number. Add the defendant's full name and docket number when known. Delivery works by hand, mail, or email, and the DA posts money-order payment rules. The office warns that it is not the statutory custodian for many records. Pending investigation or prosecution material is excluded. So is privileged work product. Start with the case custodian. A request sent to the wrong office can delay the record without changing what the court file contains.
Iberville Parish Court Record Requests
Keep any written request tight. The Clerk needs specific details. Give the court, the docket number, division, caption, document type, and a date range. Aim narrowly and the staff can find the file fast. For an 18th Judicial District Court file, call 225-687-5160 first. Ask about payment and return mail. Then send your request to the Clerk at P.O. Box 423, Plaquemine, LA 70765-0423. No certified-copy mail form appears in the published materials. No routine turnaround time is listed either.
A remote search that comes up empty has a fallback. Louisiana public-record access lets you name the record and date range. You can ask to inspect or copy it. You can also request a redacted partial release if an exception applies. The Clerk's public contact form can carry the inquiry. It is not a certified-copy order form, so do not treat it as one.
Iberville Parish Court Record Status
Iberville's local electronic-filing procedures, adopted May 12, 2025, draw a sharp line. An accepted electronic filing is an official court record on one side. Public remote access sits on the other. Filings must be PDFs, and filers must redact protected personal identifiers before submitting. Acceptance does not instantly turn every document into a public anonymous image.
That gap matters. A document can sit validly in the court file yet never surface in an online docket search. Ask the Clerk three things. Is the item indexed and released? Can a copy be inspected at the counter? Does any restriction limit the response? An online access problem never changes a filing's status in the record.
Public Access and Sealed Records
Louisiana law opens records for inspection and copying, within lawful limits. La. R.S. 44:31 covers the right to inspect or copy public records. Presentation and copying during regular hours are addressed by La. R.S. 44:32. The statewide remote-access rules come from La. R.S. 13:754.
Access limits: Juvenile matters are confidential under La. Ch.C. art. 412. Eligible expunged records are removed from public access under La. C.Cr.P. arts. 971 and 973. A sealing order, protected family information, personal identifiers, privilege, or an unreleased record can limit a normal request. Ask the custodian whether a redacted or partial release is available and request the legal basis for a denial.
Iberville Parish Court Record Contrast
Federal cases run through a separate court and a separate access system. The Middle District of Louisiana public-access page covers public terminals, PACER access, and an exhibit-request channel. None of that replaces the Iberville Clerk's state-court records. Before ordering anything, check the case caption, the court, and the docket number. That step tells a federal matter apart. It separates one from an Iberville Parish 18th Judicial District Court file.
That federal reference only helps you spot a different custodian. Certified copies from Iberville state court stay with the Clerk or the lower court that holds them.
Iberville Parish Court Record Fees
PACER's fee explanation lists a federal $0.10 per-page charge and a $3 cap per document. Those are federal numbers, not Iberville Clerk fees. Keeping them apart stops a federal web price from being misread as the cost of an Iberville Parish court record.
For an Iberville request, rely on the Clerk's published $5 certified-copy line. Confirm every other copy or remote-image charge with the office that will actually fill the order.
Iberville Parish Court Docket Contrast
CourtListener offers a public interface for some federal dockets and documents. It is not an Iberville Parish court-record portal. Reading state coverage into it would be a mistake. The real lesson is jurisdictional: a docket search result counts only when it comes from the court that received and maintains the case.
If a record will not show up remotely, work the local custodian chain instead. An unrelated federal database is never a substitute for the Iberville office that holds the file.