Access Bienville Parish Clerk Records

Bienville Parish Clerk of Court

The official parish elected-official page identifies Eddie Holmes as Bienville Parish Clerk of Court and Sandy Settle as Chief Deputy. The Clerk maintains and preserves official parish records and supervises elections, election equipment, and election staff. The office duties listed in the research include land records processing and recording, UCC documents, civil and criminal court proceedings, marriage licenses, and other legal documents.

The Clerk's office sits in the courthouse complex at 100 Courthouse Drive, Suite 1100, Arcadia LA 71001. The phone number is 318-263-2123, fax is 318-263-7426, and the listed clerk email is weholmes@bienvilleparish.org. The Clerk is the records custodian, not the judge. That distinction matters when a user needs a copy, docket entry, or search rather than a ruling or hearing date change.

The Clerk civil department source shows the civil records page used for Bienville Parish civil and probate access.

This civil page is central because it names Clerk Connect availability, civil contacts, probate categories, protective orders, and the civil/probate name search fee.

What Bienville Parish Clerk Handles

The Bienville Parish Clerk of Court holds several record families that should not be blended into one search path. Civil and probate records use the civil department. Criminal case files use the criminal department. Marriage licenses use the marriage license division. Birth certificates are a limited vital-record service, and the Clerk page says local birth records are not maintained for public viewing.

• Civil suits, clerk's docket claims, civil minutes, and civil court docket preparation.
• Successions, interdictions, emancipations, and other probate-related civil records.
• Criminal court records such as citations, indictments, arraignments, dispositions, evidence references, and minutes.
• Marriage licenses, land records, UCC filings, elections, and other legal documents.
• Protective-order processing with Louisiana D.A.R.T. coordination for domestic-violence victims.

The Clerk criminal department source shows the local criminal records page.

That criminal page is important because it separates clerk criminal searches from arrest records and publishes the criminal search and copy fee rules.

Bienville Parish Civil Clerk Records

The Clerk civil department receives, files, records, and processes claims between individuals and entities. It prepares the civil court docket and maintains court minutes. The page also says civil records are available through Clerk Connect beginning November 2, 2023, with signup through eClerksLA and eVaultLA.

Civil department contacts named in the research are Sandy Settle, Chief Deputy, at sksettle@bienvilleparish.org, and Sarah Hollis at shollis@bienvilleparish.org. The civil department also covers probate records, including successions, interdictions, and emancipations. Small money claims under $5,000 may be filed on the Clerk's Docket, while all other claims are filed as civil suits.

Bienville Parish Criminal Clerk Records

The Clerk criminal department records, stores, and maintains criminal records occurring in Bienville Parish. The research lists citations, indictments, arraignments, dispositions, and evidence submitted during proceedings. Deputy Connie Coon is named on the clerk criminal page. Public access is limited for juvenile matters and records ordered sealed by the 2nd Judicial District Court.

The criminal search is not an arrest search. The Clerk page says criminal history searches cover public records for the past 10 years and do not include arrest records, juvenile records, sealed documents, or offenses outside Bienville Parish. For arrest-only information, jail booking, bond, or current custody, users need sheriff or jail roster channels rather than the Clerk criminal-history search.

The Clerk also says it does not accept payments for fines or fees associated with criminal sentencing or traffic citations. Those payments are typically handled through the Bienville Parish Sheriff's Department. That means a person may need the Clerk for a record copy and the sheriff for payment of court costs or tickets.

Request Bienville Certified Copies

A certified copy is an official copy issued by the office that holds the record. In Bienville Parish, ask the Clerk for certified court documents, civil minutes, criminal minutes, divorce judgments, succession judgments, and marriage license copies. Start with the record type because each division has different access rules and fees.

1. Identify the record category, such as civil suit, succession, criminal disposition, marriage license, divorce judgment, or minute extract.
2. Gather the case number or license number if known, plus full party names and an approximate filing, license, or judgment date.
3. Contact or visit the Clerk at Suite 1100 and ask whether a name search is required before copies can be priced.
4. Pay the search or copy fee published for that record type, or confirm the fee from the civil schedule if the exact amount was not captured.
5. Ask whether the copy will be plain, certified, or a court-minute extract, because those are not the same product.

Bienville Clerk Request Fields

The research did not identify a universal online certified-copy request form. A strong request still uses consistent fields so the Clerk can locate the file and quote the right cost. Name searches can cost money, so a case number or license number saves time when available.

Bienville Parish Clerk Fees

The published fee information varies by division. The civil page gives the civil/probate name search amount. The criminal page gives criminal search and copy rules and cites Act 733 with R.S. 13:847(6) and R.S. 13:847(7). The civil filing fee PDF was linked but was not text-readable in the research capture, so exact civil filing fees should not be invented.

Note: Civil filing fees and probate filing fees require direct verification from the Clerk's linked fee schedule because text extraction failed.

Bienville Parish Clerk Forms

The Clerk civil page links the Civil Fee Schedule, Louisiana Case Reporting Form, and Clerk's Docket Suit Forms. The criminal page links expungement forms and Article 894 information. These forms matter because they are office-specific starting points rather than generic statewide explanations.

• Louisiana Case Reporting Form for civil filing reporting.
• Clerk's Docket Suit Form for local money-claim filing.
• Expungement Forms for eligible criminal record restriction requests.
• Article 894 Information for misdemeanor sentencing and expungement context.

The Clerk jury information source shows another clerk-maintained public information area.

Jury information is not a copy request, but it shows the Clerk's role in court administration, notices, and courthouse communication.

Marriage and Vital Records

The Clerk handles marriage licenses, and the marriage license page is the local source for the current license process. The Clerk birth certificate page is useful for vital-record boundaries: it says birth records are not maintained locally for public viewing, the office cannot mail forms or certificates, and a person seeking a birth certificate must follow the office's identity and payment rules or use state Vital Records.

The Clerk birth certificate source supports the vital-record limits that should be kept separate from court records.

This source helps explain why marriage, birth, divorce, and court records cannot be searched through one single local process.

Online and Office Access

Online access is strongest for civil records where Clerk Connect applies. The Clerk civil page says civil records are available through Clerk Connect beginning November 2, 2023. Criminal searches, certified copies, older files, probate matters, and non-digitized records may still require direct contact with the Clerk.

The Louisiana Clerks of Court Association adds statewide context for the Clerk of Court office model.

The statewide clerk association source fits Bienville Parish because Louisiana uses parish clerks as local court and official-record custodians.