The Louisiana Division houses the original records of the Orleans Parish civil (1804-1926) and criminal (1830-1931) courts. For information on the court system and on our holdings, link HERE.

[PLEASE NOTE: We do not provide long-distance reference service in the criminal court records. Criminal court records can be used in-house only, by appointment. Our by-mail services are limited to civil court records only. We reserve the right to refuse to copy civil court records that are not microfilmed, if the records are too fragile to photocopy.]

Records of the Orleans Parish probate courts (successions, 1804-1880; wills, 1804-1920, inventories of estates, 1804-ca.1855) have been digitized by Family Search and are (becoming) available online. (Successions between 1846 and 1867 and inventories of estates have not yet been put up on the FamilySearch site.) Docket books and extant indexing to those docket books for a number of the non-probate civil courts (1818-1880) have also been digitized and are available at the site. See the individual finding aids to the various courts for more specific information.

To find the digital images, make the following links (note that FamilySearch has not used the official, correct names for the courts or the records that we use in our own cataloging):

• For successions filed in the Court of Probates (1804-1846):   Louisiana, Orleans Parish Estate Files, 1804-1846
• For successions filed in the Second District Court (1846-1880):   Louisiana, Orleans Parish Second District Judicial Court Case Files, 1846-1880
• For the Orleans Parish Will Books, 1805-1920:   Louisiana, Orleans Parish Will Books, 1805-1920
• For the docket books and indexes to non-probate civil courts, 1818-1880:   Louisiana, Orleans Court Records, 1822-1880

We will continue to provide photocopies of these records to those who request that we do so, but we strongly urge you to obtain the records from Family Search instead. Unlike our photocopies, the online digital images are FREE, and they are of far better quality than the copies we can provide from older microfilm.

If you do want us to make the photocopies for you, please follow the instructions below carefully. Ordering a court record by mail is a two-step process:

1. If you locate a court record in one of our online indexes or if you would like us to search for a record in one of the courts that is not indexed online, you must send your request by regular mail to the address at the top of this page with payment of $3.00 per record. For this initial fee, we will locate the record, count the number of pages, and report back to you on the cost of copying the record in full. Our copy fee is $2.00 per page.

2. Once you have received our report on the cost of copying a record, resubmit your request by regular mail, authorizing us to copy the record and enclosing the copy fee we have quoted.

Please limit orders to 5 court records at a time.

Please send payment in the form of a check or money order payable to New Orleans Public Library. DO NOT SEND CASH.

NOTE:

• We will only create copies of records that have been microfilmed, non-filmed records must be viewed in person.

• If you are ordering records from the Court of Probates (1804-1846) the fee is $3.00 to search each type of probate record you are seeking (i.e., succession, will, or inventory). In other words, if you request a copy of the succession of John Doe, the fee is $3.00. If you are also seeking his will and inventory, you need to send an additional $3.00 for each.

• Not all of the courts are indexed. We cannot take orders for copies of records from unindexed courts.

• Most of the genealogically useful court records in our collection were microfilmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah. Therefore, copies can be obtained from any Mormon Family History Center (in addition to the digitized records described above). If the court record you are seeking is lengthy, we strongly recommend that you order the film from the GSU and make your own copies (if digital copies are not yet available.)

• If you order a court record by mail, we cannot copy selectively from the record. We will copy the entire record.

• Since we must receive payment before we can respond to a request, we cannot take orders by email. However, we will respond by email to your letter inquiring about copy costs, provided you have sent the $3.00 search fee with your inquiry.

Go to Louisiana Division Fee-Based Services

Go to Louisiana Division Information

Go to Orleans Parish Courts

Updated 7/13/2016