Acadia Parish Property Records

Acadia Parish property records are held by the Clerk of Court in Crowley, where deeds, mortgages, conveyances, and land documents have been filed and preserved since 1887. The clerk maintains the official conveyance and mortgage indexes for all recorded instruments in the parish. Whether you need to trace a title, confirm an owner, check for liens, or pull a recorded mortgage on a specific parcel, this guide walks you through every search option available -- online portals, GIS mapping tools, and in-person access at the Crowley courthouse.

Acadia Parish Clerk of Court

The Acadia Parish Clerk of Court is the primary keeper of property records in the parish. The office sits at 500 NE Court Circle in Crowley and handles the filing of conveyance, mortgage, miscellaneous, and UCC documents. When a document arrives at the recording desk, it receives an entry number along with the exact date, hour, and minute it was filed. That timestamp is critical -- it determines priority among competing claims under Louisiana recording law.

Office hours run Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. You can reach the clerk at (337) 788-8881 or by email at laura@acadiaparishclerk.com. For questions about online access specifically, contact Kathleen at extension 323. The clerk's website at acadiaparishclerk.com has current information on services, fees, and document submission requirements.

One important rule for recording: documents must have a top margin of at least 1.6 inches on the first page. Original documents submitted for recording are NOT returned to the filer. They become part of the parish archives. Plan accordingly -- make copies of anything you need before you bring originals in to record.

The screenshot below shows the Acadia Parish Clerk of Court's homepage, where you can find links to online search tools, recording requirements, and contact information. The clerk's website is the best starting point for most property record searches in Acadia Parish.

The clerk's site links directly to the joint online portal where you can search and purchase scanned property documents by owner name.

What Property Records Are Kept in Acadia Parish

The Acadia Parish Clerk of Court's research department maintains records going back to 1887. That is a long history covering well over a century of land transfers, mortgages, mineral leases, and related documents. All of it is available through a written index and computer search. The scope of what you can find is broad.

Records in the system include property conveyances (sales, donations, exchanges), mortgage documents, mineral leases, separation and divorce judgments that affect property, chattel records, UCC filings, and subdivision plat maps. If a document touches on real property in Acadia Parish and it was properly filed, it is in this archive. Subdivision maps are especially useful for understanding lot boundaries and plat layouts when you are tracing a title or confirming a legal description.

Under La. R.S. 44:1, these are public records. Any person may access them. You do not need to be the property owner or have a stated reason for your search. The clerk cannot deny access to public property records.

Louisiana's recording doctrine is set out in La. Civ. Code art. 3338. Under that rule, an unrecorded act is void against third parties -- meaning if a deed or mortgage is not filed in the parish records, it has no effect against someone who later acquires rights in the same property without notice. That is why recording matters, and why these archives are so important for title work.

How to Search Acadia Parish Property Records

There are two ways to search: online or in person. Each has its uses depending on what you need.

The Clerk's office has a joint online portal with the Assessor's office. Any document that has been recorded, tied to a property assessment, and scanned is available for online purchase. This covers deeds and plats. Documents cost $2 per page, and plats cost $10 each. These online copies are not certified, but they are useful for research and title work. The assessor's site at acadiaassessor.org lets you search by address to pull up assessment records. The clerk's system searches by owner name only -- not by address. Keep that in mind when you plan your search.

For in-person searches, go to 500 NE Court Circle in Crowley. Staff can help you navigate both the written index and the computer system. The written index is organized by grantor and grantee (the parties to a conveyance) and by mortgagor for mortgage records. Once you find the index entry, staff can pull the document or direct you to the scanned version. Bring the owner's name and, if possible, the legal description of the property. That will speed up the search considerably.

Mortgage certificates are also available from the clerk's office on a first-come, first-served basis. To get a mortgage certificate, you need the name or names to be searched and the legal description of the property. These are commonly used in real estate closings to confirm the lien status of a property before a sale or refinance.

The statewide eClerks LA portal also indexes Acadia Parish records. You can run a free name search there to find document entries, then come to the clerk's office or use the joint portal to get copies. Clerk Connect is another option for subscribers who do regular title research across multiple parishes.

Acadia Parish Assessor

The Acadia Parish Assessor's office is also located at 500 NE Court Circle in Crowley, sharing the courthouse with the Clerk. The assessor can be reached at (337) 788-8871. Their job is to value all real property in the parish for tax purposes.

Under La. Const. art. VII, sec. 18, land and residential property is assessed at 10% of fair market value. Other property types, like commercial real estate, are assessed at 15%. Public service property comes in at 25%. These rates apply across all parishes. The assessed value is what the tax millage rate is applied to when your annual tax bill is calculated.

The assessor's property search at acadiaassessor.org/property-search lets you look up parcels by address. You can find the assessed value, owner of record, legal description, and parcel ID. Maps are available at acadiaassessor.org/maps. These are useful for getting your bearings on a parcel but should not be used as survey-quality boundary determinations.

Property assessment records are public. They complement the Clerk's records well: the assessor tells you what a parcel is worth and who the current owner of record is, while the clerk's records show the chain of title and any liens or encumbrances on the property. Use both together for a complete picture.

Property Taxes in Acadia Parish

Property taxes in Acadia Parish are based on the assessed value set by the assessor. The Louisiana Tax Commission oversees assessment standards statewide and hears appeals if a property owner disputes their assessment and does not get relief at the parish level.

Tax bills are generated once the millage rates are set by the various taxing bodies -- the parish government, school board, and special districts. Bills are mailed in the fall and due by December 31. Unpaid taxes result in a tax lien. If taxes remain unpaid, the property can eventually be sold at a tax sale. Tax sale certificates are recorded in the clerk's office just like any other property document. They appear in the conveyance index and must be addressed during a title search.

Records of tax sales and redemptions go back many years. Louisiana gives property owners the right to redeem a property sold at tax sale within three years by paying the taxes owed plus interest and costs. Until that redemption period runs, a tax sale does not fully clear title. This is one reason why a full title search -- not just a check of the conveyance index -- is necessary before any real estate closing.

Under La. R.S. 44:411, permanent property records must be retained indefinitely. That is why Acadia Parish records go back to 1887 and are preserved for public access. They are a permanent part of the parish archive.

Nearby Parishes

Acadia Parish borders several parishes across south-central Louisiana. If your property search involves land near a parish line, you may need to check records in more than one parish.