Lafayette Parish District Court Overview
Lafayette Parish is part of the 15th Judicial District Court, the Louisiana District Court that serves Acadia, Lafayette, and Vermilion Parishes. The District Court has original jurisdiction over civil and criminal matters in the district. In Lafayette Parish, that includes major civil suits, felony criminal cases, family and divorce filings, succession proceedings, and probate-style civil matters that do not belong in City Court or a mayor's court.
The Lafayette Parish courthouse for the 15th JDC and the Lafayette Parish Clerk of Court is at 800 South Buchanan Street, Lafayette, LA 70501. The Clerk's main phone is 337-291-6400. The court structure is regional, not a one-parish standalone court. A Lafayette Parish District Court record may therefore show the 15th JDC, a division letter, the Clerk filing office, and a case type that places it in the civil, criminal, family, or succession stream.
The 15th JDC specialty-court page is the source for Lafayette Parish District Court program context.
The court site also links specialty programs that can affect docket entries, compliance hearings, and treatment-related orders.
Lafayette Parish District Court Divisions
The 15th JDC has 13 elected district judges in Divisions A through M, one commissioner, and five hearing officers. The division table is a records aid: a case file may identify a division or judge assignment, while Clerk copies and search requests still route through the Lafayette Parish Clerk of Court. Official research did not identify separate courthouse addresses or public phone lines for each division, so the local District Court and Clerk contact is repeated rather than invented.
| Division | Type | Address | Phone |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | District Court division | 800 South Buchanan Street, Lafayette, LA 70501 | Clerk 337-291-6400 |
| B | District Court division | 800 South Buchanan Street, Lafayette, LA 70501 | Clerk 337-291-6400 |
| C | District Court division | 800 South Buchanan Street, Lafayette, LA 70501 | Clerk 337-291-6400 |
| D | District Court division | 800 South Buchanan Street, Lafayette, LA 70501 | Clerk 337-291-6400 |
| E | District Court division | 800 South Buchanan Street, Lafayette, LA 70501 | Clerk 337-291-6400 |
| F | District Court division | 800 South Buchanan Street, Lafayette, LA 70501 | Clerk 337-291-6400 |
| G | District Court division | 800 South Buchanan Street, Lafayette, LA 70501 | Clerk 337-291-6400 |
| H | District Court division | 800 South Buchanan Street, Lafayette, LA 70501 | Clerk 337-291-6400 |
| I | District Court division | 800 South Buchanan Street, Lafayette, LA 70501 | Clerk 337-291-6400 |
| J | District Court division | 800 South Buchanan Street, Lafayette, LA 70501 | Clerk 337-291-6400 |
| K | District Court division | 800 South Buchanan Street, Lafayette, LA 70501 | Clerk 337-291-6400 |
| L | District Court division | 800 South Buchanan Street, Lafayette, LA 70501 | Clerk 337-291-6400 |
| M | District Court division | 800 South Buchanan Street, Lafayette, LA 70501 | Clerk 337-291-6400 |
| Commissioner | District Court officer | 800 South Buchanan Street, Lafayette, LA 70501 | Clerk 337-291-6400 |
| Hearing officers | Five hearing officers | 800 South Buchanan Street, Lafayette, LA 70501 | Clerk 337-291-6400 |
District Court vs City Court
Lafayette Parish does not have a Texas-style county court. The useful comparison is District Court versus Lafayette City Court versus mayor's courts and justice of the peace courts. Search failures often happen when a user checks the wrong level. City Court has a public case search for its own matters, but successions, divorce, interdiction, and many higher civil or felony matters belong to the District Court and Clerk channel.
| Point | District Court | City Court | Justice / Mayor Courts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Territory | 15th JDC for Acadia, Lafayette, and Vermilion Parishes | City of Lafayette, plus third and tenth wards | Municipality or ward-level jurisdiction |
| Civil matters | General civil, divorce, succession, interdiction, tutorship, and higher matters | Personal injury, contract, open account, commercial paper up to $35,000, small claims up to $5,000, and evictions | Small local civil or ordinance matters where authorized |
| Criminal matters | Felony and other District Court criminal cases | State misdemeanors and Lafayette ordinance violations in its territory | Local ordinance or traffic matters where applicable |
| Excluded from City Court | District Court keeps divorce, succession, interdiction, tutorship, partition, and similar matters | Cannot hear those excluded District Court matters | Limited by local and state law |
| Record access | ClerkConnect, Clerk departments, in person, mail, and certified-copy requests | City Court case search and City Court contacts | Contact the issuing court or municipal office |
Lafayette Parish District Court Flow
A District Court record grows as filings, service, minutes, orders, hearings, judgments, and disposition entries are added by the court and Clerk. For criminal cases, the District Attorney files or accepts charges after law enforcement activity. For civil cases, a party files a petition with the Clerk and moves through service, response, hearings, and judgment.
Criminal flow: arrest or report › charge filed by prosecutor › arraignment › pretrial hearings › plea or trial › disposition › sentence › appeal.
Civil flow: petition filed › service › answer or default › motions and discovery › hearing or trial › judgment › certified copy › appeal.
Succession flow: petition or affidavit › required service or notice › will, inventory, or descriptive list › order or hearing › judgment of possession › certified copies.
For District Court record access, the practical route is usually court event first, Clerk record second, certified copy last. A person who only needs docket status may use a search portal, while a person who needs legal proof should request a certified copy from the Clerk of Court.
Lafayette Parish Specialty Courts
The 15th JDC lists several specialty programs that can appear in or affect District Court records. Adult Drug Court serves less serious drug-using offenders with frequent drug testing, case management, counseling, treatment options, judicial supervision, sanctions, and incentives. Sobriety Court is an intensive probation program for nonviolent felony OWI offenders, lasts a minimum of 18 months, and uses four phases with treatment, testing, and supervision.
The Adult Drug Court page is an official specialty-court source for Lafayette Parish District Court records.
Drug Court participation may show in minutes, probation terms, compliance reviews, sanctions, or graduation outcomes.
Family Preservation Court began in May 2010 and serves Lafayette and Vermilion Parish dependency-court matters involving parents with substance abuse or dependence issues. Family Preservation Court contact information in the research is P.O. Box 3612, Lafayette, LA 70502, phone 337-269-5722. Juvenile Specialty Court targets nonviolent youth offenders ages 14 through 17 with substance-use issues and has four phases averaging six to nine months.
The Family Preservation Court source explains the family and dependency context for some 15th JDC records.
These family and juvenile-linked records may have restricted access because of juvenile, child-welfare, or sealed information.
The Juvenile Specialty Court source identifies the youth substance-use program connected to the 15th JDC.
Its existence is useful for record readers because juvenile dockets are not ordinary public criminal dockets.
Lafayette Parish Appeals Path
Appeals from Lafayette Parish District Court generally go to the Louisiana Court of Appeal, Third Circuit. The Third Circuit official site lists Renee R. Simien as Clerk of Court, 1000 Main Street, Lake Charles, LA 70615, phone 337-433-9403, fax 337-491-2590. Further review may go to the Louisiana Supreme Court. Federal appeals are separate and go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
District Court users should not confuse state appeals with federal case access. Federal civil and criminal matters for Lafayette can route through the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Lafayette Division, and federal docket access uses PACER or CM/ECF rather than Lafayette Parish Clerk systems.
Lafayette Parish Lower Court Limits
Lafayette City Court is a separate local court at 105 East Convent Street, Lafayette, LA 70501, with main phone 337-291-8720. It handles civil, criminal, juvenile, and traffic matters within its local jurisdiction, including state misdemeanors and Lafayette Consolidated Government ordinance violations that occur within the City Court territory. The court cannot hear divorce, succession, interdiction, tutorship, curatorship, emancipation, partition, and several other District Court matters.
FINS and Kids First are also part of the local court landscape. FINS applies to children ages 10 through 17 and parents, with complaints from law enforcement, parents, school officials, the District Attorney, or judges. FINS Officer Mary LeBlanc is listed at P.O. Box 2603, Lafayette, LA 70502, phone 337-269-4663. Kids First is a Family Court Intervention substance-abuse assessment program for parents or custodians of minor children, with Coordinator Kelsey H. Hebert at 111 East Main Street, Lafayette, LA 70501, phone 337-258-9978 or 337-704-5326.
The FINS program page is an official source for Lafayette Parish District Court juvenile and family intervention context.
FINS records can involve juveniles and family matters, so public access should be described with care.
The Kids First page documents another family-court intervention program tied to the 15th JDC.
Kids First can explain assessment or intervention references that appear in family-court records without making the whole record public.
Note: Juvenile, adoption, sealed, expunged, and protected family records may require a court order or authorized-party access.