Vermilion Parish Criminal Court Records

Criminal court records in Vermilion Parish are filed with the 15th Judicial District Court Clerk of Court in Abbeville, Louisiana. The Clerk holds felony and misdemeanor case filings, court minutes, bills of information, and other criminal documents with records dating back to 1844. The 15th JDC is shared with Acadia and Lafayette Parishes, though each parish has its own clerk's office. Cases from Vermilion Parish are heard and filed locally in Abbeville.

Clerk of Court: Contact and Hours

The Vermilion Parish Clerk of Court is Diane Meaux Broussard. The office is at 100 North State Street, Suite 101, Abbeville, LA 70510. Mailing address: P.O. Box 790, Abbeville, LA 70511. Phone: (337) 898-1992. Fax: (337) 898-9803. Email: vermilionclerk@cox-internet.com. The Clerk's website is at vermilionclerk.com.

Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. Walk-in requests are accepted during business hours. Bring valid ID for any in-person request. Staff can search records by name or case number. Having a case number ready speeds up the process significantly, especially for older records.

The 15th JDC courthouse is at the same address as the Clerk's office at 100 North State Street, Abbeville. The court shares the district with Acadia and Lafayette Parishes, but Vermilion criminal cases are managed locally through the Abbeville office.

Arrest Records and the Sheriff's Office

Arrest records in Vermilion Parish are held by the Sheriff's Office, not the Clerk of Court. The Sheriff is located at 407 Charity St, Abbeville, LA 70510. Contact the Sheriff's records department at records@vermilionsheriff.gov. This is the first stop if you need information about an arrest rather than a court case filing.

The distinction matters. The Clerk of Court holds case files once charges are formally filed in court. The Sheriff holds arrest records from the point of arrest through booking. If a case was never filed in court, it will not appear in the Clerk's records. Always check both sources if you need a complete picture of a criminal matter.

Vermilion Parish also has multiple Justice of the Peace courts that handle minor matters at the local level. Records from those courts are kept by the individual justices, not the Clerk. Contact the Clerk's office if you are unsure which court handled a specific case.

Copy Fees and Request Procedures

Standard copies cost $1 per page. Certified copies are $5 per document. Conformed copies are $3 each. Marriage certificates are $10 each. Faxed records cost $5 for the first page and $2 for each additional page.

Mail requests go to P.O. Box 790, Abbeville, LA 70511. Include the subject's full legal name, date of birth, and the type of record requested. Enclose payment by check or money order. Staff will contact you if additional copy fees apply beyond the initial search.

Records from Vermilion Parish date back to 1844. Older records may exist only in paper form and can take longer to retrieve. For recent cases, digital records are more readily available. Contact the office in advance if you need records from before the 1990s to confirm availability and turnaround time.

Online Search Options

The Vermilion Parish Clerk operates an official web portal for land records at vpcocwebinquiry.net. Note that this portal has had access issues in the past and may not always be functional. For criminal records, online access is more limited. The primary online tools are eClerks LA and the Prisoners Portal for arrest records.

The eClerks LA portal covers Vermilion Parish and provides free index-level access to criminal case records across all 64 Louisiana parishes. Use it to confirm whether a case was filed and to get basic case details before paying for copies from the Clerk.

The eClerks LA portal is the most reliable free online tool for checking Vermilion Parish criminal records remotely.

This tool indexes criminal filings statewide and is a good starting point before making an in-person visit or formal records request to the Abbeville office.

For multi-parish searches, Clerk Connect offers a paid subscription service. It can search across several parishes at once and is useful if you need to check multiple courts in one session.

City Courts in Vermilion Parish

Vermilion Parish has two city courts that handle cases separately from the 15th JDC. The Abbeville City Court is at 208 S State St., Abbeville, LA 70510. Phone: (337) 893-1513. The Kaplan City Court is at 701 North Cushing Avenue, Kaplan, LA 70548. Phone: (337) 643-8602.

City court records are held separately from 15th JDC records. If you need a case handled by Abbeville City Court or Kaplan City Court, contact those courts directly. The Clerk of Court in Abbeville does not hold city court records. Knowing which court handled a case is important before you make a records request to avoid delays.

Statewide Criminal Record Tools

The Louisiana State Police background check system is at ibc.dps.louisiana.gov. A name search costs $31. Louisiana is a "closed record" state under La. R.S. 15:587. The LSP check returns only records cleared for public release and should not be treated as a substitute for a full court record search.

The Department of Corrections maintains a free offender search by name. This tool shows DOC-supervised individuals and is useful for checking parole or custody status. The Louisiana sex offender registry is also free and searchable by name or address.

Federal cases involving Vermilion Parish defendants are in the Western District of Louisiana. Use PACER to search federal court records at $0.10 per page, capped at $3 per document.

Expungement in Vermilion Parish

Louisiana expungement law is at La. C.Cr.P. Art. 971 and following articles. An expungement removes a record from public view but does not destroy it. Law enforcement agencies can still access expunged records after the order is granted.

Filing fees include $200 to the Clerk of Court, $250 to the Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information, $50 to the District Attorney, and $50 to the Sheriff. Total minimum cost is $550. Each arrest requires its own petition. One filing does not cover multiple arrests. Eligibility depends on the charge type and whether the waiting period has passed.

Cities in Vermilion Parish

Vermilion Parish includes several communities. Abbeville is the parish seat and largest city, but it does not meet the population threshold for a dedicated records page on this site. Other communities including Kaplan, Gueydan, Erath, and Delcambre are also served by the 15th JDC Clerk of Court in Abbeville. All criminal records for these communities are filed at the Abbeville courthouse.

Nearby Parishes

Vermilion Parish borders several south Louisiana parishes, each with its own clerk and court system for criminal records.