Caldwell Parish Clerk Cherie Lott
Cherie Lott is the Caldwell Parish Clerk of Court. The official About Your Clerk page says she has served as clerk since 2016 and describes the office mission around access to justice, document integrity, efficiency, and transparency. The clerk supports the 37th Judicial District Court and maintains the local record system for filings, copies, marriage records, probate and succession files, and other clerk-held records.
The Caldwell Parish clerk community and history page is assigned to this clerk profile.
The local history page reinforces why Caldwell Parish court records are centered in Columbia, the parish seat chosen after the parish was created in 1838.
Caldwell Parish Clerk of Court
Clerk: Cherie Lott
201 Main Street, Suite 1
Columbia, LA 71418
318-649-2272
Fax: 318-649-2037
Email: CherieLott@caldwellclerk.org
Mail: P.O. Box 1327, Columbia, LA 71418
Hours not published in inspected official sources
Caldwell Parish Clerk Duties
The clerk's service range is broad. The official home page identifies court records, case filings, marriage licenses, jury duty, birth certificates, and notary public services. The clerk describes court records as access to civil, criminal, family, and probate court records. Case filing services cover filings and legal documents. Marriage license services include issuance and maintenance of marriage records.
The clerk's role should not be confused with the sheriff, district attorney, public defender, or Columbia Municipal Court. The Caldwell Parish Clerk of Court keeps district-court records and clerk-issued copies. The sheriff handles law-enforcement and jail records. The district attorney screens and files criminal charges. Columbia Municipal Court handles town traffic and ordinance matters. A requester should send each request to the custodian that actually holds the record.
- Maintains civil, criminal, family, probate, succession, and related district-court records.
- Processes case filings, pleadings, court minutes, and legal documents.
- Issues marriage licenses and maintains Caldwell Parish marriage records.
- Provides certified and plain copies under the clerk's fee schedules.
- Supports jury duty coordination, birth certificate services, and notary public services.
Caldwell Parish Clerk Online Records
The Caldwell Parish Clerk resources page links the online channels used for remote record access. eClerks LA is listed for statewide and parish searches. ClerkConnect is linked for civil, criminal, probate records, and eFiling. LCRAA supplies the login framework for remote access. These are not described as a free public docket search; the clerk publishes daily and monthly rates for online access.
The clerk resources page is one of the assigned images for the Caldwell Parish Clerk of Court page.
The resources page also gives the public-records request mailing channel and the operational warning that eFiled or eRecorded pleadings will not be printed by the clerk after January 1, 2026.
For eClerks LA, the quick-start guide says a user creates an account, verifies a valid email address, chooses the parish in the Parish Search Catalog, selects a subscription level, places an order, and then uses My Parish Searches and My Parish Documents. The guide also says Chrome, Microsoft Edge, or Firefox should be used, and Internet Explorer is not supported.
Request Caldwell Certified Copies
Certified copies are used when the copy must carry official clerk certification, such as court use, title work, agency submission, probate matters, marriage proof, or a formal record packet. The Caldwell Parish Clerk of Court fee schedules distinguish plain copies from certified copies and add certification charges to the per-page copy cost. A requester should confirm the page count before mailing payment because the total depends on both the number of pages and the certification fee.
- Identify the record by case number if known, party names, case type, and approximate filing or judgment year.
- Decide whether the request needs a plain copy, certified copy, certified court minutes, marriage copy, or criminal history search.
- Call the clerk at 318-649-2272 or mail a written request to Cherie Lott, Caldwell Parish Clerk of Court, P.O. Box 1327, Columbia, LA 71418.
- Ask the clerk to confirm the page count, certification charge, postage, and acceptable payment before sending funds.
- Use the online portal only for documents available there; request clerk certification directly when an official certified copy is required.
Caldwell Records Request Fields
No downloadable public-records request form was located for clerk-held records. The official resources page says public records requests should be sent to Cherie Lott at the clerk's mailing address. The clerk home page also has a public contact form, but the resources page specifically gives mail as the public-records request channel. A written request should include enough detail for staff to locate the file without guessing.
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Requester name | Yes | The contact form marks Name as required. |
| Yes for contact form | The contact form marks Email as required. | |
| Phone | Recommended | The contact form includes Phone, and staff may need fee or record clarification. |
| Comment or message | Yes for contact form | Use it to describe the record, party names, case type, and copy need. |
| Case number | Recommended | Not always known, but it speeds clerk searches. |
| Party names | Yes | Use full names and any prior names if relevant. |
| Record type | Yes | State civil, criminal, family, probate, marriage, minutes, or history search. |
| Copy type | Yes | Specify plain, certified, conformed, court minutes, or electronic transmission. |
Caldwell Parish Clerk Fees
The clerk publishes separate fee lines for online access, civil copies, criminal copies, certified copies, court minutes, criminal history searches, birth and death certificates, and recording. The table below uses the Caldwell Parish fee schedules in the research file. Filing deposits, recording charges, UCC charges, and special service costs can be higher than ordinary copy fees, so complex filings should be checked with the clerk before submission.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Online daily rate | $20.00 daily |
| Online monthly rate | $100.00 monthly |
| Website copies | $1.00 per page plus checkout card fee |
| Civil copies | $1.00 per page |
| Civil certified copies | $5.00 plus $1.00 per page |
| Civil conformed copy | $3.00 if copy is included |
| Court minutes | $1.00 plus $5.00 if certified |
| Criminal copies | $1.00 per page |
| Criminal conformed copies | $3.00 |
| Criminal certification | $5.00 plus copy fee |
| Criminal history search | $20.00 per name, written request required |
| Marriage license | $27.50 |
| Certified marriage copy | $10.00 |
Caldwell Clerk Forms
The clerk resources page links online systems and forms for records work, but the research cautions against listing exact PDF fields unless the form text was verified. The marriage page gives detailed requirements for license applications, while the divorce worksheet PDF did not expose text through browser extraction. For court record requests, the safest request path remains a written mailed request to the clerk with identifying details and a fee confirmation call.
The Louisiana.gov Caldwell Parish local records page is assigned as a clerk page source because it confirms parish-level records routes for marriage and divorce copies.
Statewide guidance lines up with the local research: certified marriage and divorce records are requested from the Clerk of Court in the parish where the event or case occurred, outside the special Orleans handling.
- Marriage application for Caldwell Parish marriage license processing.
- Divorce worksheet for divorce filing intake, subject to clerk confirmation.
- Electronic filing and storage procedures for LCRAA eFiling and eStorage.
- eClerks LA quick-start guide for account, subscription, search, and document download workflow.
Caldwell Clerk Mail Requests
The public-records request instruction found on the clerk resources page is direct: requests should be sent to Cherie Lott, Caldwell Parish Clerk of Court, P.O. Box 1327, Columbia, LA 71418. The same research source warns that information submitted to the office may become a public record pursuant to law. That warning is especially relevant when a requester uses a contact form or sends detailed personal information.
Mail requests are most useful for older records, certified copies, written criminal history searches, records not visible in eClerks LA or ClerkConnect, and records where the requester needs staff to confirm whether the clerk is the correct custodian. The clerk resources page also notes a key older-record issue: documents filed before August 2017 may not be linked with later filings, so users may need to check images for notations or the index for later activity.
Note: The harvested official sources did not publish a clerk office hours block, so the page avoids inventing hours.