Tangipahoa Parish District Court Overview
Louisiana's judicial branch includes the Louisiana Supreme Court, courts of appeal, district courts, and other authorized courts. District courts are the main trial courts of general jurisdiction. Tangipahoa Parish is part of the 21st Judicial District Court, which also serves Livingston and St. Helena Parishes. The 21st JDC states that it is one of Louisiana's 43 judicial districts and has original jurisdiction over civil and criminal matters in the three-parish district.
The Tangipahoa Parish courthouse function centers on Amite. The 21st JDC lists the Tangipahoa Parish Courthouse at 110 North Bay Street, Amite, LA 70422, with Judges Chambers on the second floor, mailing address P.O. Box 788, Amite, LA 70422, and court phone (985) 748-9445. The Clerk of Court's Amite office is in the same courthouse complex at 110 N Bay Street, Ste. 100, while the Clerk also maintains a Hammond office for public access and counter services.
The 21st JDC Division A source appears in this image from the court's Division A page.
The division page is a useful example of how the 21st JDC presents judicial officer and chamber information separately from Clerk record access.
Tangipahoa Parish District Court Divisions
The research identifies the 21st JDC as the primary trial court for Tangipahoa Parish and lists divisions A, B, C, D, E, F, I, J, K, and L on the court site, along with hearing officers Patricia Hicks and Mary E. Heck Barrios. Louisiana does not use a separate county court structure for these district-court filings. The courthouse contact is shared for Tangipahoa Parish District Court work, while case records are maintained through the Clerk of Court.
| Court / division | Type | Address | Phone |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21st JDC Divisions A, B, C, D, E, F, I, J, K, L | Civil and criminal trial court divisions | 110 North Bay Street, Amite, LA 70422 | (985) 748-9445 |
| 21st JDC hearing officers | Hearing officer functions listed by the court | 110 North Bay Street, Amite, LA 70422 | (985) 748-9445 |
| Tangipahoa Parish Clerk of Court | Case filings, records, copies, successions, marriage records | 110 N Bay Street, Ste. 100, Amite, LA 70422 | (985) 748-4146 |
| Clerk of Court Hammond Office | Additional Clerk public access office | 318-A NW Railroad Avenue, Hammond, LA 70401 | (985) 549-1638 |
| Juvenile Justice Center | Juvenile Drug Court and juvenile services | 801 South 1st Street, Amite, LA 70422 | (985) 747-8835 |
| District Attorney Tangipahoa Office | Prosecution and traffic matters | 110 N. Bay St., Amite, LA 70422 | (985) 748-7890 |
| District 21 Public Defender | Public defense for Tangipahoa and St. Helena | 303 East Oak Street, Amite, LA 70422 | (985) 748-4922 |
District Court vs Local Courts
The state court structure map lists Tangipahoa lower courts as City Court, Mayor's Court, and Justice of the Peace Court. That distinction matters for district court records because the Clerk Criminal Department handles all felony charges and misdemeanor charges occurring outside city-limit municipal courts. If a person is looking for a city-limit misdemeanor, city citation, or municipal traffic matter, a district-court-only search may miss the local venue.
| District Court | City or Mayor's Court | Justice of the Peace Court | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local role | Main trial court for civil and criminal matters in the 21st JDC. | Limited local matters, including some municipal and city-limit cases. | Lower local court for smaller or limited jurisdiction matters. |
| Records custodian | Tangipahoa Parish Clerk of Court for filed district-court records. | Check the specific local court or municipality. | Check the specific JP court or local office. |
| Criminal split | Felonies and non-municipal misdemeanors filed after DA formal charges. | City-limit misdemeanors may sit outside district criminal jurisdiction. | Not the normal route for felony district-court charges. |
| Search fallback | Clerk eServices, Clerk Connect, copy department, and court dockets. | Municipal or city court contact, such as Hammond City Court where relevant. | Local JP contact and parish municipality references. |
Note: The parish municipalities page links Hammond City Court and lists Amite, Hammond, Ponchatoula, Kentwood, Independence, Tangipahoa, Tickfaw, and Roseland for local checks.
Tangipahoa Parish Case Flow
District Court records start when a filing reaches the Clerk or when the District Attorney files formal criminal charges. The Clerk endorses filings with the date of filing, issues process, records minute entries through court staff functions, and maintains the resulting record. A case may later appear on a DA docket page, in Clerk eSearch, at the courthouse, or in copy department records depending on the record type and access limits.
Criminal flow: Arrest or investigation › DA screening › bill of information or indictment › Clerk criminal filing › arraignment › pretrial hearings › plea or trial › disposition › sentencing › appeal.
Civil flow: Petition filed › Clerk endorsement › citation or service › answer › motions and hearings › trial or judgment › certified copy or appeal if needed.
Appeal flow: 21st Judicial District Court › Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal › Louisiana Supreme Court review when available.
Tangipahoa Parish District Records
District Court records can be civil, domestic, criminal, traffic, juvenile, or succession-related, but the public route changes by category. Civil and domestic suits are filed through the Clerk Civil Department. Criminal charges are filed through the Clerk Criminal Department after formal charges from the District Attorney. Traffic citations issued by Louisiana State Police, Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office, and Wildlife and Fisheries are filed in the Criminal Department, where tickets receive docket numbers and minute entries.
Some records are restricted. The Clerk states that juvenile proceedings are confidential and cannot be viewed by the public without a valid court order. The File Room stores juvenile protective orders, adoptions, commitments, and sealed records in a vault, and confidential or sealed records may be copied only with a signed court order by a judge. Electronic filings should not include protected identifiers such as full dates of birth, first five digits of Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, and other protected information.
Tangipahoa Parish Specialty Courts
The 21st JDC lists several court programs, including Adult Drug Court, Juvenile Drug Court, Veterans Treatment Court, Collections Department, Families in Need of Services, Misdemeanor Probation, Truancy Assessment and Service Center, Electronic Monitoring Registration, Online Courses, Tax Garnishment, transcript request, interpreter request, and ADA/EEO policy links. These programs do not replace the District Court record, but they can change how an eligible case is supervised or resolved.
The Adult Drug Court source is shown in this image from the 21st JDC Adult Drug Court page.
The Adult Drug Court page reports statewide specialty-court background and explains a treatment and supervision path for eligible criminal defendants.
The Juvenile Drug Court source appears in this image from the 21st JDC Juvenile Drug Court page.
The juvenile program source identifies treatment, family counseling, intensive supervision, and the Tangipahoa Juvenile Justice Center contact.
The Veterans Treatment Court source appears in this image from the 21st JDC Veterans Treatment Court page.
The veterans program source describes court-supervised treatment for eligible people with military service and qualifying needs.
Tangipahoa Parish Court Agencies
The 21st Judicial District Attorney is led by Scott M. Perrilloux and prosecutes cases in Livingston, St. Helena, and Tangipahoa Parishes. The Tangipahoa office is at the courthouse, 110 N. Bay St., Amite, LA 70422, phone (985) 748-7890, fax (985) 748-9932. DA office hours are listed as Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The DA docket page posts court dockets and warns that dockets may change.
The District 21 public defender office covers Tangipahoa and St. Helena. Its address is 303 East Oak Street, Amite, LA 70422, phone (985) 748-4922, fax (985) 748-2933. Hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 to noon and 1:00 to 4:00. These offices do not replace the Clerk's record role, but they are often part of a criminal case, traffic matter, missed-court issue, or docket question.
Tangipahoa Parish Jury and Rules
Jury and court-rule details are handled through 21st JDC and Clerk channels. The Tangipahoa jury-duty page says exemption requests may be sent to the Jury Commission, P.O. Box 667, Amite, Louisiana 70422, by phone at (985) 748-8015, or by email at juries@tangiclerk.org. The Clerk FAQ says only the judge can excuse a person from jury duty and gives a jury cancellation/status line of (985) 748-8077 after 4:30 p.m. the day before reporting.
The Tangipahoa jury-duty source is shown in this image from the 21st JDC Tangipahoa Parish jury-duty page.
The jury page is the local source for exemption routing, jury commission contact details, and reporting-related instructions.
The court rules source appears in this image from the Clerk's Rules of the Court page.
The rules page points users to Louisiana Supreme Court district court rules and the judge chambers phone for court-information questions.
Tangipahoa Parish District Court History
Tangipahoa Parish was created in 1869 from parts of Washington, St. Tammany, St. Helena, and Livingston Parishes. Amite City has served as parish seat since 1869. The Clerk's About page states that Tangipahoa is now part of the 21st Judicial District with Livingston and St. Helena Parishes. The court's modern structure ties those parishes into one judicial district while maintaining local courthouse and Clerk access in Tangipahoa.
The age of local records matters. The Clerk states that the office houses documents dating back to the 1800s, and historical succession indexes are available back to 1864. Online coverage dates vary by record type: civil suits back to 1974, civil images back to 1989, successions back to 1992 with images back to 1992, criminal information back to 1901, traffic back to 1974, criminal images back to January 2007, and marriage index/images back to January 24, 1934. Older records may require index work, copy department help, or in-person research rather than a simple web search.
Tangipahoa Parish Court Access
Tangipahoa Parish geography creates two public access hubs. Amite is the parish seat and court center, with the courthouse, Clerk, District Attorney, public defender, court collections mailing, and juvenile justice facilities clustered in or near town. Hammond is the larger service center with a Clerk branch and sheriff presence. For district-court filings and hearings, Amite is the default place to verify. For copies and some counter services, Hammond may be practical when the Clerk service is available there.
The 21st JDC site also provides interpreter and language-services links in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese, plus ADA/EEO policy links and video conference links for judges and officers. The research did not locate official text for parking rates, transit route names, security wait times, or specific accessibility-device inventories. For a court appearance, confirm building-entry questions directly with the Clerk, judge chambers, or the 21st JDC before traveling.