Deputy Chief: Alison Kiefer
Document Recording
State law requires the Notarial Archives Division to preserve forever the property records and other contracts filed into public record in Orleans Parish, and to make the records available to the public.
Acts of sale (“deeds”) and other land transfers, mortgages and other encumbrances are first filed, dated, and numbered at the Clerk of Court Notarial Archives Division and then forwarded to the Clerk of Court Register of Conveyances Division or the Clerk of Court Recorder of Mortgages Division for indexing. All documents to be recorded in the public records of Orleans Parish are filed first at the Notarial Archives and return there for permanent housing.
The following fees are collected at the time of filing: Clerk of Court Notarial Archives Division recording fees and City of New Orleans Documentary Tax. Checks for the former should be made out to Clerk of Court Notarial Archives Division; checks for the latter should be made out to City of New Orleans.
Documents are accessible to the public, and copies and certifications are available at the fees listed. The document’s NA number is required for retrieval. Records created prior to August 1970 require the date the act was passed and the notary’s name in order to be retrieved. Indexes in the Conveyance Division and the Mortgage Division, located on the 4th floor of 1340 Poydras St., are useful in locating NA numbers (for records created since July 1970) or notary’s name and date (for records created before August 1970).
The records office provides work space for professional title research companies.
Copies and certifications may be requested in person at the Clerk of Court Notarial Archives Division or by mail.
Margin and Paper Requirements
Records filed at the Clerk of Court Notarial Archives Division are maintained in bound volumes, therefore page margins must be large enough for binding and recordation purposes. The first sheet must have at least a 2-inch margin at the top, and at least a 1-inch margin at the bottom on both sides. Documents without the required margins will either be rejected or subject to a surcharge of $20.00 per act. All documents must be filed on legal-size paper (8.5” x 14”). Acts filed on letter-size paper will either be rejected or subject to a surcharge of $15.00 per act.
Filing Fees
State law requires the following filing fees:
- $20.00 per act, up to 10 pages
- $10.00 additional for each 5-page increment thereafter
- $30.00 for each sketch, blue print, or survey
- $20.00 for surveys larger than 8.5” x 14”
- $10.00 for each exhibit
- $20.00 incorrect margin surcharge
- $15.00 incorrect paper-size surcharge
These documents are provided as PDF files. You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader software in order to view and print the files. If you do not already have Acrobat Reader, you may download it free:
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Copy & Certification Fees
Copies: $2.00 per page
Certification: $30.00 per act/document
Filing/Current Records Office Hours
- Filing Documents – The Notarial Archives Division is open for filing documents from 8:30am to 5:00pm Monday through Friday.
- Research and Copies – The Notarial Archives Division is open for research and copy requests from 7:00am to 6:00pm Monday through Thursday and from 7:00am to 5:00pm on Friday.