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Office: Evangeline Parish 911 / Office of Emergency Preparedness – 1188 Vocational Drive, Ville Platte, LA 70586 | (337) 363-3267 | Fax (337) 363-3308; Director Liz Hill; non-emergency dispatch (337) 363-3345 (24 hours).
Sheriff: Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s Office – 200 Court Street, Suite 100, Ville Platte, LA 70586 | (337) 363-2161 | Fax (337) 363-7390 or (337) 363-7435; Sheriff Charles Guillory. Evangeline Parish Detention Center – same general complex.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-167 and LA-10 serve Ville Platte, the parish seat, in South-Central Louisiana’s Acadiana region.
Notes: Evangeline Parish, carved from St. Landry Parish and created in 1910-1911, is named for the heroine of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous 1847 poem “Evangeline,” which told a fictionalized tale of the Acadian expulsion from Canada that helped shape the popular narrative of Cajun heritage in Louisiana.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Evangeline Parish Courthouse – Ville Platte, LA.
Notes: Evangeline Parish is genuinely home to the Louisiana State Arboretum, established in 1961 within Chicot State Park – the first state-supported arboretum in the entire United States and the first such preservation area in the South. The idea originated with naturalist Caroline Dormon in the 1920s and was championed locally by Ville Platte’s J.D. “Prof” Lafleur; today the 600-acre preserve features six miles of hiking trails through centuries-old trees and more than 100 native tree species, drawing over 10,000 visitors annually. Ville Platte itself takes its name (“Flat Town” in French) from being the first level ground stagecoach travelers reached heading south from Louisiana’s rolling hills.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Evangeline Parish Veterans Affairs – confirm current contact via louisiana.gov/local-louisiana/evangeline-parish.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Evangeline Parish Library System (main branch, Ville Platte) – confirm current address/phone via evangelineparishpolicejury.com.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The Louisiana State Arboretum and Chicot State Park (over 6,400 acres surrounding the 2,000-acre Lake Chicot), and Crooked Creek Recreation Area (a 400-acre lake with camping and fishing) are the parish’s premier attractions. The parish hosts the Louisiana Cotton Festival (fall) featuring the traditional Le Tournoi de la Ville Platte.
Notes: The genuine “first state-supported arboretum in America” distinction is one of the more nationally significant conservation-history facts covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Evangeline Parish Assessor’s Office – confirm current contact via louisiana.gov/local-louisiana/evangeline-parish.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
City of Ville Platte Animal Pound – confirm current contact via cityofvilleplatte.com.
⚠️ Note: Evangeline Parish itself does not provide a parish-wide animal shelter; individual towns (Ville Platte, Mamou, Pine Prairie) maintain their own small, resource-limited pounds, and local reporting has flagged aging facilities and high euthanasia rates historically offset largely by volunteer rescue groups. EPAR (a volunteer foster-network rescue formed by local residents) – serves Evangeline Parish and statewide, adoption fee $175, operates entirely without a physical shelter. Confirm current conditions and contacts directly given the historically strained resources in this area.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Evangeline Parish Police Jury Public Works – confirm current contact via evangelineparishpolicejury.com.
NOTES: Evangeline Parish is the second parish in the fourth batch of the Louisiana v2 A+ sourced standard. The genuine “first state-supported arboretum in America” distinction is one of the more nationally significant conservation-history facts covered anywhere in this project. All contact information above was sourced via web search as of early August 2026 and should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit, deadline-sensitive filing, or emergency-adjacent decision.
About Evangeline Parish County
Evangeline Parish is the swamp pop music capital of Louisiana – Ville Platte’s Floyd’s Record Shop has been the definitive source for Louisiana’s most distinctive regional music genres since 1956, and Mamou’s Fred’s Lounge Saturday morning Mardi Gras celebrations are among the most authentic in Cajun country.
Ville Platte (the parish seat, population ~7,000) celebrates its musical heritage while serving as the commercial hub for the central Louisiana Cajun prairie communities.
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Evangeline Parish Assessor at 200 Court Street, Suite 105, Ville Platte, LA 70586, phone 337-363-4957. LA residential assessed at 10% of fair market value; $75,000 homestead exemption.
Courts & Legal
Evangeline Parish Clerk of Court at 200 Court Street, Ville Platte, LA 70586, phone 337-363-5671, handles successions.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
CLERK OF COURT (Records, Vital Records, Mortgages)
200 Court St., Ville Platte, LA 70586
(337) 363-5671
Genealogy
Parish-level record sources
Evangeline Parish Clerk of Court (succession/estate case files – see Succession section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Evangeline Parish genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
A NOTE ON LOUISIANA LAW: Louisiana is the only U.S. state built on a civil-law tradition (rooted in the Napoleonic Code) rather than English common law. Louisiana doesn’t use the word “probate” – the equivalent process is called a “succession,” and its 64 parishes are the equivalent of counties elsewhere. Community property and separate property rules also work differently here than in common-law states, which can affect what’s actually part of the succession.
Where to go
Evangeline Parish 13th Judicial District Court, Clerk of Court 200 Court Street, Suite 200 (P.O. Drawer 347), Ville Platte, LA 70586 (337) 363-5671 Evangeline Parish is in south-central Louisiana, seated in Ville Platte, in the heart of Cajun Prairie country.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Small Succession Affidavit – under La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 3421 et seq., available for estates with a gross value of $125,000 or less at the date of death (or of any value if the decedent has been dead more than 20 years). No court proceeding is required. At least two people must sign – typically the surviving spouse (if any) plus one or more heirs, sworn before a notary. If the estate includes immovable property (real estate), the affidavit can’t be recorded until 90 days after the date of death, and it must be recorded with the Clerk of Court/Recorder in every parish where the decedent owned real estate.
Succession Without Administration (“simple possession”) – used when there are no debts to pay and all heirs agree; commonly resolved in 30 to 90 days via a Petition for Possession.
Administered Succession – required when a court-appointed succession representative needs to inventory assets and pay debts before distribution; typically takes 3 to 9 months, longer if contested.
Important: for anything beyond a small succession affidavit, Louisiana courts generally require a licensed Louisiana attorney to represent the succession – self-representation and generic online forms are not accepted the way they are in many other states.
Step 2: filing a regular succession
File a Petition for Possession (simple cases) or a Petition for Administration (if a representative and formal administration are needed) in the district court of the parish where the decedent was domiciled at death.
The court admits any will and, where needed, appoints an executor (testate) or administrator (intestate), issuing Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration.
In an administered succession, the representative prepares a sworn descriptive list of assets, pays valid debts, and accounts to the court.
The court issues a Judgment of Possession, which must then be recorded in the parish conveyance/land records and with the parish tax assessor to clear title.
What it costs
Filing fees vary by parish and case type; publication costs apply when legal notices are required.
A full administered succession typically requires attorney representation – flat fees for straightforward matters often run in the low thousands of dollars, more if contested or complex.
A small succession affidavit is far less expensive and, when no real estate is involved, can often be handled without an attorney – though even small errors can cause a bank, title company, or the Louisiana OMV to reject the affidavit.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
200 Court St., Ville Platte, LA 70586
(337) 363-2161
SHERIFF / TAX COLLECTOR
200 Court St., Ville Platte, LA 70586
(337) 363-2161
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
REGISTRAR OF VOTERS (Elections)
200 Court St., Ville Platte, LA 70586
(337) 363-5756
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Evangeline Parish Health Unit
(337) 363-5521
LA DCFS — Acadiana Region
(337) 262-5900
LA Medicaid
(888) 342-6207
Savoy Medical Center
savoymedical.com (Mamou — quality community hospital)
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Evangeline Parish Health Unit – confirm current contact via evangelineparishpolicejury.com.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
Population: 33,000
Area: 665 sq mi
Established: 1910
Public Records
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