Affiliate disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you use them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial recommendations are independent of these relationships.
Affiliate disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you use them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial recommendations are independent of these relationships.
What do you need to do?
Tell us your goal and we'll guide you step-by-step to the right office, forms, and official resources.
Office: St. Bernard Parish 911 Communications District – coordinated through the Sheriff’s Office; the parish is actively developing a 2026 Coastal Strategy Document given its extensive wetland exposure.
Sheriff: St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office – Courthouse Annex, 2 Courthouse Square, Chalmette, LA 70043 (P.O. Box 168) | (504) 271-2501 or (504) 271-2504 | Fax (504) 278-7715; Sheriff James Pohlmann, a St. Bernard Parish native with the department since 1983, elected sheriff in 2011 after serving as Chief Deputy since 2008. St. Bernard Parish Prison – 1900 Paris Road, Chalmette, LA | (504) 278-7645 or (504) 278-7650 | Fax (504) 278-7785.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911. ⚠️ St. Bernard Parish was among the areas most devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, with the vast majority of residents displaced for extended periods during recovery.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: LA Highway 46 and LA Highway 39 serve Chalmette, the parish seat, immediately southeast of New Orleans on the east bank of the Mississippi River.
Notes: St. Bernard Parish is named for Bernardo de Gálvez, the Spanish colonial governor of Louisiana during the American Revolution; the parish’s earliest Spanish name was La Concepción/Nueva Gálvez, later Terre aux Boeufs (“land of cattle”).
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: St. Bernard Parish Government Complex – Chalmette, LA.
Notes: St. Bernard Parish is home to the Chalmette Battlefield, part of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park, where Andrew Jackson’s forces defeated the British on January 8, 1815 in the decisive Battle of New Orleans, the final major engagement of the War of 1812; the site includes the Malus-Beauregard House and Chalmette National Cemetery. The parish also holds one of Louisiana’s most distinctive cultural communities: the Isleños, descendants of Canary Islanders who settled along Bayou Terre-aux-Boeufs beginning in 1779 and developed their own dialect – sometimes informally called “Spanish Cajuns,” they remain the largest living vestige of Spanish colonial Louisiana, honored today at the Isleños Museum Complex and Los Isleños Festival. The parish is also home to St. Malo, a settlement historically recognized as one of the earliest Filipino communities in the continental United States.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: St. Bernard Parish Veterans Affairs – confirm current contact via sbpg.net.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
St. Bernard Parish Library System – confirm current address/phone via sbpg.net.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The Chalmette Battlefield and National Cemetery, the Isleños Museum Complex and Los Isleños Cemetery, and the parish’s extensive wetlands (a “Sportsman’s Paradise” for fishing, hunting, and trapping) are the premier attractions. Annual events include the Battle of New Orleans Commemoration, Los Isleños Festival, Louisiana Crawfish Festival, and Blessing of the Fleet.
Notes: The genuine Isleños heritage and the decisive Battle of New Orleans are among the most distinctive historical facts covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: St. Bernard Parish Assessor’s Office – confirm current contact via sbpg.net.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
St. Bernard Parish Animal Control Center – 5455 East Judge Perez Drive, Violet, LA 70092 | (504) 278-1534 | Email: [email protected]; a parish government division that also serves a law-enforcement function upholding animal ordinances; open admission; low-cost spay/neuter and a $15 feral cat TNR program. Hours: Mon-Fri 8 AM-4 PM, Sat 10 AM-1 PM. All adopted pets vaccinated and altered; dogs microchipped standard, cats chipped for an additional fee.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: St. Bernard Parish Public Works – confirm current contact via sbpg.net.
NOTES: St. Bernard Parish is the second parish in the eighth batch of the Louisiana v2 A+ sourced standard. The genuine Isleños heritage and the decisive Battle of New Orleans are among the most distinctive historical 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 St. Bernard Parish County
St. Bernard Parish is Louisiana’s Battle of New Orleans and Isleños Canary Islands heritage parish – the battlefield where Andrew Jackson’s improbable 1815 victory made him president and the Canary Islands descendants maintaining their unique culture for 250 years define a parish of extraordinary historical depth downstream from New Orleans.
Chalmette (the parish seat, unincorporated, population ~16,000) is St. Bernard Parish’s governmental hub adjacent to New Orleans, a southeast Louisiana Mississippi River community whose Chalmette Battlefield, Isleños heritage, and delta character anchor its identity.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
St. Bernard Parish Assessor at 8201 W. Judge Perez Drive, Chalmette, LA 70043, phone 504-279-6379. LA assessed at 10% of fair market value.
Courts & Legal
St. Bernard Parish District Court at 8201 W. Judge Perez Drive, Chalmette, LA 70043, phone 504-271-3434, 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)
8201 W. Judge Perez Dr., Chalmette, LA 70043
(504) 271-3434
Genealogy
Parish-level record sources
St. Bernard Parish Clerk of Court (succession/estate case files – see Succession section above).
Chalmette Battlefield, site of the 1815 Battle of New Orleans, is a significant local historical resource.
Local societies
No dedicated St. Bernard 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
St. Bernard Parish 34th Judicial District Court, Clerk of Court 1100 West St. Bernard Highway (P.O. Box 1746), Chalmette, LA 70043 (mail: 70044) (504) 271-3434 St. Bernard Parish is southeast of New Orleans in southeastern Louisiana, seated in Chalmette, site of the Battle of New Orleans.
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
2 Courthouse Square, Chalmette, LA 70043
(504) 271-2501
SHERIFF / TAX COLLECTOR
2 Courthouse Square, Chalmette, LA 70043
(504) 271-2501
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
REGISTRAR OF VOTERS (Elections)
8201 W. Judge Perez Dr., Chalmette, LA 70043
(504) 278-4267
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
St. Bernard Parish Health Unit
(504) 278-7540
LA DCFS — Metro Region
(504) 838-5300
LA Medicaid
(888) 342-6207
Ochsner St. Bernard
ochsner.org/stbernard (quality community hospital)
University Medical Center (New Orleans)
umcno.org (Level I Trauma; accessible)
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: St. Bernard Parish Health Unit – confirm current contact via Louisiana Department of Health regional office listings.
Editorial independence: CountyOffices maintains strict editorial independence from our affiliate partners. Our content is researched from official government sources. Affiliate relationships do not influence our recommendations or the information we publish.
Editorial Trust
5 official sources cited
Reviewed by CountyOffices Editorial Team
Last verified June 2026
County Facts
Population: 47,000
Area: 1,510 sq mi (much is water and marsh)
Established: 1807
Public Records
TruthFinder
Search public records for St. Bernard Parish County residents.
