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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.
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Office: Union Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness – coordinated with the Sheriff’s Office and GOHSEP.
Sheriff: Union Parish Sheriff’s Office – 710 Holder Road, Farmerville, LA 71241 | Non-emergency (318) 368-3124 or (318) 368-3164 | Fax (318) 368-7817/2728; Sheriff Dusty Gates, in office since 2013, a Bachelor’s in Criminal Justice graduate from Northeast Louisiana University (ULM) and 40-year law enforcement veteran; 51 regular deputies plus 6 part-time deputies. Union Parish Detention Center – 707 Rodeo Circle, Farmerville, LA | (318) 368-9827 | Fax (318) 368-7656.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: LA Highway 2 and LA Highway 33 serve Farmerville, the parish seat, in North Louisiana near the Arkansas border, on Lake D’Arbonne.
Notes: Union Parish, organized in 1839 out of Ouachita Parish, is named for the union of American states. Farmerville itself is named for W.W. Farmer, who became Louisiana’s lieutenant governor in 1850.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Union Parish Courthouse – 100 E. Bayou Street, Farmerville, LA.
Notes: Union Parish is genuinely the site of the first telephone lines built anywhere in the South. In the late 19th century, Colonel Daniel Stein brought three telephones back from a trip to New York and personally constructed a working line from his store at Stein’s Bluff to Farmerville. The parish has also produced four state governors: William Wright Heard and Ruffin Pleasant of Louisiana, and George Washington Donaghey and Tom Jefferson Terral of neighboring Arkansas.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Union Parish Veterans Affairs – confirm current contact via louisiana.gov/local-louisiana/union-parish.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Union Parish Library (main branch, Farmerville) – confirm current address/phone via the parish library system.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Lake D’Arbonne (a 15,250-acre reservoir completed 1963, renowned for crappie and bass fishing) and Lake D’Arbonne State Park (655 acres, established 1967, popular for disc golf, camping, and hiking) are the parish’s premier attractions.
Notes: The genuine “first telephone line in the South” claim is a distinctive piece of technological history covered in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Union Parish Assessor’s Office – confirm current contact via louisiana.gov/local-louisiana/union-parish.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
⚠️ Union Parish has no physical animal shelter facility. The Union Humane Society, founded 2008, is a small all-volunteer 501(c)(3) that keeps adoptable animals in foster homes rather than a shelter and is actively raising funds to build one; P.O. Box 1073, Farmerville, LA 71241 | Email: [email protected]; adoption fee $50-75 depending on source. A separate rescue, Eugene Neal Animal Rescue, also operates in the parish | (318) 620-0062.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Union Parish Police Jury Public Works – confirm current contact via louisiana.gov/local-louisiana/union-parish.
NOTES: Union Parish is the second parish in the final (tenth) batch of the Louisiana v2 A+ sourced standard. The genuine “first telephone line in the South” claim is a distinctive piece of technological history covered 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 Union Parish County
Union Parish is north Louisiana’s Lake D’Arbonne and pine hill country – the 15,250-acre reservoir’s bass fishing and the surrounding piney woods define a rural north Louisiana community near the Arkansas border.
Farmerville (the parish seat, population ~3,700) serves the parish’s timber and agricultural communities near the Arkansas border.
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Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Union Parish Assessor at 100 E. Bayou Street, Suite 102, Farmerville, LA 71241, phone 318-368-3055. LA residential assessed at 10% of fair market value; $75,000 homestead exemption.
Courts & Legal
Union Parish Clerk of Court at 100 E. Bayou Street, Farmerville, LA 71241, phone 318-368-3055, 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)
100 E. Bayou Ave., Farmerville, LA 71241
(318) 368-3055
Genealogy
Parish-level record sources
Union Parish Clerk of Court (succession/estate case files – see Succession section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Union 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
Union Parish 3rd Judicial District Court, Clerk of Court 100 East Bayou Street, Suite 105, Farmerville, LA 71241 (318) 368-3055 Union Parish is in northern Louisiana, seated in Farmerville. The 3rd Judicial District also covers Lincoln Parish.
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
100 E. Bayou Ave., Farmerville, LA 71241
(318) 368-3124
SHERIFF / TAX COLLECTOR
100 E. Bayou Ave., Farmerville, LA 71241
(318) 368-3124
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
REGISTRAR OF VOTERS (Elections)
100 E. Bayou Ave., Farmerville, LA 71241
(318) 368-3055
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Union Parish Health Unit
(318) 368-3171
LA DCFS — Northwest Region
(318) 676-7400
LA Medicaid
(888) 342-6207
Union General Hospital
uniongeneralhospital.com (Farmerville — quality community hospital)
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Union Parish Health Unit – confirm current contact via Louisiana Department of Health regional office listings.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
Population: 22,000
Area: 906 sq mi
Established: 1839
Public Records
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