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Office: West Carroll Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness – coordinated with the Sheriff’s Office and 911 Communications.
Sheriff: West Carroll Parish Sheriff’s Office – 305 East Main Street, First Floor (Courthouse Building), Oak Grove, LA 71263 (P.O. Box 744) | (318) 428-2331 | Fax (318) 428-8889; Sheriff Scott D. Mathews, in office since July 1, 2020, a University of Louisiana Monroe graduate with 28 years as a Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Agent (including 10 as Lieutenant) before joining law enforcement; 19 regular deputies. West Carroll Parish maintains an Emergency Response Team for high-risk situations and partners with the FBI, DEA, and ATF on cases with federal implications.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-17 and LA Highway 2 cross at Oak Grove, the parish seat, in the far northeastern corner of Louisiana near the Arkansas border. West Carroll Parish, established March 26, 1877 when Carroll Parish split into East and West Carroll, is named for Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence and its only Roman Catholic signatory.
Notes: Agriculture (historically cotton, now largely corn and soybeans) and forestry remain the parish’s primary economic base.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: West Carroll Parish Courthouse – Oak Grove, LA.
Notes: West Carroll Parish is home to Poverty Point, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (designated 2014) featuring massive earthwork mounds and ridges built by Native Americans between roughly 1700-1100 BCE, near the village of Epps – among the most significant prehistoric archaeological sites in North America. Oak Grove’s Fiske Theatre, built in 1928, is the oldest operating movie theatre in northeast Louisiana and the last remaining single-screen theater in the region, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: West Carroll Parish Veterans Affairs – confirm current contact via louisiana.gov/local-louisiana/west-carroll-parish.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
West Carroll Parish Library (main branch, Oak Grove) – confirm current address/phone via the parish library system.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Poverty Point World Heritage Site, the Fiske Theatre, the West Carroll Parish Museum, and Poverty Point Reservoir (fishing and boating) are the parish’s premier attractions.
Notes: The genuine UNESCO World Heritage designation of Poverty Point is one of the most globally significant archaeological facts covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: West Carroll Parish Assessor’s Office – 305 E Main St, Oak Grove, LA 71263 | (318) 428-2371.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Town of Oak Grove Animal Services (Holding Pen) – Oak Grove, LA 71263 | (318) 428-3275; a small municipal holding facility. For broader parish-level animal matters, residents may also be directed to the Sheriff’s Office at (318) 428-2331.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: West Carroll Parish Police Jury Public Works – confirm current contact via louisiana.gov/local-louisiana/west-carroll-parish.
NOTES: West Carroll Parish is the third parish in the eleventh (final) batch of the Louisiana v2 A+ sourced standard. The genuine UNESCO World Heritage designation of Poverty Point is one of the most globally significant archaeological 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 West Carroll Parish County
West Carroll Parish is northeast Louisiana’s Bayou Macon and Delta cotton farming parish – the cypress-lined bayou and the flat alluvial Delta farmland define a community where Oak Grove serves the surrounding agricultural families in the northeast Louisiana interior near Arkansas and Mississippi.
Oak Grove (the parish seat, population ~2,000) is West Carroll Parish’s governmental hub on US 65, a northeast Louisiana Delta community whose cotton and soybean farming, Bayou Macon access, and courthouse anchor its identity near the Arkansas and Mississippi borders.
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West Carroll Parish Assessor at 305 E. Main Street, Oak Grove, LA 71263, phone 318-428-3471. LA assessed at 10% of fair market value.
Courts & Legal
West Carroll Parish District Court at 305 E. Main Street, Oak Grove, LA 71263, phone 318-428-3390, 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)
305 E. Main St., Oak Grove, LA 71263
(318) 428-2351
Genealogy
Parish-level record sources
West Carroll Parish Clerk of Court (succession/estate case files – see Succession section above).
Local societies
No dedicated West Carroll 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
West Carroll Parish 5th Judicial District Court, Clerk of Court 305 East Main Street, Room 101 (P.O. Box 1078), Oak Grove, LA 71263 (318) 428-3281 West Carroll Parish was founded March 26, 1877, named for Charles Carroll of Carrollton (the last surviving signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence), in northeastern Louisiana. Its seat, Oak Grove, is also its largest town. The 5th Judicial District also covers Franklin and Richland parishes.
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
305 E. Main St., Oak Grove, LA 71263
(318) 428-2331
SHERIFF / TAX COLLECTOR
305 E. Main St., Oak Grove, LA 71263
(318) 428-2331
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
REGISTRAR OF VOTERS (Elections)
305 E. Main St., Oak Grove, LA 71263
(318) 428-2351
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
West Carroll Parish Health Unit
(318) 428-3241
LA DCFS — Northeast Region
(318) 362-3263
LA Medicaid
(888) 342-6207
West Carroll Memorial Hospital
wcmhospital.com (Oak Grove — quality critical access hospital)
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: West Carroll 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: 11,000
Area: 361 sq mi
Established: 1877
Public Records
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