Orleans Parish Bankruptcy Records

Orleans Parish bankruptcy records are filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in New Orleans and are available to the public under 11 U.S.C. § 107. Use this page to search, locate, and access those records online or in person.

Eastern District Bankruptcy Court in New Orleans

Orleans Parish falls under the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The clerk's office is at 500 Poydras Street, Suite B-601, New Orleans, LA 70130. The main phone number is (504) 589-7878. Office hours run Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. Chief Deputy Clerk Heather Rouchon oversees day-to-day clerk operations.

The Eastern District court at laeb.uscourts.gov provides full access to local rules, court forms, standing orders, and judge information. Electronic filing for attorneys is handled through the court's CM/ECF system at ecf.laeb.uscourts.gov. Case information for the public is available at laeb.uscourts.gov/case-information.

Filing fees for Orleans Parish cases are set by federal law under 28 U.S.C. § 1930. Chapter 7 costs $338 to file. Chapter 13 is $313. Chapter 11 business reorganizations carry a $1,738 fee, and Chapter 12 family farmer cases cost $278. Low-income debtors may qualify for a fee waiver if their income is below 150 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. Debtors can also request to pay the Chapter 7 fee in installments.

The Eastern District is one of the busier bankruptcy courts in Louisiana given the size of New Orleans. The court maintains a full docket of consumer and business cases. Dockets are tracked under Fed. R. Bankr. P. 5003, and all public documents are accessible through PACER. The court also operates public computer terminals at the Poydras Street courthouse for in-person record searches.

Orleans Parish Civil Clerk Offices

Orleans Parish has several distinct clerk offices that maintain different types of state-level records. This is different from most Louisiana parishes, where one clerk handles all court records. In Orleans, separate offices manage civil, criminal, mortgage, and conveyance records, and each has its own address and staff.

The Civil District Court Clerk is Dale N. Atkins. That office is at 421 Loyola Avenue, Room 402, New Orleans, LA 70112. The main website for this office is orleanscivilclerk.com. Civil court records include judgments, lawsuits, and related filings that may accompany or follow Orleans Parish bankruptcy cases in state court.

The Recorder of Mortgages is Desiree Charbonnet, located at 421 Loyola Avenue, Room B-1, New Orleans, LA 70112. The phone is (504) 592-9176 and the fax is (504) 592-9192. This office keeps records of mortgage liens, which are directly relevant to many Orleans Parish bankruptcy cases involving real property. The Register of Conveyances is Gasper J. Schiro at Room B-3, same building, reachable at (504) 592-9194, fax (504) 523-4320. That office tracks property ownership transfers.

The Orleans Parish Clerk of Criminal District Court is at 2700 Tulane Avenue, Room 114, New Orleans, LA 70119. The phone is (504) 658-9000. Criminal records can affect bankruptcy cases in limited ways, such as when fines or restitution orders appear as debts in a petition. Knowing where each clerk operates makes it easier to pull all relevant records for a complete picture.

The Orleans Parish Civil District Court Clerk at orleanscivilclerk.com maintains state civil court records for the parish, including judgments and lawsuits that may tie into Orleans Parish bankruptcy cases. Copy fees at the parish level are $0.50 per page. Certified copies cost $11. A $32 search fee may apply for manual lookups.

Searching Orleans Parish Bankruptcy Records

PACER is the main tool for finding federal Orleans Parish bankruptcy records. You can search by debtor name, case number, or Social Security number partial at pacer.uscourts.gov. The system shows dockets, petitions, schedules, motions, and court orders. Documents cost $0.10 per page, and accounts that accrue less than $30 per quarter are not charged.

The PACER Case Locator at pacer.uscourts.gov/find-a-case searches across all federal courts at once, which is useful for debtors who may have filed in multiple districts over time. The Eastern District's own case information page at laeb.uscourts.gov/case-information is another entry point for Orleans Parish case searches.

The Eastern District of Louisiana bankruptcy court at laeb.uscourts.gov handles all Orleans Parish bankruptcy cases. The court's case information page lets creditors, attorneys, and the public find Orleans Parish bankruptcy records without a PACER account for basic case lookups. Full document access requires PACER registration.

The McVCIS voice system at 1-866-222-8029 operates 24/7 and provides free basic case status. Call and enter case number or debtor name to get filing date, chapter, and current status. It is a quick check before going into PACER. Privacy protections under Fed. R. Bankr. P. 9037 apply to all Orleans Parish filings, limiting what personal data appears in public documents.

Filing Bankruptcy in Orleans Parish

Orleans Parish residents file at the Eastern District courthouse at 500 Poydras Street, Suite B-601, New Orleans, LA 70130. The office is open weekdays from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. Attorneys file through CM/ECF. Self-represented debtors can walk in with a completed petition and schedules or mail them to the courthouse. Credit counseling from an approved provider must be done first, and the certificate goes with the filing.

After filing, the court assigns a bankruptcy trustee and sets a 341 meeting of creditors. This meeting typically occurs within 21 to 40 days of the filing date. Debtors must attend and answer questions about their petition under oath. Creditors can attend and ask questions too, though most do not appear in simple consumer cases.

A debtor education course is also required before the discharge is issued. For Chapter 7, a discharge under 11 U.S.C. § 727 usually comes three to six months after filing. Chapter 13 plans run three to five years. Under 11 U.S.C. § 524, a discharge order eliminates personal liability for most pre-bankruptcy debts. All of these procedures apply to Orleans Parish cases filed in the Eastern District.

Cities in Orleans Parish

Orleans Parish and the city of New Orleans share the same boundaries. New Orleans is the only qualifying city in this parish and has its own dedicated page in this directory.

Nearby Parishes

These parishes border Orleans and are also served by the Eastern District of Louisiana bankruptcy court.