Louisiana Divorce Laws: Residency, Waiting Period, Custody and Support

A Louisiana court can hear a divorce if, when the case is filed, at least one spouse is domiciled in Louisiana. If a spouse has lived in a Louisiana parish for six months, the law presumes that spouse is domiciled in Louisiana in that parish (the presumption can be challenged). The same rule applies to actions to annul a marriage.

Louisiana has a no-fault ground based on living separate and apart for a set period (180 days with no minor children, 365 days with minor children). A divorce can also be granted on proof that the other spouse committed adultery; committed a felony and was sentenced to death or imprisonment at hard labor; physically or sexually abused the spouse or a child of either spouse during the marriage; or had a protective order or injunction issued against them during the marriage to protect the spouse or a child. Covenant marriages have their own, narrower list of grounds (including two years of living apart) and require counseling first, except in abuse cases.

In a divorce filed under Civil Code Article 102, the required period must pass after the petition is served (or service is waived in writing), and the spouses must have lived separate and apart continuously for that period before the final motion (rule to show cause) is filed. The period is 180 days if there are no minor children of the marriage and 365 days if there are minor children. Under Article 103, the spouses must already have lived apart for the required period when the petition is filed; the fault-based grounds in Article 103 have no separation period.

Louisiana's usual no-fault path is the Civil Code Article 102 divorce: one spouse files a petition, the other is served or signs a written waiver of service, and after the 180- or 365-day period has passed while the spouses live separate and apart, a motion (rule to show cause) is filed asking the court to grant the divorce. Spouses who have already lived apart for the full period can instead file directly under Article 103(1). Covenant marriages cannot be ended by mutual consent.

Louisiana is a community property state. Property of married persons is either community or separate, and each spouse owns a present, undivided one-half interest in the community property. Separate property includes property owned before the community began; property received individually by inheritance or gift; property bought with separate funds (or mostly separate funds, where the community share is inconsequential); certain damages awarded to one spouse against the other; and things received through a voluntary partition of the community during the marriage.

The court may award interim spousal support during the divorce, based on need, the other spouse's ability to pay, child support, and the marital standard of living; it generally ends 180 days after the divorce judgment unless extended for good cause. Final periodic support may be awarded to a spouse who is in need and was not at fault before the divorce was filed. Factors include income and means, financial obligations, earning capacity, the effect of child custody on earning capacity, time needed for education or training, health and age, length of the marriage, tax consequences, and any domestic abuse by the other spouse. Final support generally may not exceed one-third of the payer's net income, but that cap does not apply, and a lump sum may be awarded, in certain domestic-abuse cases.

Custody is decided by the best interest of the child. If parents agree, the court follows their agreement unless the family-violence law (R.S. 9:364) applies or the child's best interest requires otherwise. Without an agreement, the court awards joint custody unless clear and convincing evidence shows custody with one parent is in the child's best interest. The court considers all relevant factors, with the potential for the child to be abused as the primary consideration, along with emotional ties, each party's capacity to care for the child, stability, moral fitness, substance abuse or violence history, health, the child's history, and the child's reasonable preference if the court finds the child old enough to express one. No specific age is set for the child's preference.

Louisiana uses an income shares model: the parents' adjusted gross incomes are combined, each parent's percentage share is figured, and the basic obligation comes from the statutory schedule based on combined income and number of children. The guideline amount is presumed correct, but a court may deviate if applying it would not be in the child's best interest or would be inequitable, and must give reasons. The Department of Children & Family Services offers an online Child Support Estimator, which it describes as an estimate only.

Not required statewide. A court may require parents in a custody or visitation case to attend a court-approved seminar on children's needs when the facts of the case warrant it. The seminar must last three to four hours and cost no more than $25 per person, with provision for those who cannot pay.

Spouses in a covenant marriage may obtain a judgment of separation from bed and board, after counseling (except in abuse cases), on grounds such as adultery, a felony sentence, abandonment for one year, abuse, living apart for two years, or habitual intemperance or cruel treatment. A court may award spousal support, custody, child support and other relief in that proceeding.

A marriage is absolutely null if it was contracted without a marriage ceremony, by proxy, or in violation of an impediment (an existing marriage, same-sex marriage as defined in the Civil Code, or close blood or adoptive relationship). No court declaration is required, but any interested person may ask a court to recognize the nullity. A marriage is relatively null when one party's consent was not freely given; only that party may seek to have it declared null, and not if they confirmed the marriage afterward. A party who married in good faith may keep certain civil effects of a null marriage (a putative marriage).

No. A marriage ceremony is a requirement of a valid marriage in Louisiana, and a marriage contracted without a ceremony is absolutely null.

Grandparents may be granted visitation if it is in the child's best interest when the parents are not married or living together as married, or have filed for divorce. Grandparents may also seek visitation if a parent has died, is interdicted, or is incarcerated, and, in extraordinary circumstances, if the married parents have lived apart for six months. The court must consider a fit parent's right to make decisions for the child, the length and quality of the relationship, whether the child needs guidance the grandparent can provide, the child's preference if mature enough, and the health of the child and grandparent.

Marriage does not change either spouse's legal name; a married person may use the surname of either or both spouses. A woman who is divorced may use her maiden name, her former spouse's surname, the surname of a present spouse, or any combination.

Child support for a child ends automatically, without any action by the paying parent, when the child reaches the age of majority or is emancipated. When one combined award covers two or more children, it ends when the youngest reaches majority. Support continues automatically for an unmarried child who is a full-time student in good standing in high school (or its equivalent), is under 19, and depends on either parent. On a motion filed before the child reaches majority, the court must continue support for a child with a developmental disability until age 22 while the child is a full-time secondary school student, and for a disabled child under the separate rules of R.S. 9:315.22.1. Parents can also agree to continued support.

You can apply for child support enforcement services from the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) online or by mail with the paper application (form CSE 101). There is a non-refundable $25 fee for full services, which is waived if you receive FITAP, KCSP or Medicaid; no action is taken until the fee is paid. Locate-only service costs $10 ($14 without the other parent's Social Security number). A $35 annual fee applies once the state has collected at least $550 in a federal fiscal year for a person who has never received FITAP.

DCFS Child Support Enforcement can collect support through income assignment (wage withholding); interception of state and federal tax refunds; interception of lottery, casino and sports betting prizes; suspension of occupational, professional, driver's, hunting and fishing licenses; suspension of motor vehicle registration; contempt of court hearings; and passport denial. DCFS says more than 65% of the support it collects comes through income assignment.

A support award can be changed only if the person asking shows a material change in circumstances that is substantial and continuing since the last award. A judgment for past-due support is not, by itself, a reason to lower support. In cases where DCFS provides services, a change of at least 25% under the guidelines is presumed to be a material change (unless the original award was a deviation from the guidelines and those circumstances have not changed), and DCFS will request a review when the child's best interest requires it, with the court able to adjust the award every three years if it differs from the guidelines. You can ask DCFS for a review online, by phone at 1-877-752-3237, through the CAFE portal, or by mailing a Request for Review form, or you can file a Rule to Modify Child Support directly with the clerk of the court that issued the order.

In a divorce or custody case, a court may grant an ex parte (without a hearing) temporary custody order only if a sworn petition or affidavit shows specific facts that the child will suffer immediate and irreparable injury before the other side can be heard, and the applicant's attorney certifies in writing the efforts made to notify the other party or why notice should not be required. The order expires within 30 days (it can be extended once for up to 15 days for good cause), must generally give the other parent at least 48 hours of visitation in every 15-day period, and a hearing must be set within 30 days. An order that does not follow these rules is void. Different rules apply to custody requested in domestic abuse protective order cases.

Louisiana Vital Records does not issue certified copies of divorce decrees. A certified copy must be obtained from the Clerk of Court in the parish where the divorce was granted.

Marriage licenses are issued by the clerk of court in each parish; in Orleans Parish, by the state registrar of vital records or a city court judge. Both parties sign a sworn application before a notary, deputy clerk or deputy registrar (they need not sign at the same time). The application must be accompanied by a certified copy of each party's birth certificate (or a judge's waiver order) and a valid driver's license, government ID, or passport (or unexpired visa with Form I-94); minors also need the required consent and court authorization. The ceremony may not take place until 24 hours after the license is issued, though a judge or justice of the peace may waive the delay for serious reasons. The license is valid for 30 days from issuance, and two adult witnesses must attend the ceremony.

No marriage license may be issued to, and no ceremony performed for, a minor under 16. A 16- or 17-year-old may marry only with both written consent (from both parents, the tutor, or the person awarded custody) and judicial authorization. A judge may authorize the marriage only for a compelling reason and after considering the minor's best interest at a hearing in chambers, including separate interviews and an inquiry into trafficking, abuse or coercion. No license may be issued to a 16- or 17-year-old if the age difference between the parties is three years or more. A 16- or 17-year-old is fully emancipated by marriage.

Louisiana has three types of child adoption: agency, private and intrafamily. In agency and private adoptions, a single person 18 or older, or a married couple jointly, may petition. A private adoption requires a preplacement home study by a licensed professional, leading to a certification for adoption completed within 12 months before placement, plus criminal and child abuse records checks. Consent or relinquishment is required from the mother, the legal or presumed father, an alleged or biological father who has established his parental rights, and any custodial agency, unless parental rights were terminated. The case is filed in juvenile court, generally in the parish where the petitioner or the child's custodian is domiciled.

A stepparent may file an intrafamily adoption if related to the child through the mother or a legally filiated father, is over 18 (a married petitioner's spouse joins unless the spouse is the child's parent who consents), and has had legal or physical custody for at least six months before filing. A parent may consent by authentic act; a parent married to the stepparent who signs one need not join the petition. The other parent's consent can be dispensed with on clear and convincing proof that, without just cause, for at least six months that parent failed to pay court-ordered support or failed to visit or communicate with the child. Criminal and child abuse records checks are ordered on filing, but the department investigates (home study) only if the court orders it.

Louisiana calls guardianship of a child "tutorship." An unemancipated minor is placed under a tutor after the parents' marriage ends by death or divorce, or separation. There are four kinds: tutorship by nature (a parent), by will, by effect of law, and by court appointment. If no tutor was named by the last-dying parent, the judge appoints from qualified grandparents and other ascendants, blood relatives within the third degree, and the surviving spouse of the last-dying parent, whoever is in the minor's best interest. The petition is filed in district court, generally in the parish where the surviving or custodial parent is domiciled or where the minor lives.

Louisiana's adult guardianship is called "interdiction." A court may order full interdiction of an adult (or emancipated minor) who, because of an infirmity, cannot consistently make reasoned decisions about his person and property or communicate them, and whose interests cannot be protected by less restrictive means; limited interdiction covers only certain aspects of the person's care or property. Any person may file a verified petition in district court, and it must describe efforts to use less restrictive means and why they are insufficient. The court appoints a curator who must act in the interdict's best interest; a limited curator gets only the powers needed. Temporary or preliminary interdiction is available when harm is imminent.

A man may acknowledge a child not filiated to another man by authentic act (a notarized acknowledgment); before signing, the notary must explain rights, including the right to genetic testing and to consult a lawyer. Either signer may revoke the acknowledgment without cause within 60 days of signing, by filing a sworn revocation form with the Louisiana Department of Health's office of vital records or in a court hearing (or earlier, at a court hearing about the child where the signer is a party). After that, it can be annulled only on clear and convincing proof of fraud, duress, material mistake of fact or error, or that the signer is not the biological father; the court then may order genetic testing. A paternity suit can also be filed to establish paternity.

An adult files a petition in the district court of the parish where he lives, the parish of birth, or the parish of venue for the Vital Records Registry, stating the reasons for the change. The case proceeds against the district attorney, who represents the state and must be served. If granted, the new name becomes the person's lawful name once the judgment is recorded in the parish records, and a Louisiana-born person can give a certified copy to the state registrar to update the birth record. The applicant pays the costs. A person convicted of a felony cannot petition until the sentence is satisfied, and people convicted of certain listed felonies cannot petition at all.

Louisiana has three kinds of emancipation: judicial emancipation, emancipation by marriage, and limited emancipation by authentic act. A court may order full or limited emancipation for good cause for a minor 16 or older; the minor, the parents (or tutor), or both jointly may file a verified petition stating the reasons. Full judicial emancipation gives all effects of majority unless the law provides otherwise; limited emancipation gives only the effects named in the judgment. A 16- or 17-year-old is fully emancipated by marriage. A notarized (authentic) act signed by a minor 16 or older and the parents or tutor can give the minor capacity for specified kinds of legal acts.

The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) Child Support Enforcement program establishes, enforces and manages child support orders statewide and offers IV-D (state) and Non-IV-D (private) case services. Apply online through the LA CAFÉ self-service portal or the online application form, or by mail with the paper application (English or Spanish). LA CAFÉ also lets parents view case details, message their caseworker and check payment information. Customer service and payment/balance information: 1-877-7LA-DCFS (1-877-752-3237).

The Louisiana Department of Children & Family Services (DCFS) offers the Louisiana Child Support Estimator, with two online worksheets: a standard Child Support Worksheet and a Child Support Worksheet (Shared Custody). DCFS says the tool gives "an idea of how much money you might need to pay or get," that what you see "are not the official court records and might not be correct," that it is not a replacement for talking to a lawyer, and that "the Judge has the power to decide how much money needs to be paid." Read the Louisiana Child Support Guidelines (R.S. 9:315 et seq.) as well.