Child Custody in Louisiana

Legal terms of art: joint custody and the domiciliary parent

Louisiana law generally favors joint custody over an outright sole-custody award. Joint custody means both parents share the rights and responsibilities of legal custody. Under La. R.S. 9:335, when the court orders joint custody, it must also designate a domiciliary parent, the parent the child primarily resides with. This applies unless the joint custody implementation order provides otherwise, such as in a true shared-time arrangement. The domiciliary parent has authority over decisions affecting the child's day-to-day life. Major decisions are still meant to be made jointly by both custodial parents.

Louisiana Civil Code article 134 lists the best-interest factors a court weighs. These include the love, affection, and other emotional ties between each party and the child; the capacity of each party to give the child love, affection, and guidance; the length of time the child has lived in a stable environment; the moral fitness of each party; the mental and physical health of each party; the willingness of each party to encourage a close relationship between the child and the other party; and the history of family or domestic violence.

Where and how a custody case starts

Custody actions are filed in the Louisiana district court for the parish where the action is properly venued. This is generally the parish where the defendant resides or where the family last lived together. Custody tied to a divorce is raised as an incidental matter in the divorce proceeding. Custody between unmarried parents can be established through a standalone custody action. This generally goes alongside establishing filiation, Louisiana's civil law term related to paternity, if that has not already been done. The Louisiana Supreme Court's Judicial Administrator's Office self-represented litigant resources point Louisiana residents to self-help and legal aid information for family law matters. Louisiana's parish-based district courts do not use one single uniform statewide packet of custody forms the way some states do.

The joint custody implementation order, mediation, and parent education

La. R.S. 9:335 requires that a joint custody order include a joint custody implementation order. This order allocates the time periods during which each parent has physical custody. The goal is that, to the extent feasible, both parents have physical custody for periods of substantially equal duration. The statute does not mandate a strict 50-50 split in every case. Louisiana district courts commonly order or make available mediation to help parents work out a joint custody implementation plan before a contested custody hearing. A number of judicial districts also require parents in a case involving minor children to complete a court-approved parent education seminar addressing the effects of separation and divorce on children. The specific requirement is set at the judicial district or parish level, not through one uniform statewide mandate.

Changing a custody judgment later

Louisiana courts apply different standards depending on how the existing custody judgment was reached. When the prior custody decision was a considered decree, meaning the court received evidence of parental fitness at a contested hearing, Louisiana's heightened Bergeron standard applies. The party seeking to change custody must prove that continuing the present custody arrangement is so deleterious to the child that a modification is justified. Or, they must show that the harm likely caused by a change in environment is substantially outweighed by its advantages to the child. When the existing judgment was entered by stipulation or consent rather than after a contested hearing, the ordinary standard applies instead. That standard requires a material change in circumstances since the judgment, and a showing that the proposed modification serves the child's best interest. A modification action is filed in the same district court that rendered the original custody judgment.