Louisiana

Statutory framework; factor structure: 14.

Authority

La. Civ. Code Ann. art. 134; La. Rev. Stat. § 9:335(A)(2)(b) (2026)

Source framework

Statutory

Factor structure

14

Operative language

shall

Catch-all language

preamble

Presumptions in the original survey

Where joint custody is decreed, physical custody is to be shared equally unless the court determines equal sharing is not feasible or not in the child’s best interest (R.S. 9:335(A)(2)(b), as amended by Act 605, effective August 1, 2026).

Scope, exceptions and safeguards

Child's voice / age rule

none

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Ordinary marriage: continuous separation for 180 days without minor children or 365 days with minor children. Article 103(1) uses separation completed before the petition. Article 102 uses a post-service or written-waiver procedure.

Authority

La. Civ. Code arts. 102, 103, 103.1 ; La. R.S. 9:272, 9:307

Grounds without a misconduct showing

Ordinary marriage: continuous separation for 180 days without minor children or 365 days with minor children. Article 103(1) uses separation completed before the petition. Article 102 uses a post-service or written-waiver procedure.

Other grounds and proof conditions

Adultery, felony conviction with sentence to death or hard labor, physical or sexual abuse of the spouse or a child of either spouse, and a qualifying protective order or injunction after a contradictory hearing or consent decree. Covenant rules appear below.

Separation

180 or 365 days. Physical separation must be considered with intent to end the marital association. Adams v. Adams, 408 So. 2d 1322, 1325–28 (La. 1982), construed the predecessor law. Succession of Le Jeune, 221 La. 437, 59 So. 2d 446, 449 (1952), described the separate-abode rule in a property dispute. Neither establishes a Maryland-style statutory permission for ordinary same-house separation.

Timing

For article 102, the required period follows service or written waiver before the rule to show cause. The article 103(1) period precedes filing. Other article 103 grounds do not carry that separation requirement.

Relief without dissolution

Only inside covenant marriage, La. R.S. 9:307(B) ; none for standard marriage

Covenant marriage: separate rules

Louisiana, La. Rev. Stat. § 9:307: adultery, a felony sentence to death or hard labor, one-year abandonment with refusal to return, qualifying physical or sexual abuse, two years apart, and specified periods after a separation judgment. The ordinary post-separation-judgment period is one year, generally 18 months with minor children, with the statutory abuse exception. Counseling requirements and the abuse exception must be read with the ground invoked. The bed-and-board list is distinct. [19]

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Statutory relocation factors. On the moving parent. 60 days; exceptions apply.

Authority

La. R.S. 9:355.1 to 9:355.17

Court test

statutory relocation factors

Burden classification

burden on the relocating parent

Notice classification

yes

Trigger classification

mileage threshold

Effect of silence

yes

What the court weighs

Court considers all relevant factors on best interest, including the 12 listed in 9:355.14(A) (relationships, age and needs, feasibility of preserving the relationship, child's views, pattern of promoting or thwarting, quality of life, reasons, employment and economics, objector's financial compliance, feasibility of objector's relocation, substance abuse or violence, other). Court may not consider whether the mover would relocate without the child if denied or whether the objector would also move (355.14(B)). 2012 revision comment (a) to 9:355.10, as quoted in Owens v. Owens, 140 So. 3d 865 (La. App. 3 Cir. 2014) and Narcisse-Thomas (2024): 'there is no presumption in favor of or against relocation.'

Who carries the burden

For relocation contested under R.S. 9:355.7, the person proposing the move must prove good faith and the child’s best interest by a preponderance on contradictory hearing (R.S. 9:355.10, revision comment (a); Narcisse-Thomas). Gathen, citing Curole, called that allocation a very heavy burden, placing no relocation burden on the nonrelocating parent. A separate request to modify custody is subject to the applicable modification standard, including Civil Code art. 138; it is not resolved solely by the relocation burden.

Notice and safety exceptions

Yes. No later than the 60th day before the proposed relocation, by registered or certified mail return receipt requested or commercial courier, to the last known address of any person recognized as a parent and any other person awarded custody or visitation. Or within 10 days after the mover learns the required information if it could not reasonably have been known in time and the move cannot reasonably be delayed. Notice must include new address, date, reasons, proposed revised schedule, and a statement of the 30-day objection right.

Which moves trigger the rule

'Relocation' is a change in the child's principal residence for 60 days or more. Subpart applies to an intent to establish the child's principal residence outside Louisiana, or within Louisiana more than 75 miles from (a) the other parent's domicile if no custody order, (b) the child's principal residence at the most recent decree, or (c) a person entitled to object's domicile if no designated residence or equal custody. Exempt: express written agreement for relocation and specified protective/restraining orders. From January 1, 2027, miles are measured by the shortest distance publicly accessible by motor vehicle or public ferry from the child’s principal residence to the new intended residence (Act 287). The Act does not apply to relocation litigation pending on its effective date, but applies to any subsequent relocation after final disposition of that litigation. To the extent the Subpart conflicts with an existing custody order, it does not apply to that order's relocation terms (9:355.2(C) before January 1, 2027; 9:355.2(B) under Act 287 thereafter, subject to its applicability provision).

Objections and the effect of silence

Written objection by registered or certified mail or commercial courier within 30 days of receipt (9:355.7). No timely objection: the mover may relocate after giving notice (9:355.9), so silence effectively authorizes the move. Timely objection: mover must initiate a summary proceeding within 30 days. Approval only after contradictory hearing. No relocation pending final order absent written consent or a temporary order (355.11-355.12). Trial assigned within 60 days of the motion (355.13). Equal-physical-custody parents need not object. Mover needs court authorization or express written consent (355.4(B)). Non-parents may object only if awarded custody (355.8).

The modification threshold

Under R.S. 9:355.17, notice of a proposed relocation alone does not constitute a change warranting custody modification; relocation without prior notice where a custody order exists, relocation in violation of a court order, or a change in the child’s principal residence including below the threshold, may constitute one. When modification of a custody award is sought, Civil Code art. 138 supplies different tests depending on the decree and elapsed time; Gray applied the former considered-decree standard to a modification request in a relocation dispute. The effect of article 138 on a particular pending or prior judgment requires separate analysis.

Other qualifications

The mover alone carries a two-part good-faith and best-interest burden, and 9:355.14(B) bars asking whether the mover would stay if the child cannot go.

Enacted change, not yet effective on the survey date: Act 287 of 2026 specifies the shortest route open to a car or public ferry for measuring distance, beginning January 1, 2027. It does not change the 75-mile figure.

Burden summary

On the moving parent

Notice summary

60 days; exceptions apply

Trigger summary

out of state, or more than 75 miles in state

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