Practice Area · Family Law
Child Custody, Support & Visitation in Louisiana
Louisiana custody law is built around one standard — the best interest of the child — plus a detailed set of rules for sharing parenting time and calculating support. Here's how the Civil Code and Revised Statutes actually work, from the first custody order through what happens if a parent wants to move.
Custody Standards
How Louisiana Decides Custody
Louisiana law does not start by favoring either parent. Every custody decision — whether by agreement or court order — turns on a single question: what serves the best interest of the child.
In any proceeding for divorce or thereafter, the court must award custody in accordance with the best interest of the child (Art. 131). Except in family-violence cases, the court weighs all relevant factors under Art. 134, including:
- The potential for abuse of the child — the primary consideration
- The love, affection, and emotional ties between each party and the child
- Each party's capacity to give love, affection, spiritual guidance, and continue the child's education
- Each party's capacity to provide food, clothing, medical care, and other material needs
- The length of time the child has lived in a stable environment, and the desirability of continuity
- The permanence of the existing or proposed custodial home as a family unit
- The moral fitness of each party, so far as it affects the child
- The history of substance abuse, violence, or criminal activity of either party
- The mental and physical health of each party — a parent's history of being abused isn't held against them
- The child's home, school, and community history, and the child's reasonable preference if old enough
- Each party's willingness to foster the child's relationship with the other party, except where documented abuse concerns apply
- The distance between the parties' homes, and who previously handled the child's day-to-day care
Where the court finds a history of family violence or domestic abuse — as defined in R.S. 9:362 and R.S. 46:2132, including sexual abuse under R.S. 14:403 — custody and visitation are decided under R.S. 9:341 and 9:364 instead of the general factors above. A single incident must have caused serious bodily injury, or there must be more than one incident, before the court can find a history of family violence.
Who Gets Custody — La. C.C. art. 132
If the parents agree who should have custody, the court awards custody according to that agreement, unless R.S. 9:364 applies or the agreement isn't in the child's best interest. Absent an agreement — or where the agreement doesn't serve the child's best interest — the court awards custody to the parents jointly. A court will award sole custody to one parent only where clear and convincing evidence shows it serves the child's best interest.
Custody to a Non-Parent — La. C.C. art. 133
Custody goes to someone other than a parent only if an award to either parent — jointly or solely — would cause the child substantial harm. In that case, the court looks first to a person the child has been living with in a wholesome, stable environment, and otherwise to any other person able to provide an adequate, stable environment.
Visitation
Time With Both Parents
A custody order is rarely the end of the story — Louisiana law also protects the relationship between a child and the parent who wasn't awarded custody.
A Parent's Right to Visitation
Under La. C.C. art. 136(A), a parent who isn't awarded custody or joint custody is entitled to reasonable visitation, unless the court finds — after a hearing — that visitation wouldn't be in the child's best interest. Once a court-ordered visitation, custody, or timesharing schedule is in place, Art. 136.1 requires each parent to follow it: neither parent may interfere with the other's time with the child absent good cause shown.
Grandparents & Other Relatives
Under La. C.C. art. 136(B)–(D), when a child's parents aren't married or living together as if married, or have filed for divorce, a grandparent may be awarded visitation if the court finds it's in the child's best interest. Other relatives by blood or affinity, or a former stepparent or step-grandparent, may be granted visitation only in extraordinary circumstances — including a judicial finding that a parent is abusing a controlled substance. Before ruling, the court holds a contradictory hearing under R.S. 9:345 to decide whether the child needs a court-appointed attorney, and weighs the parent's constitutional right to raise their own child, the length and quality of the relative's relationship with the child, the child's need for the relative's guidance, the child's preference if mature enough, and the health of the child and the relative.
When Visitation Is Denied
Under La. C.C. art. 137, a parent who conceived the child through a sex offense as defined by R.S. 15:541 is denied visitation and contact with that child. A relative is likewise denied visitation and contact if the court finds, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the relative's intentional criminal conduct caused the death of the child's parent.
Joint Custody & Court Process
How Joint Custody Actually Works
Most Louisiana custody decrees are joint custody — but "joint" comes with its own rules for how time, decisions, and information get shared.
When the court decrees joint custody, it must also render a joint custody implementation order, absent good cause shown otherwise. That order allocates each parent's periods of physical custody so the child has frequent and continuing contact with both parents, and — unless the court finds it isn't feasible or in the child's best interest — physical custody must be shared as equally as possible. The order also designates a domiciliary parent (the parent with whom the child primarily lives) unless it provides otherwise, and must address continuing communication and custody if a parish, state, or federal emergency or disaster is declared. The domiciliary parent decides day-to-day matters affecting the child, subject to review by the court on the other parent's motion; those decisions are presumed to be in the child's best interest. If no domiciliary parent is named and the implementation order doesn't say otherwise, joint custody confers the same rights and responsibilities on both parents as under Title VII of Book I of the Civil Code.
The Duty to Confer — R.S. 9:336
Joint custody isn't just shared time. It obligates both parents to exchange information concerning the child's health, education, and welfare, and to confer with one another when exercising decision-making authority.
Access to a Child's Records — R.S. 9:351
A parent cannot be denied access to a child's records — including medical, dental, and school records — solely because they aren't the child's custodial or domiciliary parent.
Evaluations, Drug Testing & Parenting Classes — R.S. 9:331–9:331.3
For good cause, the court may order a mental-health evaluation of a parent or child by a licensed mental health professional (9:331), drug testing of a parent (9:331.1), or a formal child custody evaluation performed under the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts' guidelines (9:331.3). The court may also require the parties to complete a parenting-education program of at least three hours covering the developmental needs of children, the emotional effects of divorce, and co-parenting skills (9:331.2).
Mediation — R.S. 9:332
The court may order the parties to mediate their custody or visitation dispute, staying further proceedings for up to thirty days while they do. If the parties reach an agreement, the mediator prepares a signed, dated agreement, and a consent judgment incorporating it is submitted to the court for approval.
Relocation
Moving With Your Child After a Custody Order
Louisiana law puts strict notice and approval requirements on a parent who wants to relocate a child's "principal residence" — defined as a change of sixty days or more (R.S. 9:355.1) — whenever the move is out of state, or more than seventy-five miles away within Louisiana (R.S. 9:355.2).
Who may propose relocating — R.S. 9:355.3
A person designated as sole custodian or as domiciliary parent, a person sharing equal physical custody or equal parental authority under a current court decree, and a child's natural tutor are each authorized to propose relocating the child's principal residence.
Written notice is required — R.S. 9:355.4 & 9:355.5
The proposing parent must notify every other parent and any other person awarded custody or visitation, by registered or certified mail or commercial courier, at least sixty days before the move (or within ten days of learning the required information, in limited circumstances) — including the new address, the reasons for the move, and a proposed revised visitation schedule.
Objecting to the move — R.S. 9:355.7 & 9:355.8
Anyone entitled to object must do so in writing within thirty days of receiving notice. A non-parent may object only if they've been awarded custody; a non-parent with visitation instead petitions to revise the visitation schedule.
What happens next — R.S. 9:355.9 & 9:355.11
Without a timely objection, the parent may relocate after giving notice. With a timely written objection, the proposing parent must initiate a summary proceeding within thirty days and generally may not relocate the child, absent the objecting person's written consent, until the dispute is resolved by court order.
Burden of proof — R.S. 9:355.10
The parent proposing relocation carries the burden of proving the move is made in good faith and is in the child's best interest.
Child Support
How Louisiana Calculates Child Support
Louisiana uses the Income Shares Model: child support is a continuing obligation of both parents based on their combined income, sized so a child of separated parents can share in a standard of living similar to a child in an intact family (La. R.S. 9:315).
The amount produced by the guidelines is presumed to be the correct amount of child support. A court may deviate from it — with specific written or oral reasons in the record — where applying the guidelines wouldn't be in the child's best interest or would be inequitable to the parties, including because a party already owes support to other dependents, faces extraordinary medical expenses, or carries an extraordinary community debt. Where a party alleges income is being concealed or underreported, the court can consider evidence such as loans from a business the obligor controls, recent reductions in distributed income, and the obligor's actual standard of living and assets.
Calculating the Obligation — R.S. 9:315.2, 9:315.8 & 9:315.13
Each party files a sworn, documented income statement, and the court combines both parties' adjusted gross incomes to determine each party's percentage share. The basic obligation comes from the statutory schedule based on combined income and the number of children; if combined income falls below, between, or above the scheduled amounts, the court works from actual earnings, the imputed-income factors, or its own discretion consistent with Civil Code Article 141 — but never less than the schedule's highest listed amount. A worksheet totals the obligation, each party's share of it, and any credit for direct payments already made on the child's behalf.
What Gets Added to the Basic Obligation — R.S. 9:315.3–9:315.7
The total obligation typically adds: net child care costs tied to a parent's employment or job search (9:315.3); the child's health insurance premiums (9:315.4); extraordinary medical expenses over $250 per child per year (9:315.5); and other extraordinary expenses such as private school tuition, transportation between parents, or camps and lessons (9:315.6). Income the child earns can be deducted from the basic obligation — except income earned as a full-time student, or public-assistance benefits (9:315.7).
Shared & Split Custody Adjustments — R.S. 9:315.9 & 9:315.10
Where parents share physical custody in approximately equal time, the basic obligation is multiplied by 1.5, divided between the parents by income share, then cross-multiplied by the actual percentage of time the child spends with the other parent. Where each parent is the custodial parent of at least one child in the family, each parent computes a theoretical obligation for the child or children in the other's custody, and the parent owing the greater amount pays the other the difference.
Unemployment & Second Jobs — R.S. 9:315.11 & 9:315.12
If a party is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, the court can calculate support based on that party's earning potential — considering assets, job skills, education, health, the local job market, and similar factors — unless the party is caring for a child under five, is incapacitated, or is unemployed because of incarceration. A party who takes a second job or works overtime to support a later family may raise that as a defense to a request to modify support.
Special rules extend support for a child with a developmental or other disability, in some cases indefinitely past age eighteen, on proof — including certified medical records — that the child needs substantial care and personal supervision because of the disability. A child support judgment is generally effective retroactive to the date judicial demand was made, absent good cause shown otherwise. Support automatically terminates when the child reaches the age of majority or is emancipated — except that support continues automatically for an unmarried child who is a full-time student in good standing, under age nineteen, and dependent on a parent, and it can be continued further by the court for a child with a qualifying disability.
Emergency Relief
Ex Parte (Emergency) Custody Orders
Not every custody dispute can wait for a scheduled hearing. When a child faces a genuine emergency, Louisiana law lets a parent ask a judge to act immediately — before the other parent has even been notified. Because an ex parte order is granted without giving the other side a chance to be heard, the law surrounds it with strict limits, all built around a single, demanding standard.
An ex parte order of temporary custody of a minor child may not be granted unless it clearly appears from specific facts — shown by a verified petition or a supporting affidavit — that immediate and irreparable injury will result to the child before the adverse party or their attorney can be heard in opposition. That is the entire premise of ex parte custody relief: it exists for genuine emergencies where waiting for a hearing would itself put the child at risk — not as a way to gain an advantage over the other parent or to bypass their right to be heard.
Certification to the Court — Art. 3945(B)(2)
Before a judge signs an ex parte order, the requesting parent's attorney must certify to the court, in writing, either the efforts made to give the other parent reasonable notice of when the order will be presented, or the specific reasons notice should not be required. An ex parte order that doesn't meet these requirements — or any other formality of this Article — is unenforceable, and is null and void (Art. 3945(E)).
Built-In Expiration — Art. 3945(C)(1)
An ex parte order of temporary custody expires automatically thirty days after it's signed. It can be extended only once, for good cause shown, and only for up to fifteen additional days — it is never meant to substitute for a full hearing.
A Guaranteed Minimum of Visitation — Art. 3945(C)(2)
Even while an ex parte order is in effect, it must provide the other parent no less than forty-eight hours of visitation during any fifteen-day period — unless the verified petition or supporting affidavit clearly demonstrates that immediate and irreparable injury will result to the child from that visitation itself.
A Prompt Hearing, Win or Lose — Art. 3945(D) & (F)
The rule to show cause on custody, joint custody, or visitation must be set for hearing not more than thirty days after the ex parte order is signed. And if the judge denies the ex parte request in the first place, the court must specifically allocate time between the parents at that same hearing — unless, once again, immediate and irreparable injury to the child would result.
An Exception for Family-Violence Cases — Art. 3945(G)
These procedural requirements don't apply to a verified petition invoking the Domestic Abuse Assistance Act (R.S. 46:2131 et seq.), Children's Code art. 1564 et seq., or the Post-Separation Family Violence Relief Act (R.S. 9:361 et seq.) — those proceed under their own, separate rules.
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