Child Custody Laws in Louisiana: Joint Custody, Support, and Visitation

Child custody laws in Louisiana start from a single assumption: children benefit from meaningful time with both parents, so joint custody is the default when parents cannot agree. From there, a judge applies a fourteen-factor best-interest test, issues a detailed order spelling out who has the child when, and sets child support based on both parents’ incomes. The rules shift when family violence is in the picture, when a parent wants to move, or when someone wants to change an order already in place.

Joint Custody Is the Default

Under Louisiana Civil Code Article 132, if parents agree on custody the court honors their agreement unless it conflicts with the child’s best interest or a history of family violence applies. When parents cannot agree, the court defaults to joint custody. Both parents share decision-making authority and physical time with the child.¹

Legal custody is the authority to make major decisions about the child’s education, medical care, and religious upbringing. Physical custody refers to where the child actually lives day to day. A joint arrangement can split these in different ways. Both parents might share legal custody equally while one has the child most school nights.

Sole custody is possible, but the bar is higher than many people expect. The parent seeking it must show by clear and convincing evidence that awarding custody to them alone serves the child’s best interest. The statute does not require proof that joint custody would be harmful, just that sole custody would be affirmatively better by that elevated standard.¹

How Judges Decide: The Best Interest Factors

Louisiana Civil Code Article 134 lists fourteen factors a judge must weigh. No single factor automatically controls, with one exception: the statute designates the potential for the child to be abused as the primary consideration.² That ranking tells judges where to look first when evidence conflicts.

The remaining factors cover the ground you would expect:

The love and emotional attachment between each parent and the child.
Each parent’s capacity and willingness to provide food, clothing, medical care, education, and emotional guidance.
How long the child has lived in a stable environment and whether disrupting that continuity would cause harm.
Whether the proposed living situation is a lasting family unit or something more temporary.
Each parent’s moral fitness, but only to the extent it actually affects the child’s welfare.
Any pattern of substance abuse, violence, or criminal conduct.
The mental and physical health of each parent, with explicit protection that a parent suffering lingering effects of abuse by the other parent cannot be penalized for those effects.
The child’s ties to school, neighborhood, and social circle.
The child’s own preference, if the judge considers the child mature enough.
Whether each parent encourages a close relationship between the child and the other parent, unless legitimate safety concerns backed by evidence exist.
The distance between the parents’ homes.
Which parent has historically done the day-to-day work of raising the child.

The child-preference factor comes up constantly, and Louisiana handles it carefully. There is no specific age at which a child can “choose” where to live. Instead, the judge decides whether the child is mature enough for a preference to carry weight. When a judge does want to hear from a child, the interview typically happens in chambers rather than open court, which shields the child from choosing sides in front of both parents.² Even then, the stated preference is just one factor among fourteen and will not override the judge’s overall assessment.

When Family Violence Is in the Picture

A documented history of family violence flips the normal presumption. Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:364 creates a presumption that a parent who has perpetrated family violence or domestic abuse should not receive sole or joint custody. A court can find this “history” exists based on a single incident that caused serious bodily injury, or more than one incident of family violence.³ Article 134 reinforces this by directing courts to decide custody in violence cases under the RS 9:364 framework rather than the standard fourteen-factor test.²

When a parent with a violence history does receive visitation, the court can require supervision. Supervised visitation in Louisiana means face-to-face contact in the immediate presence of a court-approved supervisor, under conditions that prevent abuse, threats, intimidation, or humiliation. The rules are strict. Overnight visits and visits in the violent parent’s home are prohibited. The supervisor cannot be a relative, friend, or therapist of the violent parent. The abused parent can consent to a family member or friend of their own serving as supervisor, and can also request a police officer or other professional. The parent who committed the violence pays all supervision costs.⁴

What a Joint Custody Order Actually Looks Like

When a court awards joint custody, Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:335 requires the judge to issue a joint custody implementation order unless good cause exists to skip it. This is the detailed blueprint for how joint custody works day to day.⁵

The order must allocate specific time periods during which each parent has physical custody, ensuring the child has frequent and continuing contact with both parents. The statute goes further than many people realize: it directs that physical custody should be shared equally to the extent that equal sharing is feasible and in the child’s best interest. The order also divides legal authority and responsibility between parents, and it must include an emergency evacuation provision so both parents know the plan if a hurricane or other disaster forces an evacuation from the state.⁵

Visitation Rights

A parent who is not granted custody or joint custody is still entitled to reasonable visitation unless a court finds, after a hearing, that visitation would not serve the child’s best interest.⁶ Denying visitation entirely is rare and requires a specific judicial finding, not just one parent’s objection.

Louisiana also codifies a principle with real teeth: the child has a right to time with both parents. Once a court-ordered schedule is in place, each parent must follow it unless good cause exists for a change, and neither parent may interfere with the other’s scheduled time.⁷ Deliberately blocking the other parent’s time is the kind of conduct judges remember when modification petitions come up later.

Parenting Coordinators

When parents cannot follow their schedule without constant fighting, the court can appoint a parenting coordinator under RS 9:358.1. A judge can do this on a parent’s request or on the court’s own initiative, as long as a custody judgment (other than an emergency order) already exists. The initial appointment lasts up to one year, with possible one-year extensions. Both parents split the cost, though the court cannot appoint a coordinator if a parent has been granted pauper status or genuinely cannot pay.⁸

How Child Support Is Calculated

Louisiana uses the Income Shares Model, codified at RS 9:315 and the sections that follow. The premise is simple: children are entitled to share in the income of both parents, and the support amount should approximate what the parents would have spent on the child if the family had stayed together.⁹

The calculation works like this. Each parent’s monthly gross income is determined. Allowable deductions, such as preexisting child support or spousal support obligations, are subtracted to reach adjusted gross income. The two adjusted incomes are combined, and the court references a statutory schedule that estimates child-rearing costs at that combined income level for the relevant number of children. Each parent’s share is proportional to their percentage of the combined income. Two different worksheets exist: one for sole or joint custody, and another for shared custody where parenting time is approximately equal.

The guideline amount carries a rebuttable presumption of correctness. The court will apply it unless a parent demonstrates that the guidelines produce an unjust result.

Child support generally lasts until the child turns eighteen. If the child is still in high school at eighteen, support continues until graduation or age nineteen, whichever comes first. Support can extend indefinitely for a child with a physical or mental disability that prevents self-sufficiency. Obligations also end upon the child’s emancipation through marriage, military service, or court order.

Moving With the Child: Relocation

Moving a child’s primary residence triggers a separate set of requirements under Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:355.1 through 9:355.19. “Relocation” means changing the child’s principal residence for sixty days or more. There is no minimum distance threshold, so even a move across town can qualify if it lasts at least sixty days.¹⁰

A parent proposing relocation must send written notice by registered or certified mail at least sixty days before the planned move. The notice must inform the other parent that they have thirty days from receiving it to object in writing, also by registered or certified mail.¹¹

If the other parent objects, the parent proposing the move bears the burden of proving two things: that the relocation is made in good faith, and that it serves the child’s best interest.¹² A job transfer or family support in the new location can demonstrate good faith, but the parent must also show the child’s overall life will be better despite losing proximity to the other parent. Courts scrutinize these cases closely, and relocating without following the notice requirements can seriously damage a parent’s credibility with the judge.

Changing a Custody Order

Louisiana overhauled its modification standards in 2024 by codifying them in Civil Code Article 138. The standard you must meet depends on how the original order was established.¹³

Orders Based on an Agreement (Consent Decrees)

If the original order was based on the parents’ agreement rather than a contested hearing, it is a consent decree. Modifying it requires proof of a change in circumstances that materially affects the child’s welfare, plus a showing that the modification is in the child’s best interest. This is the lower of the two standards, reflecting the logic that an untested agreement deserves less protection than a decision made after a full trial.¹³

Orders After a Contested Hearing (Considered Decrees)

If the court issued its custody order after a full evidentiary hearing, the modification standard is considerably tougher. The parent seeking modification must prove one of two things: either that the current arrangement is so harmful to the child that modification is justified, or by clear and convincing evidence that the advantages of changing custody substantially outweigh the likely harm of the disruption.¹³ The higher bar exists because a judge already heard the evidence and made a decision, and the law protects children from being dragged through repeated litigation.

One detail often gets overlooked: parents can agree in writing to adopt either standard, or even a lesser one, for future modifications. That flexibility is built into the statute, and it is worth discussing with an attorney when negotiating the original custody agreement.¹³

Emergency Custody Orders

When a child faces immediate danger, a parent can seek an ex parte custody order, meaning the judge rules without the other parent being present. This is not a shortcut around normal proceedings. The requesting parent must demonstrate that the child faces an immediate and substantial risk of harm, or that the other parent is about to take the child out of state to avoid the court’s jurisdiction.

The process requires filing both a petition for custody and a separate motion for emergency relief, supported by a sworn affidavit detailing the emergency. Judges expect concrete evidence: police reports, medical records, photographs, or threatening messages. General complaints about the other parent’s lifestyle or parenting style will not clear the bar.

An ex parte order is temporary by design. It holds the situation in place until the court can schedule a full hearing where both parents present evidence, at which point the judge will decide whether to continue, modify, or dismiss the emergency order.

Unmarried Parents

Marriage is not a prerequisite for custody rights in Louisiana, but unmarried fathers face an additional step. An unmarried mother is legally recognized as the child’s parent at birth. An unmarried father typically needs to establish paternity first, either by signing a formal acknowledgment of parentage or through a court adjudication of filiation. Once paternity is established, that parent has the same right to petition for custody or visitation as a married parent.¹⁴

Louisiana also maintains a putative father registry through the Department of Health. Registering does not establish custody rights on its own, but it ensures the father receives notice of adoption or custody proceedings involving the child.

Grandparent Visitation

Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:344 lets grandparents petition for visitation, but only in specific situations. If a parent dies, is declared legally incompetent, or is incarcerated, the parents of that individual may seek reasonable visitation with the grandchild. The same applies when unmarried parents were living together and one dies or is incarcerated.¹⁵

Grandparents can also seek visitation when the child’s parents have been living apart for at least six months, but only if “extraordinary circumstances” exist. The statute gives one specific example: a court finding that a parent is abusing a controlled substance qualifies as extraordinary. In every case, the court must find that grandparent visitation serves the child’s best interest.¹⁵

Custody for Non-Parents

Louisiana Civil Code Article 133 addresses the rare situation where neither parent is a safe option. If awarding joint or sole custody to either parent would result in substantial harm to the child, the court can award custody to another person. The law prefers someone the child has already been living with in a stable, healthy environment. If no such person exists, the court can place the child with any other individual capable of providing adequate and stable care.

Mediation

Louisiana does not require mediation before a custody hearing, but judges have authority to order it under RS 9:332. The court can direct both parents to attempt mediation before the case proceeds, and it can pause custody proceedings for up to thirty days while mediation takes place. If the parents reach an agreement, the court divides the mediation costs between them. If mediation fails, those costs become part of overall court costs.¹⁶ In practice, many judges push mediation when parents seem capable of negotiating but have not tried, because a mediated agreement tends to hold up better than one imposed by the court.

1
Justia. Louisiana Civil Code Article 132 – Award of Custody to Parents
2
Justia. Louisiana Civil Code Article 134 – Factors in Determining Child’s Best Interest
3
FindLaw. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 9, Section 364
4
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:362 – Definitions
5
Justia. Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:335 – Joint Custody Decree and Implementation Order
6
Justia. Louisiana Civil Code Article 136 – Award of Visitation Rights
7
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Civil Code Article 136.1 – Award of Visitation Rights
8
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:358.1 – Appointment of Parenting Coordinator
9
Justia. Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:315 – Economic Data
10
Justia. Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:355.1 – Definitions
11
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:355.5 – Mailing Notice of Proposed Relocation Address
12
Justia. Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:355.10 – Burden of Proof
13
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Civil Code Article 138 – Modification of Custody Award
14
Child Welfare Information Gateway. The Rights of Unmarried Parents – Louisiana
15
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:344
16
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:332 – Custody or Visitation Proceeding; Mediation