Louisiana Jury Duty Exemptions: Age 70, Medical, and Hardship

Louisiana jury duty exemptions fall into two tracks: an automatic exemption for residents aged 70 and older, and a waiver of up to 24 months that you can request for a qualifying medical condition or for extreme physical or financial hardship. Everything else — job inconvenience, a busy season at work, a planned vacation — has to clear a fairly high bar or it won’t excuse you.

The Automatic Exemption at Age 70

If you are 70 or older, you can decline to serve on a Louisiana state jury without petitioning a judge and without providing documentation. The Louisiana Supreme Court sets the categorical exemptions from jury service, and the age-based one is by far the most commonly used.¹ You simply notify the court in the manner your summons directs.

One caveat worth flagging early: this age-based opt-out applies to state juries only. It does not carry over to a federal summons.

Medical Waivers

If a physical or mental condition makes you unable to perform jury service, you can request a waiver for a defined period of up to 24 months.² The court expects a statement from a licensed physician that confirms the condition and estimates how long you’ll be unfit to serve.

The doctor’s statement is doing real work here, so it should be specific. A generic note saying you have a medical condition is thinner than a letter that identifies the condition, describes why it prevents you from sitting through court proceedings, and gives a time frame. The statute is blunt about what happens with weak paperwork: if the documentation isn’t satisfactory, the request will be denied.²

Hearing loss on its own is not a disqualification, and it isn’t automatically a basis for a medical waiver either.³ The question is whether your condition genuinely prevents you from serving.

Hardship Waivers

The second ground for a 24-month waiver is extreme physical or financial hardship. Louisiana defines this narrowly. You would need to show one of the following:²

You would have to abandon a person in your personal care because no substitute caregiver is available.
Serving would create costs that seriously disrupt your ability to cover basic living expenses.
You would suffer physical hardship because of an existing illness or condition.

Missing work, by itself, does not qualify.² The statute is looking for genuine hardship, not the ordinary disruption every juror experiences. That means the evidence matters. Judges review these requests one by one, and the stronger your supporting documents, the better your chances.

Useful documentation depends on the ground you’re asserting. For a caregiver claim, that might mean proof of guardianship or medical records showing the dependent’s condition and needs. For a financial claim, recent tax returns, pay records, or a budget showing that the loss of income during service would push you below basic living expenses. For a physical hardship tied to an existing illness, medical records and a physician’s statement.

How to Submit the Request

Timing is the part people get wrong. You need a ruling on your waiver request no later than the date you’re scheduled to appear for jury duty.² Waiting until the morning of your service date to raise the issue is a bad plan.

Contact the clerk of court’s office as soon as your summons arrives. The summons itself will identify the court and usually give instructions for submitting an excuse request. Send in your physician’s statement or your hardship documentation, keep a copy of what you filed, and follow up if you haven’t received a response as your reporting date approaches. If a waiver is granted, it can cover up to 24 months, meaning you won’t be called again during that window.

Who Is Ineligible to Serve at All

Some people don’t need a waiver because they don’t qualify for jury service in the first place. Louisiana requires all of the following:³

U.S. citizenship.
Residency in the summoning parish for at least one full year before the service date.
Age 18 or older.
Enough English to read, write, speak, and follow proceedings.
No legal finding of incapacity.
Not currently under felony indictment, incarcerated, or on probation or parole for a felony committed within the past five years.

That last item is often misstated. Louisiana does not permanently bar people with felony records from jury service. If your sentence and any probation or parole ended more than five years ago, you are eligible.³ If you don’t meet one of these baseline requirements, tell the court so through the summons response process; you shouldn’t be there to begin with.

What Happens If You Just Skip It

Ignoring a jury summons is treated as contempt of court. A judge can impose a fine of up to $50, up to three days in parish jail, or both, and that penalty applies to each missed appearance, so repeated no-shows stack.⁴ Some judicial districts have their own local fine amounts, but $50 is the statewide baseline. The court can also issue a bench warrant for your arrest.

Whatever your reason for wanting out of service, the waiver process is the right path. Silence is not a strategy.

Federal Jury Duty Is a Separate System

If your summons comes from a federal court in Louisiana rather than a state court, the state exemptions above do not apply. Federal rules require U.S. citizenship, age 18, English proficiency, and one year of residency in the federal judicial district, which covers a much larger area than a single parish.⁵

Two differences stand out for anyone hoping a state exemption will carry over. First, the age-based opt-out available at 70 in Louisiana courts does not exist at the federal level. Second, a felony conviction permanently disqualifies you from federal jury service unless your civil rights have been legally restored, with no five-year window.⁵

Federal law also bars several categories of people from serving: active-duty military and National Guard members, professional fire and police personnel, and full-time elected or appointed public officials.⁵ If you fall into one of those groups and receive a federal summons, that’s the ground to raise.

1
Justia. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Art 403 – Exemption From Jury Service
2
Justia. Louisiana Code 13:3042 – Exemptions From Civil Jury Service; Twenty-Four-Month Waiver of Petit Jury Service
3
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Art 401 – General Qualifications of Jurors
4
Justia. Louisiana Code 13:3049 – Cash Deposit; Bond; Duty to Attend; Compensation; Procedure; Filing Fees
5
United States Courts. Juror Qualifications, Exemptions and Excuses