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Louisiana Family Court: Custody and Parenting-Time Guide

Plain-language Louisiana information for a custody or parenting-time route, including filing, official forms, free help, fee waivers, and legal-cost context.

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This page provides general legal information, not legal advice. State law, court rules, forms, and local procedures can change. Confirm current requirements with the court handling the case.

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Find the right family court

The custody or parenting-time route described in this guide is handled through the The Family Court of East Baton Rouge Parish. Other family-law matters can follow a different court or procedure.

Find the court for your area.

  • This draft uses the local Family Court of East Baton Rouge Parish route only. Its custody packet says it was prepared by that court's Self-Help Resource Center for use in that court, not throughout Louisiana.Sources:R.S. 13:1401, Petition to Establish Custody

How Louisiana courts decide custody

Louisiana Civil Code article 134 says the court considers all relevant factors in determining a child's best interest, with potential abuse the primary consideration.Sources:Civil Code Article 134

  • When parents do not agree, Civil Code article 132 generally directs joint custody unless sole custody is shown by clear and convincing evidence to serve the child's best interest, subject to R.S. 9:364.Sources:Civil Code Article 132

Key legal sources

Parenting time

Louisiana law uses custody and visitation. A parent not granted custody or joint custody is entitled to reasonable visitation unless the court makes the article's qualified best-interest finding after a hearing.Sources:Civil Code Article 136

  • In a joint-custody proceeding, R.S. 9:335 generally requires an implementation order allocating physical-custody periods unless good cause is shown.Sources:R.S. 9:335

Key legal sources

How to file

This draft is limited to a parent's initial request to establish a custody order in the Family Court of East Baton Rouge Parish when no custody order is in place. It excludes divorce, modification, enforcement, emergency, interstate, nonparent, child-in-need-of-care, adoption, guardianship, and every other parish or specialized-court route.Sources:Petition to Establish Custody, Self-Help Center

  1. Confirm that the local route fits

    The court's packet is for establishing a custody order for the first time in the Family Court of East Baton Rouge Parish. The packet and these instructions do not cover the excluded routes.Sources:Self-Help Center, Petition to Establish Custody

  2. Prepare the packet's petition, verification, and local order pages

    The court's Petition to Establish Custody packet includes a petition, a notarized verification, and an order page with service information. The court's instructions direct the filer to complete the packet and file the original forms with the clerk's Suit Accounting office.Sources:Petition to Establish Custody, Petition to Establish Custody Form Packet Instructions

  3. Check the court's UCCJEA-information requirement before filing

    Louisiana law requires each party's first pleading or attached affidavit to provide specified child-custody information when reasonably ascertainable. The court's Form P says it is required when a minor child was born or has lived outside Louisiana. The packet does not resolve whether Form P or another attachment is needed in every in-state case, so confirm that point with the court before filing.Sources:R.S. 13:1821, Information to be submitted to court, Form P UCCJEA Information Form

  4. Use the local fee form only when requesting advance-cost relief

    The court's instructions say a filer who cannot prepay costs may request pauper status and file the separate local Form J. Article 5181 establishes the advance-cost privilege; it does not make costs disappear.Sources:Petition to Establish Custody Form Packet Instructions, Form J Motion to Proceed In Forma Pauperis, Code of Civil Procedure Article 5181

Official forms

Open the official forms portal.

  • The Family Court of East Baton Rouge Parish publishes an Establish Custody packet and instructions only for that court. The court separately publishes local forms, including Form P and Form J; do not use this local portal as a statewide Louisiana forms source.Sources:Self-Help Center, Orders and Forms

Free court self-help

Find court self-help near you.

Fee waivers

For this East Baton Rouge route, Article 5181 allows a person unable to pay court costs because of poverty and lack of means to seek to proceed without paying costs in advance, subject to the article's exceptions.Sources:Code of Civil Procedure Article 5181

Who may qualify

  • The local Form J asks for financial information and supports a request to proceed without advance costs. It is a local Family Court form, not a statewide custody form.Sources:Form J Motion to Proceed In Forma Pauperis

What to do

  1. File the local Form J with an advance-cost request

    The court's custody instructions say a person who cannot prepay costs may request pauper status and must file the separate pauper form. The court decides the request under the local form and Article 5181 framework.Sources:Petition to Establish Custody Form Packet Instructions, Form J Motion to Proceed In Forma Pauperis, Code of Civil Procedure Article 5181

Official fee-waiver forms

Key statute or rule

Attorney cost benchmark

Lawyer fees vary by county, experience, services, and the facts of a case. This state benchmark is context for planning, not a quote.

State and local details to confirm

Part of Family Law in Your State.