The rest of what we have written about Louisiana. Every figure is quoted from Louisiana’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.
Dividing property and money in a Louisiana divorce
The money picture for a divorce in Louisiana: how property gets divided, what Louisiana calls spousal support and how it is decided, whether one spouse can be made to pay the other’s legal fees while the case is running, and — the part nobody publishes — whether Louisiana’s own income tax follows the federal rule on alimony.
See a different stateLouisiana
Every claim is traced to Louisiana’s own statute, court rule or revenue department, quoted where the wording carries the meaning. Where we could not verify something, the page says so instead of filling the space. Information, not legal advice — and tax questions in particular need a professional in your state. Corrections: thecusp.app/corrections.
The short version7 points · tap one to jump to it
- Does Louisiana follow the federal alimony rule? — Since 2019, federal law has treated alimony as not deductible by the payer and not taxable to the recipient, for any instrument executed after 31 December 2018.
- How property is divided — Louisiana is a community property state.
- Spousal support (the Civil Code distinguishes 'interim spousal support' from 'final periodic support'; the older term 'alimony' no longer appears in the operative articles)
- Child support — Louisiana uses the income shares model — both parents’ incomes go into the calculation, and the result is apportioned between you.
- Who pays for the lawyers — Separately, if custody is contested you may be ordered to pay for a guardian ad litem or a custody evaluator, and the court decides how to split that.
- The thing worth knowing about Louisiana
- What we could not verify
In this subject 9
Does Louisiana follow the federal alimony rule?
The short version7 points · tap one to jump to it
- Does Louisiana follow the federal alimony rule? — Since 2019, federal law has treated alimony as not deductible by the payer and not taxable to the recipient, for any instrument executed after 31 December 2018.
- How property is divided — Louisiana is a community property state.
- Spousal support (the Civil Code distinguishes 'interim spousal support' from 'final periodic support'; the older term 'alimony' no longer appears in the operative articles)
- Child support — Louisiana uses the income shares model — both parents’ incomes go into the calculation, and the result is apportioned between you.
- Who pays for the lawyers — Separately, if custody is contested you may be ordered to pay for a guardian ad litem or a custody evaluator, and the court decides how to split that.
- The thing worth knowing about Louisiana
- What we could not verify
In this subject 9
Since 2019, federal law has treated alimony as not deductible by the payer and not taxable to the recipient, for any instrument executed after 31 December 2018. Most people assume every state followed. Most did. Not all.
Louisiana defines ‘adjusted gross income’ for state individual income tax purposes as ‘the adjusted gross income of the individual for the taxable year that is reportable on the individual’s federal income tax return’ (La. Rev. Stat. 47:293(1)) – a direct, self-updating (rolling) tie to whatever federal AGI actually is in a given year, with no fixed conformity date and no alimony-specific addition or subtraction in the statute’s modification list. Louisiana therefore follows the federal post-TCJA treatment automatically. The Department of Revenue confirmed this directly on 28 September 2026, and went further than the statute does on its face: Louisiana “simply piggybacks the federal AGI and there is no different Louisiana provision before or after January 1, 2019 for alimony.” That settles older orders as well as new ones.
So the federal answer is your answer: post-2018 instruments, no deduction and no inclusion, on either return.
Source: La. Rev. Stat. § 47:293(1) (Definitions – ‘Adjusted gross income’) · read it on Justia — a commercial publisher, not the state’s own site
Conformity: rolling – Louisiana AGI is defined as whatever is reportable as federal AGI on the individual’s federal return for that taxable year, with no separate fixed IRC-adoption date
Nationally: 37 states follow the federal rule, 9 have no income tax, and 4 are decoupled. The full fifty-state table and what each decoupled state does differently.
How property is divided
Louisiana is a community property state. Property acquired during the marriage is generally owned by both of you, and the starting point is a division of that community estate rather than an open-ended fairness inquiry.
The court shall divide the community assets and liabilities so that each spouse receives property of an equal net value.
Source: La. Rev. Stat. § 9:2801(A)(4)(b); see also La. Civ. Code art. 2336
Spousal support (the Civil Code distinguishes ‘interim spousal support’ from ‘final periodic support’; the older term ‘alimony’ no longer appears in the operative articles)
Louisiana calls it spousal support (the Civil Code distinguishes ‘interim spousal support’ from ‘final periodic support’; the older term ‘alimony’ no longer appears in the operative articles). Using the state’s own word matters when you are searching for forms or reading a statute.
hybrid – factors-based under Civ. Code art. 112(B), but art. 112(D) imposes a hard statutory cap: ‘The sum awarded under this Article shall not exceed one-third of the obligor’s net income,’ except when the divorce was granted on fault/abuse-related grounds, in which case the cap does not apply and a lump sum may be awarded.
the court may award interim periodic support to a party or may award final periodic support to a party who is in need of support and who is free from fault prior to the filing of a proceeding to terminate the marriage
Source: La. Civ. Code art. 111-112
Child support
Louisiana uses the income shares model — both parents’ incomes go into the calculation, and the result is apportioned between you.
Whichever model applies, this is the most predictable number in your case — there is a formula and a presumption that its output is correct. Deviating from it takes written findings. Run it early; it is free, and it anchors everything else.
Guideline: La. Rev. Stat. § 9:315.2 et seq. (Louisiana child support guidelines – schedule based on combined adjusted gross income of both parties, the defining structure of the income shares model)
Who pays for the lawyers
When the court renders judgment in an action to make executory past-due payments under a spousal or child support award … it shall, except for good cause shown, award attorney fees and costs to the prevailing party.
Source: La. Rev. Stat. § 9:375(A)
Separately, if custody is contested you may be ordered to pay for a guardian ad litem or a custody evaluator, and the court decides how to split that. What that costs in Louisiana, and who bears it.
The thing worth knowing about Louisiana
Louisiana bars final periodic spousal support entirely to a spouse who was at fault in the breakup prior to the divorce filing (Civ. Code art. 111, 112(A): the claimant must be ‘free from fault’) – one of the few states where marital fault operates as an absolute disqualifier for support rather than just one discretionary factor – and separately caps any final award at one-third of the payor’s net income except in fault/abuse-based divorces.
What we could not verify
For Louisiana, we could not confirm the following from a primary source. We would rather print the gap than fill it:
- whether interim fee awards are available
If you practice in Louisiana and can point us at the right provision, tell us. Corrections are published with the date, what changed, and how long the error was live.