Protective orders in Louisiana.

Eighteen months — and the part that can last forever

Louisiana’s duration rule has two halves, and the second half is one of the most valuable provisions in any state on this site. Most people never hear about it.

So the ordinary ceiling is eighteen months, extendable after a hearing at which both sides appear. But then:

The no-contact core of a Louisiana protective order can be made indefinite. Not eighteen months. Not renewable every so often. Permanent, until a court says otherwise.

The indefinite portion is limited — it covers the direction to refrain from abusing, harassing or interfering with you. The other relief, such as housing, support or custody arrangements, stays inside the eighteen-month structure and is extended in the ordinary way.

This has to be asked for. A court will not make the order indefinite on its own motion if nobody has raised it. If you take one thing from this page, take that sentence.

The statutory relief

A Louisiana protective order can grant the relief listed in R.S. 46:2135 — the restraining provisions — and beyond that the court may order payment of temporary support or the provision of suitable housing, and may award temporary custody or establish temporary visitation rights.

The housing provision is worth noticing. It is not merely an order that the other person leave; it contemplates the court requiring that suitable housing be provided. If where you will sleep is the thing standing between you and leaving, that is a question the statute anticipates.

What a violation is, and what it carries

Louisiana grades violations steeply and attaches mandatory minimums that cannot be probated or suspended.

The offense is willful disobedience of an injunction, protective order, temporary restraining order or ex parte protective order after proper notice. It also covers disobeying a protective order from another state, stay-away orders imposed as conditions of bond or probation, and firearm possession in breach of a protective order.

A first conviction carries a fine of up to $500 and up to six months.

A second or subsequent conviction carries a fine of up to $1,000 and imprisonment of fourteen days to two years — and at least fourteen days of that must be served without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence.

Where the violation involves a battery or a crime of violence against the protected person, or possessing a firearm at their residence, school or workplace, the range is a fine of up to $1,000 and three months to two years, with a minimum of thirty days without benefits.

And where there has been a prior violation within five years, that becomes a fine of up to $2,000 and one to five years, with a minimum of one year without benefits.

Firearm possession is written into the violation offense itself. If the person subject to your order has a gun at their home, at your workplace or at a school, that is not a separate matter to be reported somewhere else — it is a violation of the order.

The things that are different here

The no-contact part of the order can be made indefinite. R.S. 46:2136(F)(2)(a). You have to ask.

Eighteen months is the ordinary ceiling for the rest of the order, extendable after a hearing.

Suitable housing and temporary support are among the relief a court can order.

Mandatory minimums that cannot be suspended — fourteen days on a second conviction, thirty days where there is violence or a firearm, a year where there is a prior violation within five years.

Firearm possession is itself a violation of the order, written into the offense.

Out-of-state orders are enforceable here and breaking one is the same offense.

Three categories — and a definition of abuse that borrows the whole criminal code

Louisiana’s definition of who is covered runs across three groups.

Family members are "spouses, former spouses, parents and children, stepparents, stepchildren, foster parents, foster children, other ascendants, and other descendants", together with the other parent or foster parent of any child of the offender. That takes in grandparents and grandchildren, and it takes in step-relationships and foster relationships.

Household members are people presently or formerly living in the same residence with the defendant who are in a sexual or intimate relationship with him — or any child of his, regardless of where the child lives.

Dating partners are covered by reference to R.S. 46:2151.

Louisiana also treats elder abuse committed by adult children or grandchildren as domestic abuse.

What counts as domestic abuse

The definition of the conduct itself is drawn extremely widely, and it is worth reading slowly:

Any offense against the person in the Criminal Code, with two exceptions. That is a far wider gateway than a list of named acts, and the phrase "physical or non-physical" is doing deliberate work: offenses that involve no physical contact at all are inside the definition.

The practical consequence is that in Louisiana the question is rarely "is this the kind of abuse the statute covers". It is "is what he did a criminal offense against the person" — and if it is, it almost certainly qualifies.

Delivery to law enforcement, on a finding of credible threat

Louisiana requires the restrained party to deliver any firearm in his possession, care, custody or control to a law enforcement agency where the court determines that a credible threat exists.

Two things follow. The obligation is triggered by a finding, so if firearms are a concern the evidence supporting a credible threat needs to be in front of the court. And the route is to a law enforcement agency, not to a dealer or a friend.

Separately, and independently of that finding, possessing a firearm in breach of a protective order is itself part of the violation offense under R.S. 14:79, as set out below.

The standard — R.S. 46:2135(A)

“Upon good cause shown in an ex parte proceeding, the court may enter a temporary restraining order, without bond …. Any person who shows immediate and present danger of abuse shall constitute good cause for purposes of this Subsection. The court shall consider any and all past history of abuse, or threats thereof, in determining the existence of an immediate and present danger of abuse. There is no requirement that the abuse itself be recent, immediate, or present.”

That last sentence is unusually generous and worth quoting to a judge if you are asked why you did not come sooner. Louisiana has legislated that the age of the abuse is not a bar.

Twenty-one days, or ten — R.S. 46:2135(B) and (D)

If the hearing is continued the court “shall make or extend such temporary restraining orders as it deems necessary”, and any continuance “shall not exceed fifteen days, unless good cause is shown.” The court may also grant an emergency TRO “outside regular court hours.”

How long the TRO lasts — and it is not in this statute

Section 2135 never says. The answer is in the Code of Civil Procedure, art. 3604(C)(1):

“A temporary restraining order issued in conjunction with a rule to show cause for a protective order … shall remain in force until a hearing is held on the rule for the protective order or for thirty days, whichever occurs first. If the initial rule to show cause is heard by a hearing officer, the temporary restraining order shall remain in force for fifteen days after the hearing or until the judge signs the protective order, whichever occurs last.”

Thirty days — not the ten days that art. 3604 gives ordinary TROs, because domestic abuse orders are carved out. It may be extended before expiry “for a period not exceeding thirty days.”

One more thing the clerk must tell you

R.S. 46:2135(J): on filing, whether or not a TRO is granted, the clerk “shall notify the petitioner of his right to initiate criminal proceedings and shall inform the petitioner that the granting of a temporary restraining order … does not automatically file criminal charges against the defendant.” The civil order and a prosecution are separate tracks, and getting one does not start the other.

The prohibition — R.S. 46:2136.3, and its two conditions

A person against whom a permanent injunction or protective order has issued is barred from possessing a firearm or carrying a concealed weapon for the duration if both of these are true:

“(1) The permanent injunction or protective order includes a finding that the person … represents a credible threat to the physical safety of a family member, household member, or dating partner. (2) The permanent injunction or protective order informs the person … that the person is prohibited from possessing a firearm pursuant to the provisions of 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(8) and this Section.”

Both, not either. A credible-threat finding without the notice does not do it, and notice without the finding does not either. Ask for the finding at your hearing and check the order carries the notice. Note also that this attaches to a permanent injunction or protective order — not to the ex parte TRO.

The surrender machinery — C.Cr.P. art. 1002

Louisiana puts the mechanics in the Code of Criminal Procedure, which is why people looking in Title 46 cannot find them. The court must, at the time it makes the order:

“(1) Require the person to state in open court or complete an affidavit stating the number of firearms in his possession and the location of all firearms in his possession. (2) Require the person to complete a firearm information form that states the number of firearms in his possession, the type of each firearm, and the location of each firearm. (3) Transmit a copy of the order to transfer firearms and a copy of the firearm information form to the sheriff.”

Then the clock:

“The court shall, on the record and in open court, order the person to transfer all firearms in his possession to the sheriff no later than forty-eight hours, exclusive of legal holidays, after the order is issued and a copy of the order and firearm information form … is sent to the sheriff.” If they are in custody, the 48 hours runs from release.

There is even a provision for guns already passed to someone else before the order: any such third-party transfer “shall be declared in open court”, and a proof of transfer executed with the third party and a witness within ten days.

Enforcement is by contempt, and separately under R.S. 14:79. And there is a safeguard that makes compliance likelier: “Information required to be provided in order to comply with the provisions of this Title cannot be used as evidence against that person in a future criminal proceeding, except as provided by the laws on perjury or false swearing.”

Finally, art. 1002(H): “On motion of the district attorney or of the person transferring his firearms, and for good cause shown, the court shall conduct a contradictory hearing … to ensure that the person has complied.” A compliance hearing exists. If the paperwork has not appeared, that is the route.

An order from one state works in all of them

This is federal law and it does not change at a state line. An order issued by one state, tribe or territory must be enforced by every other as if that state had issued it. And you do not have to register it in the new state first — registration is optional, not a precondition to enforcement.

The same section also says the enforcing state must not tell the restrained person that the order has been registered there unless the protected person asks it to, and must not publish anything online that would be likely to reveal the protected person’s identity or location.