Article 103 contains the immediate causes for divorce. The no-fault basis requires that the parties have lived separate and apart continuously without reconciliation for the requisite period of time as per La. C.C. art. 103.1. The remaining grounds allow for an immediate fault-based divorce:

• The other spouse has committed adultery. 
• The other spouse has committed a felony and has been sentenced to death or imprisonment at hard labor.
• During the marriage, the other spouse physically or sexually abused the spouse seeking divorce or a child of one of the spouses, regardless of whether the other spouse was prosecuted for the act of abuse.
• After a contradictory hearing or consent decree, a protective order or an injunction was issued during the marriage against the other spouse to protect the spouse seeking the divorce or a child of one of the spouses from abuse.1

Note that under La. C.C. art. 103(5), a stepparent spouse can obtain an Article 103 divorce based upon obtaining a protective order or injunction filed for the purpose of protecting the stepchild from abuse by the spouse who is the child’s biological parent. 

• 1Stay away orders instituted as a condition of release from prison or jail are considered protective orders for the purpose of protection from domestic violence. State v. Kumar, 46,056, p. 9 (La. App. 2 Cir. 3/2/11), 58 So. 3d 544, 551.

Adultery can be proven by direct, indirect, or circumstantial evidence.1 However, “if circumstantial evidence alone is relied upon, then the proof must be so convincing as to exclude any other reasonable hypothesis but that of guilt of adultery.”2

Many attorneys elect not to file for divorce based on adultery due to the additional expense of litigation. The attorney will often have to hire a private investigator or pursue testimony from the litigants’ friends who “don’t want to get involved.” Moreover, the length and cost of the trial can be prohibitive as such trials devolve into a he-said, she-said. 

• 1Tidwell v. Tidwell, 49,512 (La. App. 2 Cir. 11/19/14), 152 So.3d 1045.
• 2Id.

Conviction of a felony is another basis for immediate divorce.1 A divorce may be granted because of a spouse’s felony conviction even if the conviction is on appeal or the sentence is suspended.2 A guilty plea to a felony is a conviction that will entitle a spouse to an Article 103(3) immediate divorce.3 A felony conviction that predates the marriage is not cause for an immediate divorce.

• 1La. C.C. art. 103(3).
• 2Kitchen v. Kitchen, 480 So.2d 494 (La. App. 5 Cir. 1985).
• 3Scheppf v. Scheppf, 430 So.2d 370 (La. App. 3 Cir. 1983).

Domestic violence is also grounds for an immediate divorce.1 This manual’s chapter on Louisiana’s laws concerning domestic violence contains detailed discussion, including practical and strategic considerations.2

• 1 La. C.C. art. 103(4)–(5).
• 2For this discussion, see Section 7 of this manual’s chapter on representing survivors of domestic violence.

Petitions for divorce under Article 103 must contain the following:

1. Allegations of jurisdiction, domicile of the parties, and venue
2. Name of defendant, where domiciled and of the age of majority
3. Date and location of marriage and place of last matrimonial domicile 
4. Legal grounds for the divorce
5. Statement that the parties did not contract a covenant marriage
6. Statement that the defendant is not a member of the armed forces of the United States or its allies
7. Names, birthdates, and ages of children of the marriage, if any
8. Requests for ancillary matters such as custody, child support, spousal support, injunctive relief, protective orders, exclusive use of community property (including, money from the community for necessary expenses such as food, housing if spouse is destitute, or exclusive use of the community vehicle if petitioner needs transportation to get to work, etc.), and return of personal property. The pleading may also request an injunction against disposal/encumbrance of community property or that a partition of community property be commenced.

If your client does not anticipate that the opposing party will actively contest the divorce, it is often in your client’s best interest to file a “plain vanilla” divorce petition. By doing so, you do not risk creating problems that may delay the relief the client is asking from the court. The author’s opinion is that you don’t start a fire where none exists. Practicing family law is not so much about winning as it is about mitigating the damage that divorce so often causes to the family, especially, the children. 

As part of the 2021 changes to the default judgment process, the legislature extended the time for filing an answer from 15 to 21 days after service.1 If the defendant filed a pre-answer exception, the time period for filing an answer following an overruling or deferral to the merits or following a sustaining of the exception and ordering an amended complaint was extended from 10 to 15 days.2 The law retained the provision allowing 30 days to answer when the plaintiff served a discovery request along with the petition.3

If an Answer (with or without an affirmative defense) has been filed, the divorce will have to be tried contradictorily against the defendant or the curator, as applicable. If the defendant does not file an answer, you may elect to seek a default judgment.4

• 1La. C.C.P. art. 1001(A).
• 2La. C.C.P. art. 1001(B).
• 3La. C.C.P. art. 1001(A).
• 4For a more complete discussion of obtaining a divorce by default judgment, see Section 3.7.

A standard motion for summary judgment may not be used to obtain a divorce judgment. However, a summary judgment or judgment on the pleadings may be granted in an Article 103(1) divorce where both parties are represented by counsel, an Answer has been filed, counsel for each party file a written joint stipulation of facts, request for judgment, and sworn verification by each party and a proposed judgment with a certificate that counsel and each party agree to the terms of the judgment.1

• 1La. C.C.P. art. 969(B).