Injunctions under La. R.S. 9:372 are available to victims of abuse who are married to their abusers and are seeking divorce. The injunctions available under this provision are more generic and less specific than those available through other statutes and prohibit a “spouse from physically or sexually abusing the other spouse or a child of either of the parties.” The text of the statute includes no language about stay-away provisions or restricting other forms of conduct that are not already illegal.

These orders can be permanent, but must be issued prior to the divorce; additionally, if an injunction is not included in the divorce, prior injunctions issued under this statute may expire upon divorce.1  These injunctions, if granted at divorce, should be included in the divorce judgment and must also be reduced to a Uniform Abuse Prevention Order form for submission to the LPOR.

• 1Lawrence v. Lawrence, 02-1066 (La. App. 3 Cir. 3/5/03), 839 So. 2d 1201, 1203 (finding that an injunction may not be issued three years after divorce); Steele v. Steele, 591 So. 2d 810, 812 (La. App. 3 Cir. 1991) (finding that a pre-divorce injunction under predecessor statute expired upon divorce when not expressly continued in divorce judgment).

These injunctions, like all injunctions prohibiting abuse, are entered into the Louisiana Protective Order Registry and are a crime to violate.1  So, although these orders appear to only prohibit behavior that is already criminal, they do create additional criminal penalties for enforcement. In other words, a defendant who violates one of these injunctions could be charged with violation of the order and with any underlying crime committed during the violation.

• 1La. R.S. 14:79.