Relief includes ex parte temporary restraining orders and protective orders. The court may order a temporary restraining order and, after a contradictory hearing, a protective order. The temporary restraining order may be entered upon a showing of good cause and without the need for a bond to be placed with the court.1 A showing of “immediate and present danger of abuse” constitutes good cause.2
Courts have significant discretion in fashioning relief for victims of abuse. Title 46 authorizes courts to enter any protective order that will “bring about a cessation of abuse.”3 This provision gives courts significant latitude in fashioning orders, and Louisiana’s courts of appeal have consistently affirmed orders that expand relief beyond that specifically enumerated in the statute.4
Available relief under the statutes includes, but is not limited to, the following:
Temporary Restraining Order, La. R.S. 46:2135
- Prohibiting abuse, harassment, contact, or interference of the petitioner.
- Prohibiting an abuser from going near the residence and place of employment of petitioner and minor children.
- Awarding possession and use of jointly owned or leased property such as an automobile.
- Awarding possession and use of the residence or household to petitioner and evicting defendant unless the residence is (1) solely owned by defendant or (2) solely leased by the defendant and the defendant has no duty of support to the protected person or party.
- Prohibiting either party from transferring, encumbering, or disposing of property mutually owned or leased by the parties, except in the ordinary course of business or as necessary for the support of the party or the minor children.
- Awarding temporary custody of minor children or persons alleged to be incompetent.
- Awarding or restoring to the petitioner possession of all separate property and all personal property and restraining the defendant from transferring, encumbering, concealing, or disposing of personal property of the petitioner.
- Allowing a party to return once to the residence, escorted by law enforcement, to retrieve personal clothing and necessities.
- Granting the petitioner exclusive care, possession, or control of any pets that belong to or are under the care of the petitioner and the minor children who live in the household of either party and prohibit the defendant from harassing, interfering with, abusing, or injuring a pet held by either party or a minor child.
Protective Order, La. R.S. 46:2136
- Granting the same relief available with a temporary restraining order.
- Awarding temporary support (where there is a duty of support) or the provision of suitable housing or granting the petitioner possession of the residence to the exclusion of the defendant.
- Defendant may be evicted from a residence solely owned by the defendant and possession given to the petitioner, if the petitioner has been awarded temporary custody of minor children born to the parties.5
- Awarding temporary custody or establishing temporary visitation.
- Ordering a medical or mental health evaluation (or both) of the perpetrator of abuse.
- If an evaluation is ordered, it shall be conducted by an independent court-appointed evaluator qualified as an expert in domestic abuse.
- After the medical evaluation, a court may order counseling or other medical treatment.
- Ordering the defendant to pay all court costs, attorney fees, costs of enforcement and modification proceedings, costs of appeals, evaluation fees, and expert witness fees.6
- Ordering defendant to pay all costs of medical and psychological care for abused adult and children necessitated by domestic violence.7
Remember that these lists are non-exclusive and that the court may order a wide range of additional forms of relief if it will lead to a cessation of abuse.
- 1La. R.S. 46:2135(A). Other temporary restraining orders generally require that a monetary bond be filed into the registry of the court.
- 2Id.
- 3La. R.S. 46:2136(A).
- 4See McCauley v. McCauley, 2020-27, p. 27 (La. App. 3 Cir. 10/21/20), 305 So. 3d 981, 997 (granting wife exclusive possession of husband’s separately owned residence for an 18-month period, pursuant to protective order against husband, even though husband and wife had no children together); Lepine v. Lepine, 17-45, p. 14–15 (La. App. 5 Cir. 6/15/17), 223 So. 3d 666, 676–77 (affirming suspension of co-parenting guidelines to help stop abuse by limiting contact between the parties); McCann v. McCann, 09-1341, p. 10–11 (La. App. 3 Cir. 3/10/10), 33 So. 3d 389, 395–96 (affirming order expanding eligibility for protection to step-grandchildren against step-grandfather); Francois v. Francois, 06-712, p. 6 (La. App. 3 Cir. 11/2/06), 941 So. 2d 722, 726 (affirming order expanding distance requirements for the stay away provision); Beard v. Beard, 05-302, pp. 6–7 (La. App. 5 Cir. 11/29/05), 917 So. 2d 1160, 1163 (affirming order to evict abusive partner from his separately owned property even though the eviction order was not incident to an award of child custody for petitioner).
- 5But see Beard, 05-302, pp. 6–7, 917 So. 2d at 1163–64. In Beard, the Court affirmed an order granting the wife possession of her husband’s separately owned residence, even though she had not been awarded custody of any minor children. Id. The Court concluded that the statute provided broad discretion to make awards beyond the enumerated relief and to tailor the relief to the circumstances of the case. Id.
- 6La. R.S. 46:2136.1(A).
- 7Id.