La. R.S. 13:1816 addresses a Louisiana court’s authority to issue temporary emergency orders to protect family violence victims who have fled to Louisiana. La. R.S. 13:1816(A) expressly allows temporary emergency jurisdiction to protect a child if the child or a sibling or parent of the child is subjected to or threatened with mistreatment or abuse.
However, La. R.S. 13:1816 emergency orders provide only temporary relief. The custody case must be resolved in the state that has proper jurisdiction under La. R.S. 13:1813–1815 unless that state declines jurisdiction under the inconvenient forum test. If no prior custody order exists and no suit has been commenced in a state with La. R.S. 13:1813 subject matter jurisdiction, a temporary emergency order will remain in effect until an order is obtained from the home state or a state that has proper section 1813 jurisdiction.1 If a prior custody order exists, the judge must confer with the other state’s judge.2 Then, the court with temporary emergency jurisdiction must specify a reasonable time limit for the petitioner to obtain an order from the state with proper jurisdiction under La. R.S. 13:1813–1815 or to seek declination from that court.3 The temporary emergency order will remain in effect until an order is obtained from the other state or the time limit expires.4
Because Louisiana can assume only temporary jurisdiction under La. R.S. 13:1816, using it can present legal risks for survivors. There is always a danger that the court in the “home state” will view the victim’s request for an emergency order as forum shopping or contumacious. This risk is especially high if the judge in the other state has issued prior orders declining to find domestic violence or minimizing the danger of abuse. In cases like that, the use of this provision can sometimes create more problems for the victim and child when the case eventually returns to the home state.