After years of trying to make the divorce process easier for litigants, the Louisiana Legislature and its advisors decided that we needed to do more to preserve marriages. Thus, was created the covenant marriage, which, among other things, raises additional impediments to a relatively quick dissolution of a marriage.1 By statute, a covenant marriage is “a marriage entered into by one male and one female who understand and agree that the marriage between them is a lifelong relationship.”2 However, Louisiana couples have not embraced the concept of covenant marriage with much enthusiasm. In fact, in this writer’s experience, they are few and far between.
Always ask clients whether they have contracted a covenant marriage. Proof that your client has contracted such a marriage can be established by obtaining a copy of the marriage license which will contain a declaration of their intent to enter into a covenant marriage pursuant to La. R.S. 9:273. If previously married parties have opted into a covenant marriage, this fact can be determined from the marriage certificate. La. R.S. 9:275 requires a notation of the parties’ intent to enter into a covenant marriage on the marriage certificate. A copy of the parties’ signed declaration of intent is attached to the marriage certificate.
In order to obtain a divorce, the spouses must first undergo counseling.3 After counseling has failed, the parties to a covenant marriage may obtain a judgment of divorce on specified grounds; a divorce on the grounds of living separate and apart is available, but requires a longer period of separation than in a non-covenant marriage.4 The Covenant Marriage Act also resurrected the legal regime known as separation from bed and board.5 La. R.S 9:307(B)(1)–(6) lists all the grounds for obtaining a judgment of separation from bed and board available after the parties undergo the mandated marital counseling.