Louisiana Civil Code

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SECTION 12 - OF CONTINUING OR PERMANENT TUTORSHIP OF PERSONS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES

Art. 354. Persons, including children, with intellectual disabilities or mental deficiencies may be placed under continuing or permanent tutorship without formal or complete interdiction in accordance with the following rules and the procedures stated in the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure. [Added by Acts 1966, No. 496, §2. Amended by Acts 2014, No. 26, §1, eff. Aug. 1, 2014]

Art. 355. When a person above the age of fifteen possesses less than two-thirds of the intellectual functioning of a person of the same age with average intellectual functioning, evidenced by standard testing procedures administered by competent persons or other relevant evidence acceptable to the court, the parents of such person, or the person entitled to custody or tutorship if one or both parents are dead, incapacitated, or an absent person, or if the parents are judicially separated or divorced or have never been married to each other, may, with the written concurrence of the coroner of the parish of the intellectually disabled person’s domicile, petition the court of that district to place such person under a continuing tutorship which shall not automatically end at any age but shall continue until revoked by the court of domicile. The petitioner shall not bear the coroner’s costs or fees associated with securing the coroner’s concurrence. [Added by Acts 1966, No. 496, §2. Amended by Acts 1974, No. 714, §1; Acts 1991, No. 107, §1; Acts 2016, No. 115, §1, eff. Aug. 1, 2016; Acts 2018, No. 164, §1, eff. Aug. 1, 2018; Acts 2020, No. 218, §1]

Art. 356. The title of the proceedings shall be Continuing Tutorship of (Name of Person), Person with an Intellectual Disability.

(1) When the person to be placed under the continuing tutorship is above the age of fifteen, and under the age of majority, the proceeding shall be conducted according to the procedural rules established for ordinary tutorships.

(2)  When the person to be placed under the continuing tutorship is above the age of majority, the proceeding shall be conducted according to the procedural rules established for interdictions.

(3) When the parents of the person to be placed under the continuing tutorship are married to each other and petition jointly, the court shall appoint the parents as co-tutors, unless for good cause the court decrees otherwise.

(4) When the parents of the person to be placed under the continuing tutorship are married to each other but do not petition jointly, the court shall appoint either a petitioning parent as tutor or both individually petitioning parents as co-tutors, in accordance with the best interest of the child. 

(5) Upon the petition of a parent of the person to be placed under the continuing tutorship, the court shall, unless good cause requires otherwise, appoint as tutor the petitioning parent who is: 

(a) The surviving parent, if one parent is dead. 

(b) The parent awarded custody during minority of the person to be placed under the continuing tutorship, if the parents are divorced or judicially separated. 

(c) The parent who was tutor or tutrix during minority, if the parents were never married to each other. [Added by Acts 1966, No. 496, §2.  Amended by Acts 1974, No. 714, §1. Amended by Acts 2014, No. 26, §1, eff. Aug. 1, 2014; Acts 2014, No. 811, §30, eff. June 23, 2014; Acts 2020, No. 218, §1]

Art. 357. If the prayer for continuing or permanent tutorship be granted, the decree shall be recorded in the conveyance and mortgage records of the parish of the minor's domicile, and of any future domicile, and in such other parishes as may be deemed expedient. The decree shall not be effective as to persons without notice thereof outside of the parishes in which it is recorded. [Added by Acts 1966, No. 496, §2]

Art. 358. The granting of the decree shall confer upon the tutor and undertutor the same authority, privileges, and responsibilities as in other tutorships, including the same authority to give consent for any medical treatment or procedure, to give consent for any educational plan or procedure, and to obtain medical, educational, or other records, but the responsibility of the tutor for the offenses or quasi-offenses of the person with an intellectual disability shall be the same as that of a curator for those of the interdicted person and the tutorship shall not terminate until the decree is set aside by the court of the domicile, or the court of last domicile if the domicile of the person with an intellectual disability is removed from the State of Louisiana. [Added by Acts 1966, No. 496, §2. Amended by Acts 1979, No. 216, §1. Amended by Acts 2014, No. 26, §1, eff. Aug. 1, 2014]

Art. 359. The decree if granted shall restrict the legal capacity of the person with an intellectual disability to that of a minor. [Added by Acts 1966, No. 496, §2. Amended by Acts 1974, No. 714, §1. Amended by Acts 2014, No. 26, §1, eff. Aug. 1, 2014. Amended by Acts 2018, No. 164, §1, eff. Aug. 1, 2018]

Art. 360. In addition to the rights of tutorship, the parents shall retain, during the marriage and for the minority of the child with an intellectual disability, all rights of administration granted to parents of children without an intellectual disability during their minority. [Acts 1966, No. 496, §2. Amended by Acts 2014, No. 26, §1, eff. Aug. 1, 2014]]

Art. 361. The decree restricting his legal capacity may be contested in the court of domicile by the person himself or by anyone adversely affected by the decree. For good cause, the court may modify or terminate the decree restricting legal capacity. [Acts 1966, No. 496, §2. Amended by Acts 2018, No. 164, §1, eff. Aug. 1, 2018]

Art. 362. Persons subject to mental or physical illness or disability, whether of a temporary or permanent nature, of such a degree as to render them subject to interdiction, under the provisions of Title IX hereof, remain subject to interdiction as provided in Articles 389 to 399, inclusive, and such other laws as may relate thereto. [Acts 1966, No. 496, §2]

Arts. 363-364. [Repealed. Acts 1960, No. 30, §2, eff. Jan. 1, 1961]




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