SECTION 12 - OF CONTINUING OR PERMANENT TUTORSHIP OF PERSONS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES
Art. 354. Certain children with disabilities may be placed under full or limited continuing tutorship in accordance with the following rules and the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure. [Added by Acts 1966, No. 496, §2. Amended by Acts 2014, No. 26, §1, eff. Aug. 1, 2014; Acts 2024, No. 123, §1]
Art. 355. When an unemancipated minor above the age of fifteen possesses less than two-thirds of the intellectual or adaptive functioning of a person of the same age with average intellectual or adaptive functioning, evidenced by standard testing procedures administered by competent persons or other relevant evidence acceptable to the court, the parents of the minor, or the person entitled to custody or tutorship of the minor if one or both parents are dead, incapacitated, or absent persons 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 minor’s domicile, petition the court of that district to place the minor under a full or limited continuing tutorship that 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; Acts 2020, No. 218, §1; Acts 2024, No. 123, §1]
Art. 356. The title of the proceedings shall be Continuing Tutorship of (Name of Person), A Person with a Disability, and the proceeding shall be conducted according to the procedural rules established for ordinary tutorships.
(1) When the parents of the person to be placed under a full or limited 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.
(2) When the parents of the person to be placed under a full or limited 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.
(3) Upon the petition of a parent of the person to be placed under the full or limited 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 of the child to be placed under the full or limited continuing tutorship, if the parents are divorced or judicially separated.
(c) The parent who is tutor or tutrix, 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; Acts 2024, No. 123, §1]
Art. 357. If the prayer for full or limited continuing tutorship is 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 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; Acts 2024, No. 123, §1]
Art. 358. The granting of a decree of full continuing tutorship 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 under full continuing tutorship shall be the same as that of a curator for those of an interdicted person. [Added by Acts 1966, No. 496, §2. Amended by Acts 1979, No. 216, §1; Acts 2014, No. 26, §1, eff. Aug. 1, 2014; Acts 2024, No. 123, §1]
Art. 358.1. The granting of a decree of limited continuing tutorship shall confer upon the tutor and undertutor only the authority, privileges, and responsibilities required to protect the interest of the person under limited continuing tutorship. [Acts 2024, No. 123, §1]
Art. 358.2. A full or limited continuing tutorship shall not terminate until the decree is set aside by the court of the domicile of the person under continuing tutorship, or the court of last domicile if the domicile of the person under continuing tutorship is removed from the state. [Acts 2024, No. 123, §1]
Art. 359. A person under full continuing tutorship has the legal capacity of an unemancipated minor or any lesser capacity as may be ordered in the decree. A person under limited continuing tutorship has legal capacity in accordance with the decree of continuing tutorship. [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 2018, No. 164, §1; Acts 2024, No. 123, §1]
Art. 360. In addition to the rights of tutorship, the parents shall retain, during the marriage and for the minority of the child under full or limited continuing tutorship, all rights of administration granted to parents of children not under continuing tutorship during their minority. [Acts 1966, No. 496, §2. Amended by Acts 2014, No. 26, §1, eff. Aug. 1, 2014; Acts 2024, No. 123, §1]
Art. 361. The decree restricting legal capacity may be contested in the court of domicile by the person under full or limited continuing tutorship 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; Acts 2018, No. 164, §1; Acts 2024, No. 123, §1]
Art. 362. Persons subject to interdiction, in accordance with the provisions of Title IX of this Book, remain subject to interdiction as provided in Articles 389 through 399 and any other applicable laws [Acts 1966, No. 496, §2; Acts 2024, No. 123, §1]
Arts. 363-364. [Repealed. Acts 1960, No. 30, §2, eff. Jan. 1, 1961]