2024 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE BILL NO. 61
BY SENATOR FOIL (On Recommendation of the Louisiana State Law Institute)
1 AN ACT
2 To amend and reenact Section 12 of Chapter 1 of Title VIII of Book I of the Civil Code,
3 comprised of Arts. 354 through 362, relative to continuing tutorship; to provide for
4 full continuing tutorship; to provide for limited continuing tutorship; to provide
5 procedures; to provide for the petition; to provide for the contents of the decree; to
6 provide for the authority of the tutor and undertutor; to provide for termination; to
7 provide for legal capacity; and to provide for related matters.
8 Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:
9 Section 1. Section 12 of Chapter 1 of Title VIII of Book I of the Civil Code,
10 comprised of Arts. 354 through 362, is hereby amended and reenacted to read as follows:
11 SECTION 12 - OF CONTINUING OR PERMANENT TUTORSHI P OF
12 PERSONS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES
13 Art. 354. Procedure for placing Placing under continuing tutorship
14 Persons, including certain Certain children, with intellectual disabilities or
15 mental deficiencies may be placed under full or limited continuing or permanent
16 tutorship without formal or complete interdiction in accordance with the following
17 rules and the procedures stated in the Louisiana provisions of the Code of Civil
18 Procedure.
19 Revision Comments – 2024
20 (a) This revision changes the law to provide for the possibility of a limited
21 continuing tutorship for an unemancipated minor and to mirror the law of
22 interdiction, which provides for the possibility of both full and limited interdiction
23 for emancipated minors and persons over the age of majority. Where the
24 unemancipated minor who is a candidate for continuing tutorship has an intellectual
25 or adaptive functioning level that renders him consistently able to make reasoned
26 decisions regarding some but not all matters, a limited continuing tutorship may be
27 appropriate.
28
29 (b) This revision changes the nomenclature to refer only to "continuing"
30 tutorship. Previously, the phrases "continuing tutorship" and "permanent tutorship"
31 were used interchangeably. This revision suppresses the use of the phrase
ACT No. 123
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1 "permanent tutorship" to promote accuracy and to avoid superfluity.
2 Art. 355. Petition for full or limited continuing or permanent tutorship
3 When a person an unemancipated minor above the age of fifteen possesses
4 less than two-thirds of the intellectual or adaptive functioning of a person of the
5 same age with average intellectual or adaptive functioning, evidenced by standard
6 testing procedures administered by competent persons or other relevant evidence
7 acceptable to the court, the parents of such person the minor, or the person entitled
8 to custody or tutorship of the minor if one or both parents are dead, incapacitated,
9 or absent persons, or if the parents are judicially separated or divorced or have never
10 been married to each other, may, with the written concurrence of the coroner of the
11 parish of the intellectually disabled person's minor's domicile, petition the court of
12 that district to place such person the minor under a full or limited continuing
13 tutorship which that shall not automatically end at any age but shall continue until
14 revoked by the court of domicile. The petitioner shall not bear the coroner's costs or
15 fees associated with securing the coroner's concurrence.
16 Revision Comments – 2024
17 (a) This revision changes the standard for placing a person under continuing
18 tutorship to allow the court to consider either intellectual or adaptive functioning.
19 Prior law did not allow children functioning at very low levels in the areas of
20 communication, daily living skills, and socialization to be placed under continuing
21 tutorship if their intellectual functioning was near average. This revision permits
22 broader considerations of disability, including, for example, adaptive functioning
23 under the Vineland-3 Adaptive Behavior Scales.
24
25 (b) This revision also clarifies that continuing tutorship may be sought only
26 for persons between the ages of fifteen and eighteen. Once a person reaches the age
27 of majority, Louisiana's law of interdiction applies. See, e.g., Civil Code Article 389
28 et seq.
29 Art. 356. Title of proceedings; procedural rules; parent to be named tutor
30 The title of the proceedings shall be Continuing Tutorship of (Name of
31 Person), A Person with an Intellectual a Disability.,
32 (1) When the person to be placed under the continuing tutorship is above the
33 age of fifteen, and under the age of majority, and the proceeding shall be conducted
34 according to the procedural rules established for ordinary tutorships.
35 (2) When the person to be placed under the continuing tutorship is above the
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1 age of majority, the proceeding shall be conducted according to the procedural rules
2 established for interdictions.
3 (3)(1) When the parents of the person to be placed under the a full or limited
4 continuing tutorship are married to each other and petition jointly, the court shall
5 appoint the parents as co-tutors, unless for good cause the court decrees otherwise.
6 (4)(2) When the parents of the person to be placed under the a full or limited
7 continuing tutorship are married to each other but do not petition jointly, the court
8 shall appoint either a petitioning parent as tutor or both individually petitioning
9 parents as co-tutors, in accordance with the best interest of the child.
10 (5)(3) Upon the petition of a parent of the person to be placed under the full
11 or limited continuing tutorship, the court shall, unless good cause requires
12 otherwise, appoint as tutor the petitioning parent who is:
13 (a) The surviving parent, if one parent is dead.
14 (b) The parent awarded custody during minority of the person child to be
15 placed under the full or limited continuing tutorship, if the parents are divorced or
16 judicially separated.
17 (c) The parent who was is tutor or tutrix during minority, if the parents were
18 never married to each other.
19 Art. 357. Decree,; place of recording,; notice.
20 If the prayer for full or limited continuing or permanent tutorship be is
21 granted, the decree shall be recorded in the conveyance and mortgage records of the
22 parish of the minor's domicile, and of any future domicile, and in such other parishes
23 as may be deemed expedient. The decree shall not be effective as to persons without
24 notice thereof outside of the parishes in which it is recorded.
25 Art. 358. Authority, Full continuing tutorship; authority; privileges, and duties of
26 tutor and undertutor; termination of tutorship
27 The granting of the a decree of full continuing tutorship shall confer upon
28 the tutor and undertutor the same authority, privileges, and responsibilities as in
29 other tutorships, including the same authority to give consent for any medical
30 treatment or procedure, to give consent for any educational plan or procedure, and
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1 to obtain medical, educational, or other records, but the responsibility of the tutor for
2 the offenses or quasi-offenses of the person with an intellectual disability under full
3 continuing tutorship shall be the same as that of a curator for those of the an
4 interdicted person and the tutorship shall not terminate until the decree is set aside
5 by the court of the domicile, or the court of last domicile if the domicile of the
6 person with an intellectual disability is removed from the State of Louisiana.
7 Art. 358.1. Limited continuing tutorship; authority; privileges and duties of
8 tutor and undertutor
9 The granting of a decree of limited continuing tutorship shall confer
10 upon the tutor and undertutor only the authority, privileges, and
11 responsibilities required to protect the interest of the person under limited
12 continuing tutorship.
13 Art. 358.2. Termination of continuing tutorship
14 A full or limited continuing tutorship shall not terminate until the decree
15 is set aside by the court of the domicile of the person under continuing
16 tutorship, or the court of last domicile if the domicile of the person under
17 continuing tutorship is removed from the state.
18 Art. 359. Restriction on legal capacity
19 The decree if granted shall restrict A person under full continuing
20 tutorship has the legal capacity of the person with an intellectual disability to that
21 of a minor. of an unemancipated minor or any lesser capacity as may be ordered
22 in the decree. A person under limited continuing tutorship has legal capacity in
23 accordance with the decree of continuing tutorship.
24 Art. 360. Parents' rights of administration
25 In addition to the rights of tutorship, the parents shall retain, during the
26 marriage and for during the minority of the child with an intellectual disability
27 under full or limited continuing tutorship, all rights of administration granted to
28 parents of children without an intellectual disability not under continuing tutorship
29 during their minority.
30 Art. 361. Contest of decree restricting legal capacity
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1 The decree restricting his legal capacity may be contested in the court of
2 domicile by the person under full or limited continuing tutorship himself or by
3 anyone adversely affected by the decree. For good cause, the court may modify or
4 terminate the decree restricting legal capacity.
5 Revision Comments – 2024
6 Under this Article, a person may contest the decree by objecting to its initial
7 issuance or by seeking a later modification or termination of the decree.
8 Art. 362. Persons subject to interdiction.
9 Persons subject to mental or physical illness or disability, whether of a
10 temporary or permanent nature, of such a degree as to render them subject to
11 interdiction, under in accordance with the provisions of Title IX hereof of this
12 Book, remain subject to interdiction as provided in Articles 389 to through 399,
13 inclusive, and such any other applicable laws as may relate thereto.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA
APPROVED:
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