Louisiana Grounds for Divorce

What are the grounds for divorce in Louisiana?

A.  Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary and subsequent to the parties obtaining counseling, a spouse to a covenant marriage may obtain a judgment of divorce only upon proof of any of the following:

(1)  The other spouse has committed adultery.

(2)  The other spouse has committed a felony and has been sentenced to death or imprisonment at hard labor.

(3)  The other spouse has abandoned the matrimonial domicile for a period of one year and constantly refuses to return.

(4)  The other spouse has physically or sexually abused the spouse seeking the divorce or a child of one of the spouses.

(5)  The spouses have been living separate and apart continuously without reconciliation for a period of two years.

(6)(a)  The spouses have been living separate and apart continuously without reconciliation for a period of one year from the date the judgment of separation from bed and board was signed.

(b)  If there is a minor child or children of the marriage, the spouses have been living separate and apart continuously without reconciliation for a period of one year and six months from the date the judgment of separation from bed and board was signed; however, if abuse of a child of the marriage or a child of one of the spouses is the basis for which the judgment of separation from bed and board was obtained, then a judgment of divorce may be obtained if the spouses have been living separate and apart continuously without reconciliation for a period of one year from the date the judgment of separation from bed and board was signed.
 
Except in the case of a covenant marriage, a divorce shall be granted upon motion of a spouse when either spouse has filed a petition for divorce and upon proof that one hundred eighty days have elapsed from the service of the petition, or from the execution of written waiver of the service, and that the spouses have lived separate and apart continuously for at least one hundred eighty days prior to the filing of the rule to show cause.

The motion shall be a rule to show cause filed after all such delays have elapsed.

Except in the case of a covenant marriage, a divorce shall be granted on the petition of a spouse upon proof that:

(1)  The spouses have been living separate and apart continuously for a period of six months or more on the date the petition is filed;

(2)  The other spouse has committed adultery; or

(3)  The other spouse has committed a felony and has been sentenced to death or imprisonment at hard labor.