The amount of time that it typically takes for spouses to end their marriage in Louisiana is 180 days. This is true even with a divorce attorney.
As much as many soon-to-be former spouses want to be completely and legally separated from one another overnight, a divorce attorney will probably not be able to do this and many times there is a requirement of a 180 day waiting period.
In the state of Louisiana, there is a requirement that spouses who are interested in ending their marriage must generally wait 180 days of “living separate and apart.” Separate and apart does not mean that one spouse sleeps on the couch in the living room. Each of the spouses must generally not have co-existed in the same dwelling with the other for the one hundred and eighty day period. By forcing spouses to wait the one hundred and eighty days, the Louisiana legislature forced spouses to wait one hundred and eighty days before formalizing the end of the marriage.
The one hundred and eighty day requirement can start to elapse in a variety of different ways. Perhaps one spouse’s divorce attorney has filed, and moves out the same day they file. On the other side of the spectrum, perhaps a technically married couple has been living separate and apart for fifteen years; and so then at the time that one of them decides to file, the one hundred and eighty day period obviously would have elapsed.
It is important to consider that there are situations where the one hundred and eighty day period has begun to elapse, but is “reset” by the actions of the parties. Let’s say Tom and Jane decide they want to end their marriage. Tom leaves the apartment they used to share, and Jane remains. Two and half months after they began living separate and apart, Tom calls Jane. He tells her how sorry, and he wants to meet with her to talk about it. Jane agrees, and Tom drives over to the apartment they used to share.
Tom stays there the entire weekend. It is like things were never bad between them. Now let’s say the next week, they are back to bickering just as badly, if not worse, than before. If they try and go through ending their marriage based on the original one hundred and eighty day time period has elapsed, a court and a divorce attorney may say that the one hundred and eighty day period had actually reset the weekend that they spent with one another.
Again, we see how the Louisiana laws and courts actively enforce the one hundred and eighty day separate and apart requirement; and it can be argued that doing so is in the best interests of the marriage. Sometimes it can be very difficult to remain in a relationship over time, and in Louisiana, the system works so that a couple, in most cases, cannot, even with a divorce attorney, end their marriage overnight. It should also be noted that this is only in a circumstance where there are no children. Children can change the length of time required by law in Louisiana.
Divorce attorney Will Beaumont has a law office in New Orleans, La. This article is not designed to be formal legal advice, rather it is written to be simply informational.
More Louisiana Divorce Lawyer Questions and Answers
If you live in Louisiana and you are trying to get a divorce, there are certain rules which you must observe to effectuate this decision. Louisiana has a few public policy objectives when it comes to divorcing couples; and one of the main ones is to make sure that the couple is very sure about the decision they are about to make.
General Topics of Louisiana Divorce Attorney Law
This article is written to add to the general knowledge on Louisiana family law which some of these articles can provide. That said, this is a continuation of articles on “Dos and Don’ts” in family law.
Louisiana Community Property and Divorce Attorney Example: Greg and Gina
In Louisiana, property which a person possesses while married can be classified into one of two types: community property or separate property. This article provides an example of this.
