Bob Walker's Official
New Orleans Area Wedding Guide
Louisiana's Covenant Marriage Law
On August 15, 1997, Louisiana became the first state to offer couples
a way to say "till death do us part" and really mean it. Couples
now have the option of commiting to a more perfect union when they marry.
Four out of every ten marriages today end in divorce, and only
half of all children grow up in two-parent homes. Louisiana now at least
gives couples a chance to discuss the realities of marriage during the couseling
required for entering into Covenant Marriages, in an effort to head off
any eventual marital unhappiness and divorce.
It is designed to help couples fight to save their marriages, rather
than give up.
Here is Louisiana's Covenant Marriage Law in its entirety:
LOUISIANA COVENANT MARRIAGE ACT
CONTRACTING A COVENANT MARRIAGE
The couple who chooses to enter into a "Covenant Marriage"
agrees to be bound by two serious limitations on obtaining a divorce or
separation. These limitations, that do not apply to other couples married
in Louisiana, are as follows:
1. The couple legally agrees to seek marital counseling if problems
develop
during the marriage; and
2. The couple can only seek a divorce or legal separation for limited
reasons,
as explained herein.
DECLARATION OF INTENT
In order to enter into a Covenant Marriage, the couple must sign
a recitation that provides:
* A marriage is an agreement to live together as husband and wife
forever;
* The parties have chosen each other carefully and disclosed to
each other "everything
which could adversely affect" the decision to marry;
* The parties have received premarital counseling;
* A commitment that if the parties experience marital difficulties
they commit to take
all reasonable efforts to preserve their marriage, including marital
counseling; and
* The couple must also obtain premarital counseling from a priest,
minister, rabbi or
similar clergyperson of any religious sect or a marriage counselor.
After discussing the meaning of a Covenant Marriage with a counselor,
the couple must also sign, together with an attestation by the counselor,
a notarized affidavit to the effect that the counselor has discussed with
them:
* The seriousness of a Covenant Marriage;
* The commitment to the marriage is for life;
* The obligation of the couple to seek marital counseling if problems
arise in their
marriage; and
* The exclusive grounds for divorce or legal separation.
The two documents which comprise the Declaration of Intent - the
recitation and the affidavit with attestation - must be presented to the
official who issues the marriage license with the couple's application for
a marriage license.
LEGAL SEPARATION IN A COVENANT MARRIAGE
In order to obtain a legal separation (which is not a divorce and
therefore does not end the marriage), a spouse to a Covenant Marriage must
first obtain counseling and then must prove:
* Adultery by the other spouse;
* Commission of a felony by the other spouse and a sentence of
imprisonment
at hard labor or death:
* Abandonment by the other spouse for one year;
* Physical or sexual abuse of the spouse or of a child of either
spouse;
* The spouses have lived separate and apart for two years; or
* Habitual intemperance (for example, alcohol or drug abuse), cruel
treatment,
or severe ill treatment by the other spouse.
DIVORCE IN A COVENANT MARRIAGE
A marriage that is not a Covenant Marriage may be ended by divorce
more easily than a Covenant Marriage. In a marriage that is not a Covenant
Marriage, a spouse may get a divorce for adultery by the other spouse, conviction
of a felony by the other spouse and his or her imprisonment at hard labor
or death, or by proof that the spouses have lived separate and apart for
six months before or after filing for divorce.
In a Covenant Marriage a spouse may get a divorce only after receiving
counseling and may only get a divorce for the following reasons:
* Adultery by the other spouse;
* Commission of a felony by the other spouse and sentence of imprisonment
at
hard labor or death:
* Abandonment by the other spouse for one year;
* Physical or sexual abuse of the spouse or of a child of either
spouse;
* The spouses have lived separate and apart for two years; or
* The spouses are judicially or legally separated and have lived
separate and apart
since the legal separation for:
(a) One year and six months if there is a minor child or children
of the marriage;
(b) One year if the separation was granted for abuse of a child
of either spouse;
(c) One year in all other cases.
A NOTE TO PRESENTLY MARRIED COUPLES:
Couples who are already married may execute a declaration of intent
to designate their marriage a Covenant Marriage. They must sign a recitation
and an affidavit similar to those described here, after receiving counseling.
The counselor must attest to the counseling. This intent to designate their
marriage a Covenant Marriage must be filed with the official who issued
their marriage license and with whom the marriage certificate of the couple
is filed.
If the couple was married outside of Louisiana, a copy of their
marriage certificate, with the declaration of intent, shall be filed with
the officer who issues marriage licenses in the parish of the couple's domicile.