Louisiana Act 123 of 2024: How the Continuing Tutorship Reform Changes Your Options

What Act 123 Changed

Act 123 of 2024 (originating as Senate Bill 61, recommended by the Louisiana State Law Institute) overhauled Civil Code Articles 354–362 effective August 1, 2024. If you researched continuing tutorship before that date, much of what you read is now outdated. Here's what the reform actually did.

Limited Continuing Tutorship Now Exists

Before Act 123, continuing tutorship was all-or-nothing. If the court granted it, your adult child was legally treated as an unemancipated minor across every domain — finances, medical decisions, housing, education, and personal relationships. There was no middle ground.

Act 123 introduced limited continuing tutorship under a new Art. 358.1. The court can now restrict the tutor's authority to only the specific areas where the young adult needs legal protection, leaving them with full capacity in everything else.

This means a parent can petition for authority over, say, financial management and medical consent, while their adult child retains the right to choose their own residence, manage their social life, and participate in employment decisions. The court's judgment must spell out exactly which capacities are restricted and which are preserved.

This mirrors the limited/full structure already available in adult interdiction — but continuing tutorship remains far cheaper and simpler to obtain.

Adaptive Functioning Is Now a Qualifying Criterion

Under the old law, a child could qualify for continuing tutorship only if they had less than two-thirds of the "intellectual functioning" of a peer. Courts historically interpreted this as an IQ of 67 or below. That threshold excluded many children with autism, Down syndrome, or other conditions who test well on IQ measures but have profound adaptive functioning deficits — they can answer test questions but can't cross a street safely, manage a bank account, or navigate a medical appointment.

Amended Art. 355 now recognizes either intellectual or adaptive functioning below the two-thirds threshold as qualifying criteria. Standardized adaptive assessments — such as the Vineland-3 Adaptive Behavior Scales — can now serve as the qualifying evidence alongside or instead of IQ testing.

This expansion is significant. Families whose children were previously excluded from tutorship because their verbal IQ tested above 67, despite profound functional limitations, now have access to the streamlined tutorship process instead of being forced into the much more expensive interdiction system after 18.

Coroner Fee Protection

The petition for continuing tutorship has always required the written concurrence of the coroner of the parish where the minor is domiciled. This involves submitting medical records, psychological evaluations, and standardized testing to the coroner's office for review.

Act 123 added a crucial financial protection: the petitioner shall not bear the coroner's costs or fees associated with securing this concurrence. Previously, some parishes charged families for the coroner's review, adding to the cost of an already stressful process. This fee is now explicitly prohibited by statute.

Terminology Cleanup

The Act eliminated the redundant term "permanent tutorship," standardizing the legal label strictly to "continuing tutorship." If you encounter older documents, court records, or attorney websites that reference "permanent tutorship," they're describing the same legal mechanism — the terminology was simply inconsistent before 2024.

Tutor Liability Adjustment

Under Art. 358, if a full continuing tutorship is granted, the tutor's personal liability for the ward's offenses or quasi-offenses (torts) is now limited to the same standard applied to a curator's liability for an interdict, rather than the stricter liability standard for parents of typical minor children. This reduces the personal legal exposure for parents who serve as tutors.

The 15-to-18 Window Is Still Absolute

Act 123 did not change the most critical rule: continuing tutorship can only be filed for unemancipated minors between ages 15 and 18. If your child turns 18 without a signed judgment, the window closes permanently. No extension, no exception, no late filing. After 18, your only court option is adult interdiction.

For families with a child approaching 15, Act 123 makes starting the process easier and the outcome more tailored. The Louisiana Adult Guardianship & Alternatives Guide walks through the full tutorship petition process under the new law, including how to request limited tutorship and what adaptive testing the coroner's office will accept.

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