Is Coercive Control Recognized in Louisiana?
Not under that name — Louisiana's protective-order statute (R.S. 46:2132) doesn't define coercive control the way California's does. But the state's custody law does something a lot of “coercive control” statutes don't: it creates an actual presumption against custody, not just a factor to weigh, once a history of family violence is established.
The Post-Separation Family Violence Relief Act
R.S. 9:364 creates a presumption that no parent with a history of perpetrating family violence (defined in R.S. 9:362), domestic abuse (R.S. 46:2132), or who has abused or knowingly allowed abuse of a child, stepchild, or household member, gets sole or joint custody. A “history” is established by either one incident that caused serious bodily injury, or more than one incident — full stop. If both parents have a history of family violence, custody goes solely to whichever parent is less likely to continue it. And if a court finds a parent has that history, it has to limit that parent to supervised visitation under R.S. 9:341.
Presumption, not just a factor
This is a meaningfully stronger legal posture than a lot of the “best interest factor” approach other states use, coercive-control-named or not. A presumption shifts the burden — the parent with the documented history has to overcome it, rather than the other parent having to prove custody should be limited. It just doesn't use the words “coercive control” to get there.
Where the coercive-control term actually stops
R.S. 46:2132, Louisiana's protective-order definition of domestic abuse, runs through the more traditional physical/sexual-abuse framework rather than a coercive-control-style definition — so getting a protective order on non-physical controlling behavior alone is a real limitation, separate from the custody presumption above. The custody and protective-order questions are genuinely different legal tracks in Louisiana, and it's worth not conflating them.
What this means for documenting a pattern
“More than one incident” is a low bar to establish a history under R.S. 9:364 — but it still requires actually establishing each incident. A text thread that documents controlling, threatening, or abusive incidents in the moment, with timestamps, is exactly the kind of record that supports meeting that standard, even though the statute itself never uses the phrase “coercive control.”
This is general information about Louisiana law as currently written, not legal advice. Verity is not a law firm. Talk to a Louisiana family law attorney about how the family-violence presumption applies to your case.
Document the pattern, whatever the legal hook
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