- A new law effective January 1, 2007, requires couples with minor children to live separate and apart for one year prior to obtaining a final judgment of divorce.
- Under the former Louisiana law, couples have to live separate and apart for only six months to finalize their divorce.
- Supporters of the new law believe the longer waiting period gives couples more time to reconsider.
- Louisiana is one of three states that have adopted covenant marriages, requiring premarital counseling and a waiting period before divorces, as a legal alternative to standard marriages.
- When Louisiana became the first state to pass a covenant marriage law in 1997, it was hailed as the first move in 200 years to make divorce harder, not easier.
- Annulment is not encouraged in Louisiana because it is a rare process and the grounds requirement of annulment are also hard to prove.
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