La. Ch. Code art. 833

This is the official text of La. Ch. Code art. 833, part of Louisiana’s Children's Code — governs child custody, child protection, and juvenile justice in Louisiana.

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Mental examinations

Official statutory text

A. The court shall order a mental examination of the child when it has reasonable grounds to doubt the mental capacity of the child to proceed. Findings of fact and the reasons for judgment shall be attached to the order. Prior to ordering a mental examination, the court shall appoint counsel to represent the child if the child is not yet represented.

B. The court order for a mental examination shall not deprive the child or the district attorney of the right to an independent mental examination by a physician of his choice. Such physician shall be permitted to have reasonable access to the child for the purposes of the examination.

Acts 1991, No. 235, §8, eff. Jan. 1, 1992; Acts 2006, No. 266, §1.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.