Internal prototype — noindexed, not linked from public navigation yet.

La. Civ. Code art. 198

This is the official text of La. Civ. Code art. 198, part of Louisiana’s Civil Code — louisiana's civil law tradition codifies persons, property, obligations, and family relations here rather than in a separate statutory code.

Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.

Father's action to establish paternity; time period

Official statutory text

A man may institute an action to establish his paternity of a child at any time except as provided in this Article. The action is strictly personal.

If the child is presumed to be the child of another man, the action shall be instituted within one year from the day of the birth of the child. Nevertheless, if the mother in bad faith deceived the father of the child regarding his paternity, the action shall be instituted within one year from the day the father knew or should have known of his paternity, or within ten years from the day of the birth of the child, whichever first occurs.

In all cases, the action shall be instituted no later than one year from the day of the death of the child.

The time periods in this Article are peremptive.

Amended by Acts 1944, No. 50; Acts 1948, No. 482, §1; Acts 1979, No. 607, §1; Acts 2005, No. 192, §1, eff. June 29, 2005.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

Need a lawyer in Louisiana?

Find a Louisiana lawyer
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.