La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 1001

This is the official text of La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 1001, part of Louisiana’s Code of Civil Procedure — sets the procedural rules for civil lawsuits in Louisiana courts.

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.

Delay for answering

Official statutory text

A. A defendant shall file his answer within twenty-one days after service of citation upon him, except as otherwise provided by law. If the plaintiff files and serves a discovery request with his petition, the defendant shall file his answer to the petition within thirty days after service of citation and service of discovery request.

B. When an exception is filed prior to answer and is overruled or referred to the merits, or is sustained and an amendment of the petition ordered, the answer shall be filed within fifteen days after the exception is overruled or referred to the merits, or fifteen days after service of the amended petition.

C. The court may grant additional time for answering.

Acts 2021, No. 174, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2022.

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.