The civic record
Read. Follow. Verify.Louisiana House Bill 473 establishes a legal presumption of equal shared custody and updates child support earning rules
Last action · April 14, 2026: Becomes HB 1239.Sponsor: Kyle Green
Track this bill to get notified when it advances a stage. One tap to stop, anytime.
What This Bill Proposed
Louisiana House Bill 473 establishes a that equal shared legal and physical custody is in a child's best interest during divorce proceedings. The measure also removes an exemption from income-earning potential calculations for parents caring for children under five years old when determining child support.
Divorcing parents face a legal standard that defaults to equal shared custody unless proves otherwise, and unemployed parents caring for young children can now have income imputed to them for child support calculations.
- Louisiana family law governs child custody awards based primarily on the best interest of the child and utilizes specific statutory guidelines for calculating child support when parents are unemployed. context
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
divorcing parents
Parents involved in custody proceedings face a legal presumption favoring equal shared custody and equal decision-making authority.
unemployed or underemployed parents
Key Facts
You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the new default standard for child custody under this bill?
How does the bill change child support rules for unemployed parents?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
Follow the record
Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Died at adjournment · in House committee.
Procedural history
6 actions- Apr 14, 2026HouseBecomes HB 1239.
- Apr 13, 2026HouseReported by substitute (6-0-1).
- Mar 9, 2026HouseIntroducedRead by title, under the rules, referred to the Committee on Civil Law and Procedure.
- Feb 27, 2026HouseFirst appeared in the Interim Calendar on 2/27/2026.
- Feb 26, 2026HousePrefiled.
- Feb 26, 2026HouseCommitteeUnder the rules, provisionally referred to the Committee on Civil Law and Procedure.
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Shift Toward Mandated Equal Custody
The measure moves Louisiana family law from a preference for joint custody implementation to a mandatory rebuttable presumption of equal shared physical and legal custody.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.legis.la.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 75)
- Controversy60Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment10Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz40Current news / social attention level
Publisher tools