HB154 • 2026

CHILDREN/SUPPORT: Provides relative to paternity and the collection of child support

Children Parental Rights

Enacted

This bill passed the Legislature and reached final enactment based on the latest official action.

Sponsor: Dixon McMakin
Last action: 2026-05-15
Official status: Signed by the Governor - Act 130
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details about how courts will determine the best interests of both the minor parent and the child in all cases.

Child Support and Paternity Acknowledgment

This act changes Louisiana laws to require judicial approval for minors aged sixteen or seventeen who want to acknowledge paternity.

What This Bill Does

Requires unemancipated minors under sixteen years old not to enter into an acknowledgment of paternity.
Requires judicial authorization for unemancipated minors aged sixteen or seventeen who want to acknowledge paternity.

Who It Names or Affects

Unemancipated minors aged sixteen or seventeen who want to acknowledge paternity.
Courts handling cases involving unemancipated minors and child support issues.

Terms To Know

Judicial authorization: Permission granted by a judge for an action that would otherwise be restricted, such as acknowledging paternity by a minor.
Unemancipated minors: Individuals under the age of eighteen who are not legally independent from their parents or guardians.

Limits and Unknowns

The act does not specify what happens if an unemancipated minor under sixteen wants to acknowledge paternity.
It is unclear how courts will determine the best interest of both the minor parent and the child in all cases.

Bill History

2026-05-15 H
Effective date: 08/01/2026.
2026-05-15 H
Signed by the Governor. Becomes Act No. 130.
2026-05-13 H
Sent to the Governor for executive approval.
2026-05-13 S
Signed by the President of the Senate.
2026-05-12 H
Enrolled and signed by the Speaker of the House.
2026-05-12 H
Received from the Senate without amendments.
2026-05-11 S
Read by title, passed by a vote of 34 yeas and 0 nays, and ordered returned to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled.
2026-05-04 S
Reported without Legislative Bureau amendments. Read by title and passed to third reading and final passage.
2026-04-29 S
Read by title and referred to the Legislative Bureau.
2026-04-28 S
Reported favorably.
2026-04-14 S
Read second time by title and referred to the Committee on Judiciary A.
2026-04-13 S
Received in the Senate. Rules suspended. Read first time by title and placed on the Calendar for a second reading.
2026-04-13 H
Read third time by title, roll called on final passage, yeas 92, nays 0. Finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate.
2026-04-13 H
Called from the calendar.
2026-04-09 H
Scheduled for floor debate on 04/13/2026.
2026-04-09 H
Notice given.
2026-04-09 H
Read by title, returned to the calendar.
2026-04-09 H
Called from the calendar.
2026-04-08 H
Scheduled for floor debate on 04/09/2026.
2026-04-08 H
Notice given.
2026-04-07 H
Read by title, returned to the calendar.
2026-04-01 H
Scheduled for floor debate on 04/07/2026.
2026-03-31 H
Read by title, ordered engrossed, passed to 3rd reading.
2026-03-30 H
Reported favorably (7-0).
2026-03-09 H
Read by title, under the rules, referred to the Committee on Civil Law and Procedure.
2026-02-13 H
First appeared in the Interim Calendar on 2/13/2026.
2026-02-13 H
Under the rules, provisionally referred to the Committee on Civil Law and Procedure.
2026-02-13 H
Prefiled.

Official Summary Text

CHILDREN/SUPPORT: Provides relative to paternity and the collection of child support

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

ENROLLED
ACT No. 1302026 Regular Session
HOUSE BILL NO. 154
BY REPRESENTATIVE MCMAKIN
(On Recommendation of the Louisiana State Law Institute)
1 AN ACT
2 To amend and reenact R.S. 9:315.1(C)(8) and to enact R.S. 9:315.1(C)(9) and 405.1 through
3 405.3, relative to acknowledgment of paternity and collection of child support; to
4 provide for deviation from the child support guidelines; to provide for
5 acknowledgment of paternity for minors; to provide with respect to judicial
6 authorization of acknowledgment of paternity for minors; and to provide for related
7 matters.
8 Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:
9 Section 1. R.S. 9:315.1(C)(8) is hereby amended and reenacted and R.S.
10 9:315.1(C)(9) and 405.1 through 405.3 are hereby enacted to read as follows:
11 §315.1. Rebuttable presumption; deviation from guidelines by court; stipulations by
12 parties
13 * * *
14 C. In determining whether to deviate from the guidelines, the court's
15 considerations may include:
16 * * *
17 (8) The status of a parent as an unemancipated minor with limited
18 contractual, procedural, and earning capacity; the availability of familial or other
19 sources of support to the minor parent; and the desirability of continuing the minor
20 parent's education.
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1 (9) Any other consideration which that would make application of the
2 guidelines not in the best interest of the child or children or inequitable to the parties.
3 * * *
4 §405.1. Minors; acknowledgment of paternity
5 An unemancipated minor who is under sixteen years of age may not enter
6 into an acknowledgment of paternity. An unemancipated minor who is sixteen or
7 seventeen years of age may not enter into an acknowledgment of paternity without
8 judicial authorization.
9 Revision Comments - 2026
10 (a) The rights of emancipated minors are governed by Chapter 2 of Title VIII
11 of Book I of the Civil Code and depend upon the type of emancipation.
12 (b) Unemancipated minors lack the procedural capacity to sue and be sued.
13 Accordingly, the provisions of Civil Code Article 222 and Code of Civil Procedure
14 Article 683 apply in this context and provide for representation by an unemancipated
15 minor's married parents or tutor in a proceeding to acquire judicial authorization.
16 (c) This provision mirrors Civil Code Articles 90.1 and 2333, which provide
17 that minors under sixteen years of age are not permitted to marry or enter into
18 matrimonial agreements and that sixteen- and seventeen-year-old minors may enter
19 into those contracts under limited circumstances.
20 §405.2. Minors; judicial authorization of acknowledgment of paternity; venue
21 A request for judicial authorization pursuant to R.S. 9:405.1 may be
22 submitted to a court of competent jurisdiction in the parish in which the minor parent
23 executing the acknowledgment is domiciled or in the parish in which the child to be
24 acknowledged is domiciled.
25 §405.3. Minors; application for judicial authorization of acknowledgment of
26 paternity; procedure
27 A. Upon request by an unemancipated minor who is sixteen or seventeen
28 years of age, the court may authorize the acknowledgment of paternity ex parte after
29 considering the best interest of the minor parent executing the acknowledgment and
30 the best interest of the child to be acknowledged.
31 B. The court may, in its discretion, require that the minor parent executing
32 the acknowledgment be present to evaluate whether the minor parent understands the
33 nature and consequences of an acknowledgment of paternity, whether the minor
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1 parent understands his right to seek blood and tissue tests for determination of
2 paternity before executing the acknowledgment, and whether the minor parent has
3 discussed the acknowledgment with his parents or tutor.
4 Revision Comments - 2026
5 If the court denies the request, the minor parent may file a petition for judicial
6 emancipation. See Civil Code Article 366.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA
APPROVED:
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