Donna Duffy and Harry Huffer, each thirty-eight years old, married on February 14 three years ago, aboard the Boomtown Belle at Biloxi, Mississippi. Following their hasty and ill-considered marriage, they returned home to Baton Rouge (East Baton Rouge Parish), where they resided together for nearly eighteen months. Things did not go well for the Huffers. On July 4 of this past year, Harry got drunk as a skunk and Donna celebrated her Independence Day by throwing Harry and all his belongings out of their rented house trailer. The couple have lived separate and apart ever since. Harry now lives with his mother in Port Allen (West Baton Rouge Parish), and Donna now lives with her mother in Denham Springs (Livingston Parish). Donna is expecting triplets in April.
One of these parties (take your pick) has come to your law offices asking you to file suit for divorce. You are to prepare a petition for a divorce. At the very least, this is to be a simple divorce under Louisiana Civil Code article 103 (1).
Please make certain that your petition is in proper form and would be acceptable for filing in the court you select. Your petition must:
1. Be on the proper size paper, properly typewritten; 2. Contain a caption giving the name of the court and the names of the parties in proper form; 3. Allege jurisdiction; 4. Allege grounds for a divorce; 5. Conclude with a proper prayer for relief. |
You will wish to put your real name on the pleading where an attorney normally puts such things. This will enable your professor to correct and assign a letter grade to your paper (which letter grade will be revealed to you, but which grade will be recorded by your professor only as a pass-fail for purposes of determining whether you have completed all required course work).
If and only if you wish to complicate things, you may assume that Harry wants the children. You may also allege adultery or other proper grounds for divorce, and you may allege grounds for, and pray for, other relief as well, as the spirit moves you.
You are the attorney and therefore you should be able to find everything you need to draft pleadings for your client. But in drafting your client's petition, you may wish to consider the following sources (among others):
Louisiana Civil Code article 103 Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure articles 10, 853, 854, 863, 891, and 3941-3947 K. Triche, Handbook on Louisiana Family Law, including forms |
As an optional alternative to this assignment, two students may pair off as opposing counsel, one preparing a petition and the other an answer and reconventional demand asking additional relief. Any such paired documents must be stapled together when submitted in order that they may be reviewed in the light of each other.
Students from outside Louisiana are encouraged to submit a petition conforming to the requirements of their home state. For this purpose, students may feel free to change the residence of the parties to their own state. Those planning on submitting non-Louisiana petitions should contact their professor after class to discuss the matter before beginning work on the project.
Students are advised to keep copies of their work on their hard drives until the end of the semester. Students who submit petitions that are in any way flawed need to be prepared to make corrections and reprint them.
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