Louisiana has a provision called “continuing tutorship” which allows a parent of a child who is age 15 to 18 to petition the court to be named the child’s guardian and that guardianship does not end at age 18.
However, there are significant problems with this procedure. The child has to be “mentally deficient” which is defined as “possessing less than two-thirds the average mental ability of a normal person;” both parents must petition the court, and the coroner has join in the petition. A major problem of this provision of the law is that when the child reaches age 18, he or she has the legal status of an emancipated minor. That means that he or she has the power to determine where he or she will live, and other administrative type decisions. Some courts have said a child over 18 who is under a continuing tutorship lacks the power to sell immovable property but this is not consistently upheld. For these reasons, I recommend waiting until the child is 18 and petitioning the court for an interdiction. This remains in effect unless changed by the court and if unchanged would last the lifetime of the child. An interdiction does not allow the child to make any legal decisions as those are made by his guardian or curator with the consent of the under-curator.