Louisiana is a one-party consent state: you may record a call or conversation you take part in without telling the other parent.
A recording you took part in is generally usable in a Louisiana custody matter, but the one-party exception does not cover a recording made for a criminal, tortious, or any other 'injurious' purpose.
You may record a call or conversation you are part of.
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The direct answer: yes, if you are on the call
Louisiana is a one-party consent state. Under Louisiana Revised Statutes § 15:1303, part of the state’s Electronic Surveillance Act, it is generally lawful for a person who is not acting under color of law to intercept a wire, electronic, or oral communication where that person is a party to it, or where one of the parties has given prior consent. If you are on the call with your co-parent, your own participation is the consent the statute requires. You are not obligated to announce the recording or ask permission.
The exact statute and what it prohibits
§ 15:1303 broadly criminalizes willfully intercepting, or using a device to intercept, a wire, electronic, or oral communication, and it separately criminalizes disclosing or using the contents of a communication you know was unlawfully obtained. The one-party exception sits inside that same section: your consent as a participant removes the interception from the statute’s reach entirely, so long as the purpose of the recording is not itself unlawful.
The penalties are severe
Louisiana treats unlawful interception as a serious felony: a violation carries two to ten years at hard labor and a fine of up to $10,000. On the civil side, § 15:1312 lets a person whose communication was unlawfully intercepted recover actual damages or a statutory floor of $100 per day of violation (or $1,000, whichever is greater), plus punitive damages and attorney’s fees. That civil exposure applies even where no criminal charge is ever filed, which is one reason to be careful about the purpose behind any recording. A parent found to have recorded unlawfully can face both the criminal exposure and a separate civil suit from the other parent, on top of whatever damage an unlawfully obtained recording does to their credibility in the underlying custody case.
The exception that is broader than most states’
Louisiana’s one-party consent protection has a real limit that goes beyond the federal standard: it does not cover a recording made “for the purpose of committing any criminal or tortious act,” or, notably, “for the purpose of committing any other injurious act.” That last phrase sweeps in conduct that is not itself a separate crime but is clearly meant to harm the other person — for example, recording a call specifically to harass, stalk, or humiliate a co-parent rather than to document what actually happened. A parent recording calls to build a factual, dated record for a custody case is squarely within the lawful purpose the statute protects; a parent recording to embarrass or manipulate the other side is not.
Using a recording in a Louisiana custody case
A recording you lawfully made as a participant can be offered as evidence in a Louisiana family proceeding, with the judge weighing relevance, authenticity, and how it was obtained — the same gatekeeping that applies to any exhibit. Keep the full, unedited file, note the date and time, and be able to explain in plain terms why you recorded (to document a pattern of missed exchanges or threats, for instance) rather than to embarrass the other parent, since that purpose question can matter under § 15:1303’s own language.
A change to watch, not yet in effect
As of this writing, Louisiana House Bill 410 has been enrolled by the legislature (June 2026) and would add a civil-only notice requirement for certain in-person recordings made with a portable device, with broad exceptions. It has not been signed into law as of the verification date below and does not change the wiretap statute discussed here. Treat this as a development to monitor, not a rule to rely on yet.
The interstate caveat: what if your co-parent lives elsewhere?
Louisiana’s rule protects your consent, but if your co-parent is physically located in an all-party consent state when the call happens, that state may apply its own stricter rule to its resident, regardless of Louisiana law on your end. Since you typically cannot verify exactly where the other party is standing, the safest habit across every state is to default to the strictest rule — all-party consent — whenever the other party’s location is uncertain, by simply announcing the recording at the start of the call.
Beyond the call: what a strong record looks like
Louisiana family courts weighing custody under the state’s best-interest factors (La. Civ. Code art. 134) are looking for a pattern, not a single dramatic exchange, so treat any lawfully recorded call as one entry in a broader, dated timeline. Keep the surrounding text message thread whole rather than a cropped screenshot, log the exact date and time of the call, and be ready to explain in one sentence why you recorded it — documenting a missed exchange or a threat, not manufacturing a moment. Because Louisiana’s one-party exception explicitly does not cover recordings made for an “injurious” purpose, keeping your record factual and consistent is not just good practice for persuading a judge, it is part of staying within the statute itself. A parent who shows up with months of consistent, unedited, time-stamped documentation of communication problems is far more credible than one who shows up with a single out-of-context clip recorded after months of silence on the issue. If your record currently consists of scattered screenshots and one or two recordings, it is worth the time before a hearing to assemble everything into a single chronological account so the court sees the whole pattern rather than isolated moments.
Frequently asked questions
Can I record a call with my co-parent in Louisiana without telling them?
Yes, because you are a party to the call, your own consent satisfies La. R.S. § 15:1303’s one-party exception.
Does it matter why I am recording?
Yes. The one-party exception does not protect a recording made for a criminal, tortious, or otherwise injurious purpose. Recording to build a factual record is protected; recording to harass or manipulate is not.
What is the penalty for illegally intercepting a call in Louisiana?
Two to ten years at hard labor and a fine of up to $10,000, plus potential civil damages of at least $100 per day or $1,000, whichever is greater.
Can I use a lawfully recorded call in my custody case?
Generally yes, subject to the judge’s usual review of relevance and authenticity. A complete, unedited recording is more persuasive and harder to challenge than a short clip.
Do I need a lawyer to record calls for my custody case?
No, recording a call you are part of is lawful on its own under La. R.S. § 15:1303. A family law attorney can still help you decide which recordings to present and how to authenticate them.
Copareo Secure Line is built for the off-platform half of the record — the phone calls and text messages a co-parenting app never sees. It analyzes, transcribes, and time-stamps those exchanges into a tamper-evident record with an admissibility one-pager for your attorney — a one-time $9.90, with no subscription. See how to document co-parenting for court for the full system, or the call recording laws by state for every other state’s rule.
Not legal advice. This page summarizes Louisiana law for general information and is not a substitute for advice from a licensed Louisiana attorney. Recording and evidence rules change and courts decide admissibility case by case. Verify against the official statute (La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 15:1303) and consult an attorney about your situation.