Art. 4231.Disqualification of Tutor

Article 4231 sets the eligibility floor for anyone appointed tutor. Paragraph A bars six categories of people: those under eighteen; those interdicted or, after a contradictory hearing, proved mentally incompetent; anyone convicted of a felony under federal or state law; anyone indebted to the minor unless the debt is discharged before appointment; anyone who is an adverse party to a suit involving the minor; and, as a catch-all, anyone proved, after a contradictory hearing, incapable of performing the duties of the office or otherwise unfit because of physical or mental condition or bad moral character.

Paragraph B then carves out an exception for parents. Most of these bars, specifically the age, felony, indebtedness, and adverse-party grounds, do not apply to a parent of the minor, reflecting Louisiana's preference for a natural parent serving as natural tutor over an outside appointee. That exemption does not touch the interdiction or incompetence ground, nor the fitness and moral-character catch-all; both apply to a parent exactly as they apply to anyone else, since they go directly to whether the person can protect the child.

Paragraph C then narrows the parental exemption itself. A parent convicted of a felony involving theft or misappropriation of funds, a crime of violence, a sex offense, or any other crime against a person under eighteen loses the benefit of Paragraph B's exemption, so those specific convictions disqualify a parent the same way they would disqualify anyone else. The distinction targets convictions that show a parent has proven dangerous to children or untrustworthy with money, as opposed to an ordinary felony conviction unrelated to either concern.