Art. 683.Unemancipated Minor

An unemancipated minor is a child who has not been freed from parental authority through Louisiana's emancipation process — an ordinary minor still under the legal authority of a parent or parents, distinct from a minor who has reached adulthood by turning eighteen or has taken the separate legal step of emancipation. Article 683 says this kind of minor has no procedural capacity to sue in their own name; someone else must bring the suit for them.

Who that someone else is depends on the family situation. Ordinarily, both parents who hold parental authority over the child must join together as plaintiffs to sue on the child's behalf, unless a joint custody implementation order changes that arrangement. If one parent will not or cannot act, the other may step in with the court's permission. When the child is under tutorship — Louisiana's arrangement for a minor whose parents are not the ones exercising parental authority, often because of a parent's death or incapacity — the tutor appointed to look after the child's person and property is the proper plaintiff instead.

The article carves out a distinct rule for a minor in the legal custody of the Department of Children and Family Services: an attorney appointed by the court with jurisdiction over that minor is the proper plaintiff, and if the tutor or a parent asks to take over that role, the court picks whichever of the tutor, parent, or appointed attorney is best qualified to represent the minor's interest in the specific suit.