Louisiana: Judgment Lien Duration & Renewal Requirements
The short answer
Louisiana runs two genuinely separate 10-year clocks and requires two separate renewal actions to keep both alive. The judgment itself 'prescribes' 10 years after signing unless revived by an ex parte motion supported by the judgment holder's affidavit, and it can be revived repeatedly. The judicial mortgage the judgment creates on real property is a different thing with its own 10-year clock, tracked from the judgment date, that lapses unless a separate written 'notice of reinscription' is filed with the parish recorder: reviving the judgment does not by itself keep the mortgage recordation alive. Because Louisiana uses parishes instead of counties, the judgment also has to be separately recorded in every parish where the debtor owns property.
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This is the general rule in Louisiana. Ezel applies current Louisiana law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law | La. Civ. Code art. 3501 (10-year prescription of a money judgment and repeated revival); La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 2031 (revival by ex parte motion, affidavit requirements, and interruption of prescription); La. Civ. Code art. 3300 (creation of the judicial mortgage by filing the judgment with the recorder of mortgages); arts. 3357 and 3359 (10-year duration of the recordation's effect); arts. 3362, 3364, and 3365 (method and timely or late effect of reinscription); art. 3355 (recording in multiple parishes) |
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| How long the judgment itself lasts | 10 years from the judgment's signing if there was no appeal, or 10 years from when it became final if there was one (art. 3501). This is Louisiana's civil-law concept of 'prescription' rather than a common-law statute of limitations, but it works similarly: the judgment simply prescribes at that mark unless revived first. Critically, art. 3501 places NO cap on how many times a judgment can be revived: 'An interested party may have a money judgment rendered by a court of this state revived as often as he may desire' |
| How long a recorded lien lasts | A genuinely separate clock from the judgment's own prescription. Under art. 3359, 'The effect of recordation of a judgment creating a judicial mortgage ceases ten years after the date of the judgment', counted from the judgment date, not the recording date, and independent of whether the underlying judgment itself has since been revived. Louisiana courts have confirmed these two issues, the judgment's own validity and the judicial mortgage's recordation, are 'clearly separated into two distinct areas' governed by separate rules with different consequences (Bank One Louisiana v. Lacobee, 811 So. 2d 164, 166 (La. App. 2 Cir. 2002)) |
| How to renew | Two SEPARATE actions are required, and doing one does not accomplish the other. First, reviving the judgment itself: an interested party files an ex parte motion in the court and suit in which the judgment was rendered, accompanied by the judgment holder's affidavit stating that the original judgment has not been satisfied (Code Civ. Proc. art. 2031). Second, keeping the judicial mortgage's recordation alive: a person 'may reinscribe a recorded instrument creating a mortgage... by recording a signed written notice of reinscription' with the parish recorder of mortgages, naming the judgment debtor and the original recording's registry information (Civ. Code art. 3362). Bank One Louisiana v. Lacobee, 811 So. 2d 164 (La. App. 2 Cir. 2002), shows the stakes: the creditor timely petitioned to revive the judgment but filed no notice in the mortgage records, so the court held that the judicial mortgage had not been validly reinscribed and reversed its priority over a later mortgage |
| Renewal window | For judgment revival: no fixed early window, but file the ex parte motion before the 10 years from signing (or finality) run out; art. 2031 says filing the motion interrupts the judgment's prescriptive period. For mortgage reinscription: a notice recorded BEFORE the prior 10-year recordation effect lapses 'continues that effect for ten years from the date the notice is recorded' (art. 3364), so each timely reinscription buys a fresh 10 years measured from the reinscription date itself. Miss that window and art. 3365 lets a late notice again produce the effects of recordation, but 'only from the time that the notice of reinscription is recorded,' leaving a real nonretroactive gap |
| Recent changes or debt-type limits | Past-due child support follows a special rule. Under R.S. 13:4291(A)(1), each overdue payment is a judgment by operation of law, payments interrupt prescription, and prescription does not begin until the child reaches majority or the support obligation ceases; a judgment fixing the delinquent amount becomes a judicial mortgage only when final and recorded, and its recordation lasts 10 years unless revived and reinscribed. Acts 2025, No. 477 changes agency titles in this statute effective October 1, 2027 but does not change those timing rules. No pending 2025-2026 bill referencing Civil Code arts. 3501 or 3362, or otherwise matching judicial-mortgage reinscription, appeared in the current state-bill searches |
| What ends the lien early | Three routes. First, a written cancellation request: the recorder of mortgages must cancel the recordation once given a signed written request that identifies where the instrument is recorded (art. 3366): this is how a paid-off judgment gets formally cleared. Second, simple non-reinscription: if no notice of reinscription is timely filed, the recordation's effect just lapses at the 10-year mark under art. 3359, regardless of whether the underlying judgment was separately revived. Third, a specific forced-cancellation route once BOTH have lapsed: art. 3368 lets any interested person force the recorder to cancel a judicial mortgage by presenting a written request along with either a clerk's certificate that no revival suit was filed within the art. 3501 period, or a certified copy of a final judgment that rejected a revival attempt |
| Recording in more than one county | Yes: Louisiana's parishes function like counties for this purpose. A judicial mortgage is created by filing the judgment 'with the recorder of mortgages' (art. 3300), and art. 3355 confirms an instrument affecting property in more than one parish 'may be executed in multiple originals for recordation in each of the several parishes,' with each recorded original needing to describe only the property within that specific parish. In practice, a creditor has to record (and later separately reinscribe) the judgment in every parish where the debtor owns or later acquires real estate |
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Requirements one by one
Governing law
Art. 3501 sets the judgment's own 10-year prescription and points to Code of Civil Procedure art. 2031 for revival by ex parte motion. Separately, art. 3300 creates the judicial mortgage by filing the judgment with a parish's recorder of mortgages, and arts. 3357/3359 set that recordation's own 10-year duration. Arts. 3362, 3364, and 3365 govern how to reinscribe (renew) that recordation, and art. 3355 covers recording in more than one parish.
How long the judgment itself lasts
10 years from the judgment's signing (or from when it became final, if appealed). Louisiana calls this "prescription" rather than a statute of limitations, but the practical effect is the same: without a timely revival, the judgment simply stops being enforceable. Unlike some states, Louisiana places no cap on how many times a judgment can be revived, the statute says explicitly a creditor "may have a money judgment... revived as often as he may desire."
How long a recorded lien lasts
A separate 10 years, running from the judgment's date, not the date it was recorded, and not tied to whatever happens with the judgment's own prescription track. Louisiana courts have made clear these are two distinct legal questions, governed by different Code provisions with different consequences: a judgment can be validly revived while its judicial mortgage recordation quietly lapses in the background if the creditor doesn't separately reinscribe it.
How to renew
Two separate steps, and doing one doesn't cover the other. To keep the judgment itself alive, the creditor files an ex parte motion in the court and suit that issued the judgment, supported by the holder's affidavit that the judgment has not been satisfied. To keep the judicial mortgage's recordation alive, the creditor separately records a signed written "notice of reinscription" with the parish recorder of mortgages, naming the debtor and citing the original recording's registry information. In Bank One Louisiana v. Lacobee, the creditor timely filed to revive its judgment but filed no notice in the mortgage records; the appellate court held that the judicial mortgage had not been validly reinscribed and reversed its priority over the later mortgage.
Renewal window
For reviving the judgment: no special early-filing window, but file the ex parte motion before the 10 years from signing (or finality) run out; filing interrupts the prescriptive period. For reinscribing the mortgage: file the notice before the prior 10-year recordation period lapses, and it buys a fresh 10 years measured from the new filing date. If you miss that window, a late reinscription still works, but only from the date it is filed, it does not reach back and cover the gap.
Recent changes or debt-type limits
Past-due child support follows a special rule: each overdue payment is a judgment by operation of law, payments interrupt prescription, and prescription does not begin until the child reaches majority or the support obligation ceases. A judgment fixing the delinquent amount becomes a judicial mortgage only when final and recorded, and that recordation lasts 10 years unless revived and reinscribed. A 2025 act changes agency titles in this statute effective October 1, 2027, but not these timing rules. No pending 2025-2026 legislation was found touching judgment revival or judicial-mortgage reinscription.
What ends the lien early
A written, signed cancellation request identifying where the mortgage is recorded, the standard way to clear a paid-off judgment from the record. Simple non-reinscription also ends it: if no notice of reinscription is filed in time, the recordation's effect just lapses at the 10-year mark, whether or not the judgment itself was separately revived. And once both the judgment's prescription period AND any revival attempt have run their course, an interested party (like the debtor, or someone trying to buy the property) can force the recorder to cancel the judicial mortgage by presenting a clerk's certificate confirming no timely revival suit was filed, or a certified copy of a final judgment that rejected one.
Recording in more than one county
Yes, Louisiana parishes work like counties here. A judgment creates a judicial mortgage only where it's filed with that parish's recorder of mortgages, and the law explicitly allows (and in practice requires) recording separate originals in every parish where the debtor's property sits, each one only needing to describe the property within that specific parish.
What trips people up
The single biggest trap in Louisiana is assuming that reviving the judgment automatically protects the real-property lien too. It does not, they are two separate 10-year clocks governed by different Code articles, and Bank One Louisiana v. Lacobee held that a creditor's timely revival filing did not validly reinscribe its judicial mortgage. The second trap is treating a late reinscription as if it fills the gap: it does not reach back to cover the period after the old recordation lapsed.
Common questions
I revived my Louisiana judgment before it prescribed. Is my lien on the debtor's house automatically safe too? No. The judicial mortgage's recordation runs on its own separate 10-year clock from the judgment date, and you have to separately file a notice of reinscription with the parish recorder to keep it alive, reviving the judgment alone doesn't do that.
Can I revive my Louisiana judgment more than once? Yes, as many times as needed. Louisiana's prescription statute explicitly allows a judgment to be revived "as often as" an interested party wishes, as long as each revival happens before the prior 10-year period runs out.
My debtor owns property in three different Louisiana parishes. Do I need to do anything separately in each one? Yes. You need to record the judgment (and later, separately reinscribe it) with the recorder of mortgages in each parish where you want lien coverage, recording in one parish doesn't reach property located in another.
Statutes and sources
- La. Civ. Code art. 3501, "A money judgment rendered by a trial court of this state is prescribed by the lapse of ten years from its signing... An interested party may have a money judgment rendered by a court of this state revived as often as he may desire." https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=110527 (accessed 2026-07-28)
- La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 2031(A), "A money judgment may be revived at any time before it prescribes... by the filing of an ex parte motion... [accompanied] by an affidavit of the holder and owner of the judgment, stating that the original judgment has not been satisfied." https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=111373 (accessed 2026-07-28)
- La. Civ. Code art. 3300, "A judicial mortgage is created by filing a judgment with the recorder of mortgages." https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=110350 (accessed 2026-07-28)
- La. Civ. Code art. 3359, "The effect of recordation of a judgment creating a judicial mortgage ceases ten years after the date of the judgment." https://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=110407 (accessed 2026-07-28)
- La. Civ. Code art. 3362, "A person may reinscribe a recorded instrument creating a mortgage... by recording a signed written notice of reinscription." https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=110411 (accessed 2026-07-28)
- La. Civ. Code art. 3364, "A notice of reinscription that is recorded before the effect of recordation ceases continues that effect for ten years from the date the notice is recorded." https://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=110413 (accessed 2026-07-28)
- La. Civ. Code art. 3365, "A notice of reinscription that is recorded after the effect of recordation... has ceased, again produces the effects of recordation, but only from the time that the notice of reinscription is recorded." https://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=110414 (accessed 2026-07-28)
- La. Civ. Code art. 3355, "An act of mortgage... that affects property located in more than one parish may be executed in multiple originals for recordation in each of the several parishes." https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=110403 (accessed 2026-07-28)
- La. Civ. Code art. 3366, "The recorder of mortgages shall cancel... the recordation of a mortgage, pledge, or privilege upon receipt of a written request for cancellation." https://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=110415 (accessed 2026-07-28)
- La. Civ. Code art. 3368, the recorder must cancel a judicial mortgage on written request with the required clerk certificate or final judgment showing no timely or successful revival. https://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=110417 (accessed 2026-07-28)
- La. R.S. 13:4291(A)(1)-(2), overdue child-support payments are judgments by operation of law; prescription begins only at majority or when support ends, and a final recorded delinquency judgment has a 10-year recordation period unless revived and reinscribed. https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=77735 (accessed 2026-07-28)
- Bank One Louisiana v. Lacobee, 811 So. 2d 164, 166-68 (La. App. 2 Cir. 2002), judgment prescription and judicial-mortgage reinscription are distinct; a timely revival filing did not substitute for the required notice of reinscription. https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/7808136/ (accessed 2026-07-28)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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