Earlier today, Tammy, my legal assistant, asked me a question I honestly could not answer off the top of my head: Does Louisiana have a Lemon Law? The answer was not immediately sitting in my brain because this is not the type of law we ordinarily practice at Hampton Law Firm. A perfectly reasonable person might hear that and say, “Okay, Judith. Then just say you don’t know and move on with your life.” That is apparently not how I operate. I had spent most of the afternoon at

For additional guidance - download our free educational resource explaining Title Insurance. Let’s make this painfully simple. You buy a house. You pay for the house. You sign approximately 47,000 pieces of paper. Somebody hands you the keys. You move in. You buy a couch. You argue with somebody about where the couch should go. It is your house. Except six months later, somebody shows up and says: “Actually, part of that house belongs to me.” Excuse me? Maybe somebody in the

Hampton Law Firm is committed to accuracy, fairness, transparency, and accountability. Our writings may be revised for clarity, accuracy, or continued development. The most recently published version is the official public version, while prior drafts are retained in our records. Read our Commitment to You for more information about our publishing and accountability standards. Beginning August 1, 2026, Louisiana’s bail laws will change in ways that matter to defendants, famili

If you had asked me in law school what legal issues I expected to spend my career arguing, this one would not have made the list. Murder, drug trafficking, and complicated fraud cases would have made sense. Standing in a courtroom discussing whether someone should potentially spend years at hard labor because of a Facebook account somehow escaped every criminal-law textbook I ever opened. Yet here we are. Over the past several months, I have found myself handling what I have

A defendant receives ten years in prison. The judge has barely finished speaking before somebody whispers, “That means three and a half.” Another person says, “No, violent offenders do sixty-five percent.” Somebody’s aunt says, “He has priors, so he is habitual.” Then a man who attended absolutely none of the court proceedings announces that the defendant will be home in eighteen months because his cousin had the same charge. His cousin probably did not have the same charge.

Explaining Felony Plea Forms in Louisiana If you are pleading guilty to a felony in Lincoln or Union Parish, you are going to receive a stack of papers asking you to sign, date, initial, acknowledge, waive, certify, and swear that you understand several paragraphs written by people who apparently believe ordinary English is a gateway drug. These forms matter. They are not courthouse permission slips, and your signature is not merely proof that you successfully located a pen.

Every so often, a law enforcement officer sends me a picture of a plea offer and asks me what, exactly, the prosecutor is asking them to approve. The charge usually is not the confusing part. The officer knows the charge, knows the investigation, and probably knows considerably more about where the defendant was standing at 2:17 a.m. six months ago than I ever will. "Has law enforcement approved the plea agreement?" It is also important because during almost any felony plea,

Louisiana’s Habitual Offender Law is what happens when the State looks at a person’s new felony conviction, pulls out the person’s entire criminal history like a CVS receipt, and says, “Actually, we are not finished here.” It is not a separate crime. Nobody gets arrested for “being habitual.” It is a sentencing law that allows the district attorney to ask for a much larger sentence on the new felony because the person has qualifying prior felony convictions. You may also hear

Most people do not think of Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat as part of their estate plan, which is bold considering some of us touch those apps more often than we touch our spouse, our Bible, our bank account, or the laundry we keep restarting because we are not emotionally prepared to fold it. We scroll in bed, in the bathroom, at red lights, in the school pickup line, and during conversations where we are nodding like we heard a damn word. Then we act shocked when somebody

A reverse mortgage is one of those things that sounds simple enough while everybody is alive and nobody is asking too many questions. The homeowner gets to use some of the equity in the home, there usually are not regular monthly mortgage payments, and the family quietly files the phrase “reverse mortgage” into the same mental drawer as Medicare paperwork, old insurance policies, and instruction manuals nobody has opened since 2004. Then the homeowner passes away, and suddenl

Self-defense is one of those legal concepts people think they understand until they see what it actually looks like inside a courtroom. Most people hear the phrase and think the question is simple: someone was threatened, someone defended themselves, and the case should be over. But self-defense is not a magic phrase, and it is not a blanket excuse for violence. It is a legal justification that depends on the facts of the moment, the force used, whether that force was reasona

Years Later, Someone Will Still Be Reading Your Report I have worked in enough different places in the criminal justice system to understand that most people only see one small piece of it. I have been a prosecutor. I am now a public defender. I have reviewed cases to determine whether the State had enough evidence to file charges, whether the evidence could be proved at trial, whether the evidence was legally obtained, and whether the record would survive the scrutiny that c

When a loved one passes away, families are often left trying to find important information for the succession. Years ago, that information may have been stored in a filing cabinet, a desk drawer, a safe, or a folder with bank statements and insurance papers. Important records may be inside an email account, iCloud account, Google Drive, Facebook account, online banking portal, payment app, cloud storage account, or cell phone that no one can unlock. This creates a difficult a

When someone is sentenced in Louisiana criminal court, families usually hear the number first. Five years. Ten years. Twenty years. That number matters, of course, but it does not tell the entire story. The words that come after the number can change the real meaning of the sentence just as much as the number itself. One phrase families hear often is “without benefits.” It may be said quickly during a plea or sentencing hearing, almost like everyone in the courtroom already k

Louisiana’s new sentencing laws have changed how many criminal sentences may be served, especially for offenses committed on or after August 1, 2024. This FAQ explains why the date of the offense matters, how parole and good time may be affected, and why families should not rely on courthouse rumors when making decisions.

A vehicle repair problem can turn into a legal problem very quickly. Most people think they are dealing with one issue: “My car needs to be fixed.” Then the situation starts stretching out. The repair shop keeps saying they are waiting on parts, waiting on another mechanic, waiting on a diagnosis, waiting on payment, or waiting on someone else. Before the owner knows it, the vehicle has been moved to another shop, nobody is giving a straight answer, and storage fees are build

Grandparent visitation is one of those topics that can become emotional very quickly because it sits right in the middle of love, family history, parental rights, grief, conflict, and the best interest of a child. In Louisiana, grandparents may have the right to ask a court for visitation with a grandchild in certain circumstances, but that right is not automatic. The court looks at the law, the facts, the prior relationship, the parent’s rights, and most importantly, what is

When families start talking about caring for an aging parent, spouse, friend, or loved one, the conversation often begins with very practical questions. Who is going to pay the nursing home? Who can sign the Medicaid application? What happens if money was gifted to a child? What if Mom can no longer understand what she is signing? What if Dad is still physically independent, but he is making unsafe financial or medical decisions? These questions are not just emotional family

FAQ Series | Hampton Law Firm I have an attorney friend, he's retired from the Louisiana Supreme Court. He's seen many, many things in his time in the law, but year after year our discussion remains on one area of law alone, Homeowners Associations and Building Restrictions. It is odd, yes. It is boring, maybe. But the law and research on this area is actually more detailed and intricate than you might think. Homeowners association disputes usually start with a simple questio

FAQ Series | Hampton Law Firm In Louisiana, a credit sale deed can be a useful way to structure a real estate transaction when the buyer is not paying the entire purchase price at the time of closing. In everyday terms, this is often thought of as a seller-financed sale. The buyer receives title to the property, but the seller remains owed money over time. When the buyer later stops paying, however, the legal process is usually not as simple as saying, “They defaulted, so I g