Rule Text
A. The objections that may be raised through the declinatory exception include but are not limited to the following:
(1) Insufficiency of citation.
(2) Insufficiency of service of process, including failure to request service of citation on the defendant within the time prescribed by Article 1201(C), or failure to request service of petition within the time prescribed by Article 3955.
(3) Lis pendens under Article 531.
(4) Improper venue.
(5) The court's lack of jurisdiction over the person of the defendant.
(6) Repealed by Acts 2023, No. 5, §3.
B. When two or more of these objections are pleaded in the declinatory exception, they need not be pleaded in the alternative or in any particular order.
C. All objections that may be raised through the declinatory exception are waived unless pleaded therein.
Amendment history: Acts 1990, No. 521, §2, eff. Jan. 1, 1991; Acts 1997, No. 578, §1; Acts 2006, No. 750, §1; Acts 2010, No. 407, §1; Acts 2017, No. 419, §1; Acts 2023, No. 5, §§1, 3.
Plain-English Summary (for reference only — not a substitute for the rule text above)
This summary is not the rule. The rule text controls.
If you're sued and think there's something technically wrong with how the case was started against you, this rule tells you what kinds of problems you can raise and how to raise them. These problems include things like being served with the wrong paperwork, not being served properly or on time, the case being filed in the wrong court location, having the same lawsuit already pending somewhere else, or the court not having proper authority over you personally.
You can raise several of these problems at the same time in one filing. You don't have to pick just one or list them in any specific order. The law lets you combine them together in whatever way makes sense for your situation.
The most important part of this rule is the deadline it creates. If you have any of these objections, you must raise them early in the case through this specific type of filing. If you don't raise them at the right time, you lose the right to raise them later. In other words, staying quiet about these issues means you give up your chance to argue them, even if you had a valid point.
