A. When a petition for divorce is filed in accordance with Civil Code Article 102, service of the petition shall be requested on the defendant within ninety days of the filing of the petition.

            B. If the defendant is an absentee, the request for appointment of an attorney to represent the absentee defendant within ninety days of commencement of the action constitutes compliance with the requirements of Paragraph A of this Article.

            C. The defendant may expressly waive the requirements of Paragraph A of this Article by any written waiver. The requirement provided by Paragraph A of this Article shall be expressly waived by a defendant unless the defendant files, in accordance with the provisions of Article 928, a declinatory exception of insufficiency of service of process specifically alleging the failure to timely request service of the petition, in which case, after due proceedings, the action shall be dismissed.

            D. If not waived, a request for service of citation upon the defendant shall be considered timely if requested on the defendant within the time period provided by this Article, notwithstanding insufficient or erroneous service.

            Acts 2010, No. 407, §1; Acts 2014, No. 379, §2, eff. May 30, 2014; Acts 2017, No. 419, §1.