Dividing Community Property in Louisiana during Divorce Part I: An Overview

The following articles are designed to be a technical understanding of community property law in Louisiana.  The majority of this is based on the laws found in the Louisiana civil code between articles 2325 and 2450.  Simply reading these laws may provide some guidance on the issue that you are concerned with, but it may be more helpful to have this in context and how these laws are applied in divorce.  Explaining the law and how they are applied is a large challenge for a series of articles, after all books have been written on this topic.  However, because of the importance of having clarity on this matter, an attempt to make the law more understandable is at least worthwhile.

I think the easiest way of explaining this is to begin with how the law is applied, and then go over the specific substantive law on classifying community.  Hopefully then, you can identify what stage of the divorce that you are at and then seek to apply the appropriate law.  Also, the procedure is fairly simple and so it is best to get it out of the way prior to attempting to go through the hugely complicated law.

Ultimately, though it is important that you and the attorney handling your divorce will understand that division of the community is purely about money – this is obvious, but don’t forget it.  So, it is important not to have too contentious of a court fight over community if this will greatly diminish your percentage that you will receive upon a partition of the assets.  It is simply a business decision for you to make, as to the extent that you will pursue your share of the assets.  This is not to say that dividing property should not be done, rather exercising every legal right of, for instance, reimbursement could prove not to be worth it.  The laws on community property in Louisiana are extensive, and there are a huge number of cases that, in their own ways, make even more laws. 

To avoid such a calculation, couples sometimes get pre-nups, which in Louisiana are termed matrimonial agreements.  The purpose is to have an understanding of how property will be allocated upon a divorce, and also to understand what aspects of the community property laws will exist between the parties to, for instance, define how property of the parties will be managed and what will be the consequence of mismanagement.

Lastly, community property in Louisiana concerns, of course, simply property.  It is totally separate from the other areas of divorce law.  It is called the legal regime of acquets and gains, this is as opposed to the having a contract between the spouses.  This means that if you do not have a marital contact, these are the default rules that apply.  If you do have a martial contract, you apply the rules that it dictates.

Will Beaumont is a lawyer in Metairie & New Orleans.  This article is strictly informational and not legal advice.