Divorce Attorney - The Basics of Louisiana Community Property

In Louisiana, when a person gets married, a community property regime typically begins. One may ask a divorce attorney, what does it mean to have a community property regime? It is quite simple when you think about it. For example, when Joe and Jane get married everything earned after the marriage is presumed to be a part of the community property regime. This includes a house purchased by Joe or clothes purchased by Jane. During the marriage everything belonging to either John or Jane will be presumed as community property.

However Joe or Jane (or their divorce attorney) has the opportunity to rebut the presumption by showing that the property is that person's separate property. Let's say for example before Joe got married he worked one farm. He worked with his father for 25 years growing corn and potatoes. As an award for Joe's hard work, his father gave him the family farm. Joe then gets married. If Joe acquired the family farm before his marriage, the farm could be considered his separate property. The community property regime becomes highly relevant when parties seek to end their marriage.

Now let's say for example Joe and Jane had been married for 15 years. After 15 years of marriage, Joe hires a divorce attorney to end the marriage. During the marriage Jane was a stay-at-home wife. On the other hand Joe worked all-day tug boat yard. As a result of his work, he earned $70,000 per year. Jane is entitled to one half of the $70,000 per year for all 15 years of the marriage. To avoid this problem parties sometimes write a prenuptial agreement before the marriage.

Getting back to the community property regime, it is important to document all of your things that have been acquired during the marriage. Let's say for example during the marriage Joe bought a brand-new luxury car. However, he used community property funds to purchase this vehicle. Although the luxury car may have been used for his personal use, the car is likely going to be considered community property because it was acquired from community funds. So before making a big splash purchased during the marriage, think about the repercussions if the marriage ends and now your divorce attorney is trying to divide property. In this case, a trial court may likely order that the vehicle be sold and the proceeds divided accordingly. A trial court may even award the vehicle to the other spouse. Of course, Joe would receive something to compensate his portion of the half.

Things often get blurred when pensions are involved. While we will leave that for a topic for a different day, we will suffice it to say that a spouse can seek a portion of the pension, which is earned during the marriage.

It is very important to make sure that you can differentiate from his separate property than that of community property. It can be frustrating to have your ex-spouse assert ownership for something that is your separate property. You and your divorce attorney may be able to avoid this problem if you document all of your property and the method and time of acquisition. There may be occasional circumstances in which he uses separate funds to buy things during the marriage. Because you used to separate funds, you are still entitled to reimbursement even though the purchase was made during the marriage.

Will Beaumont is a lawyer in New Orleans. This article is informational, not legal advice.