Separating property is often done by a divorce attorney while awaiting an end to the marriage. This article provides some means by which this can be done.
A New Orleans divorce attorney often deals with a variety of general family law concepts. Today’s article will discuss things a little bit more from the procedural side. Specifically we will be talking about how a divorce attorney can petition a court to separate the community property.
We probably have to first lay some groundwork for some legal concepts. In Louisiana, couples generally share equally what is known as community property. Very generally this consists of the things which the spouses earned during the course of the marriage. The total value of this property is often divided by a divorce attorney.
That said, there are few different circumstances in which a court can order the community property separated. Some of these methods are derived from Louisiana Civil Code article 2374. One such way is in the event that a spouse is missing. We are not talking about a husband or wife who has disappeared for the weekend, but rather when a spouse has been missing for so long that they can be declared “absent” according to Louisiana law. In this event, a court may order the separation of the property to commence.
Another circumstance where a court can order a separation of property is when one spouse is mismanaging the community property. The mismanagement must be severe; article 2374 does not permit a court to order the community property separated because one spouse went out and bought an expensive high definition television. Rather article 2374 comes into play when the community property is “under the threat of diminishment” due to the “fraud, fault, neglect or incompetence” of the other spouse. (A divorce attorney will likely advise that these instances are purely exemplary and there are other ways that a court can order a division of property prior to the end of the marriage.)
Let’s use a hypothetical scenario a divorce attorney might be faced with. Let’s say that Mindy and Mark are married. Among other things, they have a sizeable community investment in some stocks that they both purchased together. After making the purchase, the couple agrees that Mark will be in charge of managing the stocks. Now let’s say that the stocks which the couple invested in were not diversified, i.e. the stocks were in many of the same type of companies and in the same industries. These industries have begun to falter as of late, and their value is diminishing very quickly.
Despite their rapid decrease in value, Mark is not selling the stocks. The reason is because Mark has had a religious awakening, and has decided that he is no longer interested in trading stocks or making money of any kind. His awakening is the result of an oncoming nervous breakdown. While Mindy thinks that her husband is going crazy, she is also very concerned about the stocks because much of her retirement money is invested in them. Furthermore, she wants a divorce from Mark. Mindy may petition a court to separate the property on the basis of Mark’s incompetence or neglect of the community property.
This above is informational only, not legal advice. Will Beaumont. New Orleans
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