Opinion ID: 1703204
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: louisiana's public policy

Text: Under the cited jurisprudence, it is clear that Louisiana has a very strong public policy supporting the concept of community property whereas North Carolina law [10] has no public policy supporting community property. It also follows that the public policy of Louisiana in protecting the rights of the non-employee spouse in the pension benefits attributable to the service while domiciled in Louisiana is superior to any interest of North Carolina. It is equally obvious that Mrs. Robinson acquired an incorporeal movable right to one-half of the federal pension benefits attributable to the time they resided in Louisiana and [98-1874 La.App. 4 Cir.] up until the Judgment of Separation in 1986 notwithstanding the fact that Mr. Robinson did not begin receiving any pension benefits until 1993. As such, while parties are free to choose the state law to be applied, this choice may not contravene established public policy. Moreover, community property laws are for the purpose of recognizing the non-financial contributions of the non-employed spouse to the family's well-being. Accord Boggs v. Boggs, 520 U.S. 833, 117 S.Ct. 1754, 138 L.Ed.2d 45 (1997). By choosing North Carolina law, the policies behind community property in Louisiana are impaired. As Judge Robert Katz, so clearly recognized in his cogent dissent, Mr. Robinson is not the first to have tried to disenfranchise an ex-spouse of her interest in the settlement of community property. As long ago as 1919 the argument was made to the Supreme Court of Louisiana in Succession of Popp, 83 So. 765, 768, 146 La. 464 (1919) that: If married people of this state change their domicile to another state where the law of community of acquets and gains does not prevail, the wife ipso facto loses her rights to the community property, which becomes at once the husband's separate property. The Supreme Court responded with this sobering observation: If this is so, husbands have at their disposal an easy method of transferring to themselves the interest of their wives in community property. All they have to do is to go and live at Bay St. Louis, Pass Christian, Biloxi, or some other place on the Mississippi coast. The proposition is startling to say the least. Succ. of Popp, supra, at 768. In the case sub judice, Mr. Robinson has merely exhibited a new twist on an old scheme in an attempt to deprive his exspouse of her interest in the federal pension. And it is equally obvious that the North Carolina courts are not going to condone or bless these legal machinations. Coleman, supra, at 5. Nor will we. A husband may not divest a wife of her interest in property by choosing a state law that may benefit his interests to the detriment of his spouse. While a choice of law is permissible, it should have some inherent link to the contracting parties. To choose a state's law that would unfairly benefit one spouse over another, absent some significant connection to that state is not just, and more importantly, against the public policy of our state. Enforcing a state law that only tangentially relates to the parties allows unfair manipulation of differing state laws. Particularly in this case, North Carolina has very little to do with the parties and their interests. [11] Mr. Robinson was domiciled in North Carolina briefly. After his short tenure as a resident in North Carolina, he moved to Mississippi, and then to Tennessee. Thus, we will not give effect to the North Carolina choice of law provision in the Agreement.