Opinion ID: 1703204
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: significant contacts

Text: In deciding whether Louisiana or North Carolina law should be used to construe the partition agreement we are guided by article 3515 of the Louisiana Civil Code. LA.CIV.CODE art. 3515 provides: Except as other wise provided in this Book, an issue in a case having contacts with other states is governed by the law of the state whose policies would be most seriously impaired if its law were not applied to that issue. That state is determined by evaluating the strength and pertinence of the relevant policies of all involved states in the light of: (1) the relationship of each state to the parties and the dispute; and (2) the policies and needs of the interstate and international systems, including the policies of upholding the justified expectations of parties and of minimizing the adverse consequences that might follow from subjecting a party to the law of more than one state. Louisiana citizens, not wanting to follow Louisiana's law of conventional obligations, enjoy qualified party autonomy in their choice of law. Thus LA.CIV.CODE art. 3537 provides: Except as otherwise provided in this Title, an issue of conventional obligations is governed by the state whose policies would be most seriously impaired if its law were not applied to that issue. That state is determined by evaluating the strength and pertinence of the relevant policies of the involved state in the light of: (1) the pertinent contacts of each state to the parties and the transaction, including the place of negotiation, formation, and performance of the contract, the location of the object of the contract, and the place of domicile, habitual residence, or business of the parties; (2) the nature, type, and purpose of the contract; and (3) the policies referred to in Article 3515, as well as the policies of facilitating the orderly planning of transactions, of promoting multistate commercial intercourse, and of protecting one party from undue imposition by the other. Based upon these codal dictates, it is axiomatic that enforcement of the extrajudicial partition must begin with a consideration of conflict of law principles on conventional obligations to determine which state's law will apply under article 3537 and then whether adherence to the parties' choice of law in the case sub judice would contravene the public policy of the state as provided by article 3540 [6] . Accordingly, North Carolina's contacts with these parties and their community property settlement are tenuous, at best. Applying articles 3537 and 3515 to determine the connection of these two state' contacts with the parties, we note that, although the judgment divorcing the parties was rendered in North Carolina, the parties never established a matrimonial domicile within that state. In stark contrast, the parties' last matrimonial domicile was Louisiana, a domicile that they maintained for the last several years of their marriage. While Ms. Coleman remained in Louisiana, Mr. Robinson alone lived in North Carolina and then, only for a short time before moving to Mississippi and later, Tennessee. In fact, when this case was filed, Mr. Robinson no longer had any connection or contact with North Carolina. In consideration of the connection of these two states to the Agreement, we note that, although the agreement was negotiated both in Louisiana and in North Carolina, the majority of the negotiations took place in Louisiana as Mr. Robinson acted through his New Orleans attorney before finalizing the agreement through his laterhired North Carolina attorney. Further, the Agreement purported to divide and distribute the property that the parties partially acquired while living in Louisiana, none of which has a North Carolina connection. In fact, the parties divided their movables and sold the former matrimonial domicile before Mr. Robinson left Louisiana for North Carolina. Therefore, performance was partially effected in Louisiana before North Carolina's interest in the settlement, however small, came into existence. A final consideration in these articles, as they apply to this case, is protecting one party from the undue imposition of the other. Partition agreements deal with issues of paramount significance to the parties involved and to society. [7] An overriding consideration is the necessity to safeguard economically and politically disadvantaged spouses from a former spouse who possesses more education and savvy in the business negotiation realm. Negotiated within the context of marriage dissolution, community property partitions differ substantially from the usual arm's length negotiations between strangers. [8] To this end, such partitions are glaringly inconsistent with the sharing principles that existed in the now dissolved marriage. [9] Therefore, the law has effectuated safeguards to combat these inequities. Louisiana has in place such safeguards to protect Ms. Coleman. As a result of Louisiana's significant connection to the parties and their Agreement, Louisiana law must be applied to construe this Agreement and we must classify the pension benefits attributable to the community from the time the parties were domiciled in Louisiana until the Judgment of Separation as community property.