Opinion ID: 1703204
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: part i: louisiana community property law

Text: Louisiana Civil Code article 2325 defines the matrimonial regime as a system of principles and rules governing the ownership and management of the property of married persons as between themselves and toward third persons. A matrimonial regime may be legal, contractual, or partly legal and partly contractual. La. Civ.Code art. 2326. There is a presumption in the law that all married persons living in Louisiana are under the legal regime of acquets and gains (community property). Our community property laws apply to spouses domiciled in this state, regardless of their domicile at the time of marriage or the place of celebration of the marriage. La.Civ.Code art. 2334. However, married persons are also given the opportunity to establish another regime other than the legal regime of acquets and gains during the first year after moving into and acquiring a domicile in this state, spouses may enter into a matrimonial agreement without court approval. La.Civ.Code art. 2328. Spouses are also free to establish by matrimonial agreement [4] a regime of separation of property or modify the legal regime as provided by law. Id. Moreover, spouses may enter into a matrimonial agreement before or during marriage as to all matters that are not prohibited by public policy. La.Civ.Code art. 2329. Under Louisiana law, property is characterized as either community or separate. La. Civ.Code art. 2335. Property acquired during the existence of the community is presumed to be community, but either spouse may rebut the presumption and prove the separate nature of said property. La. Civ.Code art. 2340. The classification of property as separate or community is fixed at the time of its acquisition. Smith v. Smith, 95-0913 (La.App. 1st Cir.12/20/96), 685 So.2d 649. Pursuant to La. Civ.Code art. 2338, community property is comprised of: property acquired during the existence of the legal regime through the effort, skill, or industry of either spouse; property acquired with community things or with community and separate things, unless classified as separate property under Article 2341; property donated to the spouses jointly; natural and civil fruits of community property; damages awarded for loss or injury to a thing belonging to the community; and all other property not classified by law as separate property. Conversely, La.Civ.Code art. 2341 provides, in pertinent part, that a person's separate estate is comprised of: property acquired by a spouse prior to the establishment of a community property regime; property acquired by a spouse with separate things or with separate and community things when the value of the community things is inconsequential in comparison with the value of the separate things used; property acquired by a spouse by inheritance or donation to him individually; damages awarded to a spouse in an action for breach of contract against the other spouse or for the loss sustained as a result of fraud or bad faith in the management of community property by the other spouse; damages or other indemnity awarded to a spouse in connection with the management of his separate property; and things acquired by a spouse as a result of a voluntary partition of the community during the existence of a community property regime. In the present case, Ms. Coleman, and Mr. Robinson were domiciled in Wyoming, Texas, California and Virginia for various periods of their marriage. However, the majority of their marriage was spent in Louisiana. When they moved to Louisiana they had a period of one year to declare a legal regime. The record indicates that the couple failed to establish any legal regime by matrimonial agreement. Thus, Ms. Coleman and Mr. Robinson subjected themselves to the laws of community of acquets and gains or community property.