Tag Archives: divorce lawyer

In the State of Louisiana we have laws that govern property shared between spouses while they are married to one another. The property rights are generally community property rights. Community property rights confer very real ownerships interests to the spouse just by virtue of the fact that they are married to each other while they acquire this property. Consult with a divorce lawyer, however, as there are numerous ways that such property may not be classified as community and a huge number of exceptions that apply to community property.

Interdiction in the state of Louisiana involves the process by which a person is divested of their personal and property rights. This means that those rights are given to another person (called a “curator”) on the basis that the interdicted person is not capable of making reasoned decisions about their well-being. One easy example is in the case of a mentally handicapped individual, who, despite being thirty five years old, still has the intellect of a nine year old. That person very well might be better served if they had a trusted family member watching over their personal and property rights, and indeed making their decisions for them.

Louisiana is a community property state. In a very general sense, this means that married couples share equally the property which they acquire by virtue of their work and industry over the course of the marriage. Because property which is considered “community” is shared equally, a divorce lawyer in Metairie, La may note that there are instances where the spouses must confer before disposing of that property. For example, under certain circumstances, one spouse cannot unilaterally decide to start leasing the family home to a third party, without the explicit consent of the other spouse.

Sometimes married couples make improvements to each other’s property. When the property is shared between them (called “community property”) then those improvements are also shared equally. However, the situation can be far different if the property which has been improved only belonged to one of the spouses. Let’s consider an easy example that a divorce lawyer might encounter.

Louisiana is a “community property” state. It is one of about twelve such states in the entire United States of America. In Louisiana, community property is property which spouses must typically split up evenly. Like most legal concepts, it is subject to a wide range of exceptions; and this article and its contents should only be consulted for general informational purposes. If you need specific information as applied to facts, contact a divorce lawyer in your area.

When a married couple ends their marriage in Louisiana, there can be a veritable host of issues for a divorce lawyer to resolve. Community and separate property needs to be parsed out, child custody and the visitation rights over those children need to be addressed, and spousal support concerns may have to be broached.

With the possible exception of physical and sexual abuse, a court may consider a literal cornucopia of evidence, testimony, scholastic and community histories, and other forms of input when rendering its decision. Here in Louisiana, these types of considerations are largely grouped under the aegis of the Louisiana Civil Code, which is a body of law formulated to deal with state issues such as child custody matters. Specifically within the Code is article 134, which lays out a number of different lenses through which to view a particular custody scenario. One such “lens” under article 134 asks the court (or even a divorce lawyer) to consider custody in light of the “distance between the parties.”

Like any state’s family law system, Louisiana has its nuances and subtleties. While it is impossible to say for certain what the conclusion will be in any given legal imbroglio without knowing all of the facts, sometimes a divorce lawyer can postulate generalities. What follows are some typical “dos and don’ts” in Louisiana family law. If you find yourself in any of the situations like the ones below, please consult a trained Louisiana attorney.