Marital Settlement Agreement (No Children) - Louisiana

MARITAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT (NO CHILDREN)

State of Louisiana

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Parties and Recitals
2. Divorce and Grounds
3. Classification and Partition of Community Property
4. Division of Real Property (Immovable Property)
5. Division of Personal Property (Movable Property)
6. Division of Financial Accounts and Retirement
7. Debt Allocation (Community Obligations)
8. Spousal Support
9. Insurance Provisions
10. Tax Provisions
11. Mutual Releases and Waivers
12. General Provisions
13. Execution and Notarization

1. PARTIES AND RECITALS

This Marital Settlement Agreement and Community Property Partition ("Agreement") is entered into on [__/__/____] by and between:

Petitioner: [________________________________] ("Petitioner")
Address: [________________________________]
Parish of Residence: [________________________________]

Respondent: [________________________________] ("Respondent")
Address: [________________________________]
Parish of Residence: [________________________________]

RECITALS:

A. The parties were married on [__/__/____] in [________________________________] (City/Parish, State).

B. No minor children were born of or adopted during this marriage, and neither party is currently pregnant.

C. The parties confirm that this is not a covenant marriage and desire to obtain a divorce under La. C.C. Art. 103 on this ground: [________________________________].

D. If relying on Art. 103(1), the parties had lived separate and apart continuously for at least 180 days before the divorce petition was filed because there were no minor children of the marriage at filing (Art. 103.1(1)).

E. The parties desire to partition all community property and settle all claims arising from the matrimonial regime.

F. Both parties have made full disclosure of all community and separate property, assets, and liabilities.

G. Both parties have had the opportunity to retain independent legal counsel.

2. DIVORCE AND GROUNDS

2.1. The divorce route must match the pleaded and proved ground under La. C.C. Art. 103.

☐ Art. 103(1): The spouses lived separate and apart continuously for at least 180 days before the petition was filed (Art. 103.1(1)).

☐ Other Art. 103 ground: ☐ adultery ☐ felony sentence specified in Art. 103(3) ☐ physical or sexual abuse ☐ qualifying protective order or injunction. Supporting facts/order: [________________________________].

☐ The marriage is a covenant marriage. Stop: this ordinary Art. 103 route is not the correct standalone form.

2.2. This Agreement is intended as a voluntary extrajudicial partition under La. C.C. Art. 2336 and a settlement of the listed matrimonial-regime claims. La. R.S. 9:2801 supplies the judicial procedure only if the spouses cannot agree. Any court submission or incorporation request remains subject to the assigned court's procedure.

3. CLASSIFICATION AND PARTITION OF COMMUNITY PROPERTY

3.1. The parties agree to the following classification of property:

Community Property (Acquets and Gains): All property acquired during the marriage through the effort of either spouse, except as classified as separate property below.

Separate Property:

Petitioner's Separate Property:

• [________________________________]
• [________________________________]

Respondent's Separate Property:

• [________________________________]
• [________________________________]

3.2. Each party retains their separate property in full.

3.3. The parties choose the following net allocation after reviewing the attached asset, debt, reimbursement, and valuation schedules: ☐ equal net value ☐ intentionally unequal as explained here: [________________________________]. The equal-net rule in La. R.S. 9:2801(A)(4)(b) governs a court's judicial partition; an extrajudicial partition also requires the lesion review in La. C.C. Art. 814.

4. DIVISION OF REAL PROPERTY

4.1. Marital Residence (Family Home):
The immovable property located at [________________________________], Parish of [________________________________], shall be:

☐ Awarded to Petitioner
☐ Awarded to Respondent
☐ Sold and net proceeds divided equally

4.2. The non-retaining party shall execute a separate, recordable act of transfer containing the complete legal description within [____] days of [this Agreement / the divorce judgment]. Under La. C.C. Art. 1839, an immovable transfer may be by authentic act or act under private signature and affects third persons only after registry in the parish where the property is located. The selected title/notarial form must be approved by Louisiana conveyancing counsel.

4.3. The retaining party assumes sole responsibility for mortgage, property taxes, insurance, and maintenance.

4.4. Other Immovable Property:

5. DIVISION OF PERSONAL PROPERTY

5.1. Each party shall retain movable property currently in their possession.

5.2. The following items shall be distributed:

To Petitioner:

• [________________________________]
• [________________________________]

To Respondent:

• [________________________________]
• [________________________________]

5.3. Vehicles:

6. DIVISION OF FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS AND RETIREMENT

6.1. Bank Accounts:

6.2. Retirement and Pension Accounts:

6.3. The parties shall cooperate in preparing any required QDRO/DRO. Costs borne by [________________________________].

6.4. Investment Accounts:

7. DEBT ALLOCATION

7.1. Community Obligations:

Petitioner shall assume and pay:

Respondent shall assume and pay:

7.2. Each party shall indemnify and hold the other harmless from the listed allocated obligations. This allocation is only between the spouses and is not represented as releasing either spouse from a creditor's contract, note, mortgage, or account. If a court judicially allocates a liability, La. R.S. 9:2801(A)(4)(c) likewise states that the allocation does not affect creditor rights.

7.3. Neither party shall intentionally incur a new joint obligation in the other's name or use a joint credit facility except as expressly listed here: [________________________________]. This is a contractual covenant and does not alter third-party rights.

8. SPOUSAL SUPPORT

8.1. The parties agree to the following:

☐ Final Spousal Support Waiver. The potential obligee waives final spousal support in the form required by La. C.C. Art. 116 through this authentic act (or a separately duly acknowledged private act). This election does not silently dispose of an existing interim-support order or accrued amount.

☐ Final Periodic Support. [________________] shall pay [________________] $[________] per month beginning [__/__/____] and ending [__/__/____]. Under La. C.C. Art. 112(D), the award ordinarily may not exceed one-third of the obligor's net income. The court may exceed that cap when support follows a divorce under Art. 103(4) or (5), or when the court determines that a spouse or a child of either spouse was a victim of domestic abuse committed by the other spouse during the marriage.

☐ Lump Sum Support. [________________] shall pay [________________] $[________] as a lump sum in lieu of periodic support. If this is requested as a court award under Art. 112(D), confirm that the domestic-abuse exception authorizing a lump-sum award applies; otherwise identify the separate contractual basis for the payment.

8.2. Under La. C.C. Art. 115, interim or final periodic support is extinguished by the obligee's remarriage, the death of either party, or a judicial determination that the obligee cohabited with another person in the manner of married persons. Any additional end date requested here must appear in the agreement and resulting judgment: [__/__/____].

8.3. Under La. C.C. Art. 114, an award may be modified if either party's circumstances materially change and shall be terminated if it becomes unnecessary; the obligor's remarriage alone is not a change of circumstance.

8.4. Interim support status (Art. 113): ☐ no claim or order ☐ existing order preserved ☐ accrued amount resolved as follows: [________________________________] ☐ separate court filing/order required.

9. INSURANCE PROVISIONS

9.1. Health Insurance: Each party shall obtain their own coverage after the divorce.

9.2. Life Insurance:
☐ No obligation.
☐ [________________] shall maintain a policy of $[________] naming [________________] as beneficiary until all obligations are satisfied.

9.3. Auto Insurance: Each party insures their own awarded vehicles.

10. TAX PROVISIONS

10.1. For tax year [____]:
☐ File jointly and divide refund/liability equally.
☐ File jointly with alternate division: [________________________________].
☐ File separately.

10.2. Each party is responsible for their own taxes after dissolution.

10.3. Mutual indemnification for tax liabilities from joint returns.

11. MUTUAL RELEASES AND WAIVERS

11.1. Subject to the completed schedules and stated reservations, each party settles the disclosed property, debt, and reimbursement claims identified in this Agreement. This release does not cover omitted or undisclosed former community property, third-party creditor rights, accrued obligations not listed, or support rights unless waived in the form required by Art. 116.

11.2. This Agreement does not itself change beneficiary designations, testamentary instruments, account ownership, or future succession rights. Each party shall obtain separate Louisiana succession and estate-planning advice and execute any valid changes in the form required for the affected asset or instrument.

11.3. Each party shall update estate documents within [____] days.

11.4. Reimbursement claims, including any claim under La. C.C. Art. 2364, are listed and valued on Exhibit [____]. A claim is settled or waived only if specifically identified here: [________________________________].

12. GENERAL PROVISIONS

12.1. Entire Agreement. This is the complete agreement between the parties.

12.2. Equalizing Payment. If the agreed allocation uses an equalizing payment:
☐ No equalizing payment required.
☐ [________________] shall pay [________________] $[________] on these terms: [________________________________]. If ordered in a judicial partition, La. R.S. 9:2801(A)(4)(d) authorizes a court-directed equalizing sum and security terms.

12.3. Governing Law. Governed by the Louisiana Civil Code and Louisiana Revised Statutes.

12.4. Severability. Invalid provisions do not affect the remainder.

12.5. Incorporation. The parties request that this Agreement be incorporated into the judgment of divorce.

12.6. Voluntary Execution. Signed voluntarily and free from duress.

12.7. Attorney Fees. Each party pays their own fees.

12.8. Lesion and Valuation. La. C.C. Art. 814 permits rescission of an extrajudicial partition if a co-owner receives value deficient by more than one-fourth of the fair-market-value share that should have been received. The parties attach the valuation evidence and calculations used here; no generic sentence is represented as eliminating statutory lesion review.

13. EXECUTION AND NOTARIZATION

PETITIONER:

Signature: ________________________________
Printed Name: [________________________________]
Date: [__/__/____]

RESPONDENT:

Signature: ________________________________
Printed Name: [________________________________]
Date: [__/__/____]

NOTARIZATION

STATE OF LOUISIANA
PARISH OF [________________________________]

BEFORE ME, the undersigned Notary Public, duly commissioned and qualified in and for the State of Louisiana, and in the presence of the undersigned competent witnesses, personally came and appeared:

[________________________________] ("Petitioner") and [________________________________] ("Respondent"),

who, after being duly sworn, declared that they have executed the foregoing Marital Settlement Agreement and Community Property Partition freely and voluntarily and for the purposes therein expressed.

THUS DONE AND SIGNED on this [____] day of [________________], [____], at [________________________________], Louisiana, in the presence of the undersigned witnesses and me, Notary.

Petitioner Signature: ________________________________
Respondent Signature: ________________________________

WITNESSES:

Witness 1 Signature: ________________________________
Printed Name: [________________________________]

Witness 2 Signature: ________________________________
Printed Name: [________________________________]

NOTARY PUBLIC:

Signature: ________________________________
Printed Name: [________________________________]
Notary ID / Bar Roll No.: [________________]
My Commission: ☐ Statewide ☐ Parish of [________________________________]

LOUISIANA-SPECIFIC NOTES

1. Community Ownership and Classification: Under Arts. 2336 and 2338, each spouse owns a present undivided one-half interest in community property, which includes property acquired during the legal regime through either spouse's effort, skill, or industry and the other items listed in Art. 2338. Classification and the agreed allocation must be shown asset by asset.

2. Separate Property: Property acquired before marriage, by inheritance, or by donation to one spouse individually is separate (La. C.C. Art. 2341).

3. Extrajudicial vs. Judicial Partition: Article 2336 permits a voluntary partition during the regime without court approval; the property received becomes separate, and third-person effect requires registry under Art. 2332. After termination, Art. 2369.8 preserves each spouse's right to partition former community property and makes an agreement excluding that right absolutely null. If the spouses cannot agree, judicial partition follows La. R.S. 9:2801.

4. One-Third Cap on Support: Final periodic support ordinarily cannot exceed one-third of the obligor's net income. Article 112(D) permits an award above that cap, including a lump-sum award, after a divorce under Art. 103(4) or (5) or when the court determines that a spouse or a child of either spouse was a victim of domestic abuse committed by the other spouse during the marriage.

5. Fault and Presumption: Article 112(A) requires the claimant to be free from fault before the divorce filing, in need, and supported by the obligor's ability to pay. Article 112(C) creates a presumption of entitlement after divorce under Art. 103(2), (3), (4), or (5), or after the specified domestic-abuse determination.

6. Omitted Property and Claims: Do not use an invented universal prescription period. Identify every former community asset, liability, and reimbursement claim; Art. 2369.8 preserves the right to demand partition of omitted former community property at any time.

7. Form and Registry: Article 1839 permits an immovable transfer by authentic act or act under private signature; registry in the parish where the property lies is required for effect against third persons. Article 1833 defines an authentic act as execution before a notary and two witnesses, with each signer identified beneath the signature. This packet uses authentic-act formalities, but any separate conveyance must be prepared in the recordable form selected by Louisiana counsel.

8. Residency: At least one spouse must be domiciled in Louisiana at the time of filing (La. C.C.P. Art. 10(A)(7)).

9. Support Waiver Form: Under Art. 116, final spousal support may be modified, waived, or extinguished by judgment, authentic act, or an act under private signature duly acknowledged by the obligee.

SOURCES AND REFERENCES

• La. C.C. art. 103 — divorce grounds (official Legislature)
• La. C.C. art. 103.1 — separation periods
• La. C.C. art. 112 — final spousal support
• La. C.C. art. 113 — interim spousal support
• La. C.C. art. 114 — modification and termination
• La. C.C. art. 115 — extinguishment
• La. C.C. art. 116 — waiver and modification form
• La. C.C. art. 2331 — form of matrimonial agreement
• La. C.C. art. 2332 — effect toward third persons
• La. C.C. art. 2336 — ownership and voluntary partition
• La. C.C. art. 2338 — community property
• La. C.C. art. 2341 — separate property
• La. C.C. art. 2364 — reimbursement
• La. C.C. art. 2369.8 — right to partition former community property
• La. R.S. 9:2801 — judicial partition procedure
• La. C.C. art. 1833 — authentic acts
• La. C.C. art. 1839 — immovable transfers and registry
• La. C.C. art. 814 — rescission for lesion
• La. C.C.P. art. 10 — jurisdiction over status

This template is provided for informational and educational purposes only by ezel.ai. It does not constitute legal advice. Consult a Louisiana-licensed attorney before use.