Louisiana Matrimonial Agreement Before Marriage

LOUISIANA MATRIMONIAL AGREEMENT BEFORE MARRIAGE

Separation-of-Property Regime — Authentic-Act Form

COMPLETION AND REVIEW GATE

Party A counsel: [________________________________]

Party B counsel: [________________________________]

Complete draft delivered to Party A: [__/__/____]

Complete draft delivered to Party B: [__/__/____]

Party A disclosure delivered: [__/__/____]

Party B disclosure delivered: [__/__/____]

Planned marriage date: [__/__/____]

Execution date: [__/__/____]

☐ Each Party received the complete Agreement and all schedules before signing.

☐ Each Party had sufficient time and a meaningful opportunity to obtain separate Louisiana legal advice.

☐ Each Party provided a written disclosure of property, obligations, income, business and trust interests, retirement benefits, and material contingent interests.

☐ Counsel separately reviewed estate rights, taxes, creditors, retirement plans, businesses, trusts, immovables, and property outside Louisiana where applicable.

☐ No blank material term or incomplete schedule remains.

STOP: Do not sign if a material financial fact is disputed, a Party wants more time or advice, or the notary and witness formalities cannot be completed.

1. PARTIES, CONTEMPLATED MARRIAGE, AND PURPOSE

This Matrimonial Agreement ("Agreement") is executed on [__/__/____] by:

Party A: [FULL LEGAL NAME], residing at [ADDRESS]

Party B: [FULL LEGAL NAME], residing at [ADDRESS]

The Parties contemplate marrying each other on or about [__/__/____]. They enter this Agreement before marriage to establish a separation-of-property regime under Louisiana Civil Code articles 2328, 2329, and 2370.

Under Article 2325, a matrimonial regime governs ownership and management of married persons' property between themselves and toward third persons. Under Article 2328, provisions of the legal regime not excluded or modified by a matrimonial agreement retain their force and effect.

The Parties agree that this Agreement will govern them only if they marry each other. It contains no fixed expiration date before marriage; counsel may add a negotiated termination date if the Parties want one.

2. ELECTION OF SEPARATION OF PROPERTY

The Parties exclude the legal regime of community of acquets and gains and establish a contractual regime of separation of property.

Except where this Agreement expressly provides otherwise:

• Each Party owns separately the property identified for that Party in Schedule A or B;
• Property acquired by either Party before or during marriage in that Party's name or with that Party's separate property remains that Party's property between the Parties;
• Income, fruits, appreciation, substitutions, reinvestments, and proceeds of a Party's property are allocated to that Party;
• Property intentionally acquired in both Parties' names is owned in the proportions stated in the acquisition instrument or a contemporaneous written agreement; and
• No item becomes jointly owned between the Parties merely because it is used by both Parties or deposited temporarily into an account used for shared expenses, if ownership and tracing records establish the agreed classification.

Special classifications or exceptions:

[____________________________________________________________]

[____________________________________________________________]

This Agreement allocates rights between the Parties. It does not represent that an allocation binds a creditor, taxing authority, retirement plan, insurer, entity, beneficiary, or other third person.

3. MANAGEMENT AND DISPOSITION

Consistent with Article 2371, each Party acting alone may use, enjoy, and dispose of that Party's property without the other Party's consent or concurrence, subject to mandatory law and any express limitation below.

Agreed limitations on management or disposition:

[____________________________________________________________]

Jointly owned property management:

[____________________________________________________________]

Records and account statements to be maintained:

[____________________________________________________________]

Any deed, beneficiary designation, plan consent, entity approval, trust instrument, account instruction, or other document needed to implement an agreed transfer must be completed separately.

4. OBLIGATIONS AND EXPENSES OF THE MARRIAGE

4.1 Existing and Later Obligations

As between the Parties, each Party is responsible for the obligations allocated to that Party in Schedule A or B and for obligations that Party later incurs in that Party's name, except as stated below.

Shared obligations or different allocation:

[____________________________________________________________]

This internal allocation does not extinguish or limit a creditor's rights.

4.2 Necessaries

Article 2372 provides that a spouse is solidarily liable with the other spouse who incurs an obligation for necessaries for that spouse or the family. Nothing in this Agreement is intended to eliminate that statutory liability toward a creditor.

Internal contribution or reimbursement arrangement for necessaries:

[____________________________________________________________]

4.3 Expenses of the Marriage

Article 2373 permits the matrimonial agreement to state how each spouse contributes to marriage expenses; absent a provision, each spouse contributes in proportion to that spouse's means.

The Parties choose the following arrangement:

☐ Each contributes in proportion to means.

☐ Party A contributes [AMOUNT / PERCENTAGE / CATEGORIES]: [________________________________]

☐ Party B contributes [AMOUNT / PERCENTAGE / CATEGORIES]: [________________________________]

☐ Shared account and funding procedure: [________________________________]

☐ Other reviewed arrangement: [________________________________]

5. FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE AND SIGNING RECORD

Party A's disclosure is attached as Schedule A. Party B's disclosure is attached as Schedule B. Each schedule should identify reasonable values or good-faith estimates and the valuation date and source for material items.

Each Party states that the Party:

☐ Reviewed the other Party's schedule and requested supporting information considered necessary.

☐ Identified any estimated, contingent, jointly owned, or difficult-to-value item.

☐ Had the opportunity to ask questions and obtain separate advice.

☐ Is signing voluntarily and may decline to sign.

☐ Is not relying on an oral promise or financial representation omitted from this Agreement and its schedules.

These statements create a signing record; they do not waive a defense or replace the legal standards applicable to contract formation or enforcement.

6. SUPPORT, CHILDREN, AND SUCCESSION RIGHTS

6.1 Spousal Support

This Agreement does not waive or fix interim or final spousal support. Article 116 states the form by which final spousal support may be modified, waived, or extinguished. Any proposed support waiver or limitation must be separately drafted and reviewed for its timing, form, scope, and enforceability.

6.2 Custody and Child Support

This Agreement does not determine or limit custody, parenting time, decision-making, or child support. Articles 132 and 141 preserve court authority over custody and child support.

Optional allocation between the Parties of agreed child-related expenses beyond legally required support, subject to later court authority:

[____________________________________________________________]

6.3 Succession and Estate Rights

This Agreement does not renounce or alter the marital portion or the established order of succession. Article 2330 limits contractual freedom on those subjects. Estate-planning counsel must prepare any separate will, trust, beneficiary designation, donation, or other lawful estate arrangement.

7. TAXES, BUSINESSES, RETIREMENT, AND INSURANCE

The Parties will make tax-filing elections when returns are prepared with current advice. An allocation between the Parties does not control a taxing authority.

Allocation of tax liabilities, refunds, estimated payments, audits, and professional fees:

[____________________________________________________________]

Business or professional-practice provisions and required entity documents:

[____________________________________________________________]

Retirement-plan provisions and required plan or federal-law consents:

[____________________________________________________________]

Insurance ownership or beneficiary obligations and required separate forms:

[____________________________________________________________]

8. THIRD-PERSON EFFECT AND REGISTRY REVIEW

Article 2332 makes a matrimonial agreement effective toward third persons:

• As to immovable property, when filed in the conveyance records of the parish where the property is situated; and
• As to movables, when filed in the parish or parishes where the spouses are domiciled.

The Article does not state a universal number of days after marriage for filing. Louisiana counsel or the recording notary must identify each required parish, the recordable form, privacy treatment for disclosure schedules, and the filing plan.

This template makes no representation that filing defeats any creditor's rights.

9. AMENDMENT, TERMINATION, AND INTERPRETATION

Any amendment or termination of this matrimonial regime must be prepared with the form required by Article 2331. After marriage, Article 2329 generally requires a joint petition and court findings to modify or terminate a matrimonial regime, subject to the Article's stated exceptions, including an agreement subjecting the spouses to the legal regime and its first-year Louisiana-domicile provision.

This Agreement and its completed schedules state the Parties' entire agreement concerning the selected matrimonial regime. No oral statement changes it.

Louisiana law governs construction, subject to mandatory law governing a person, asset, plan, creditor, or proceeding.

No arbitration clause, jury waiver, automatic attorney-fee award, liability cap, force-majeure clause, automatic injunction, or predetermined remedy is included. A dispute will proceed in a court with jurisdiction and proper venue unless the Parties later adopt a separately researched, lawful procedure.

If a provision is unenforceable, the Parties request enforcement of the remaining provisions only to the extent a court determines they may lawfully operate without rewriting a prohibited agreement.

Each Party will receive a complete signed copy with all schedules.

10. AUTHENTIC-ACT EXECUTION

The Parties choose authentic-act form. Under Article 1833, each Party must execute before a notary public or other authorized officer, in the presence of two witnesses; the Party, witnesses, and notary sign. Place each signer's typed or hand-printed name beneath the signature.

Article 1833 permits executions at different times or places and before different notaries or witnesses if its requirements are satisfied for each execution. Use separate complete execution counterparts only under Louisiana counsel and notarial direction.

PARTY A

Signature: ______________________________________________

Printed name: [________________________________]

Date: [__/__/____]

PARTY A WITNESSES

Witness 1 signature: ____________________________________

Printed name: [________________________________]

Witness 2 signature: ____________________________________

Printed name: [________________________________]

PARTY A NOTARY

Notary signature: _______________________________________

Printed name: [________________________________]

Notary identification / commission information: [________________________________]

PARTY B

Signature: ______________________________________________

Printed name: [________________________________]

Date: [__/__/____]

PARTY B WITNESSES

Witness 1 signature: ____________________________________

Printed name: [________________________________]

Witness 2 signature: ____________________________________

Printed name: [________________________________]

PARTY B NOTARY

Notary signature: _______________________________________

Printed name: [________________________________]

Notary identification / commission information: [________________________________]

SCHEDULE A — PARTY A FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE

SCHEDULE B — PARTY B FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE

OFFICIAL SOURCES

• La. Civ. Code art. 2325 — Matrimonial regime
• La. Civ. Code art. 2328 — Contractual regime; matrimonial agreement
• La. Civ. Code art. 2329 — Exclusion or modification of matrimonial regime
• La. Civ. Code art. 2330 — Limits of contractual freedom
• La. Civ. Code art. 2331 — Form of matrimonial agreement
• La. Civ. Code art. 2332 — Effect toward third persons
• La. Civ. Code art. 2370 — Separation-of-property regime
• La. Civ. Code art. 2371 — Management of property
• La. Civ. Code art. 2372 — Necessaries
• La. Civ. Code art. 2373 — Expenses of the marriage
• La. Civ. Code art. 1833 — Authentic act
• La. Civ. Code art. 116 — Modification of final spousal support
• La. Civ. Code art. 132 — Award of custody to parents
• La. Civ. Code art. 141 — Child support; authority of court