Louisiana Notary

A Civil Law Tradition

Things and Ownership

Things and Ownership – Ownership in Indivision

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Things and Ownership – Ownership in Indivision

Art. 797. Ownership in indivision; definition. Ownership of the same thing by two or more persons is ownership in indivision. In the absence of other provisions of law or juridical act, the shares of all co-owners are presumed to be equal.

Art. 798. Right to fruits and products. Co-owners share the fruits and products of the thing held in indivision in proportion to their ownership. When fruits or products are produced by a co-owner, other co-owners are entitled to their shares of the fruits or products after deduction of the costs of production.

Art. 802. Right to me the thing. Except as otherwise provided in Article 801, a co-owner is entitled to use the thing held in indivision according to its destination, but he cannot prevent another co-owner from making such use of it. As against third persons, a co-owner has the right to use and enjoy the thing as if he were the sole owner.

Art. 801. Use and management by agreement. The use and management of the thing held in indivision is determined by agreement of all the co-owners.

Art. 805. Disposition of undivided share. A co-owner may freely lease, alienate, or encumber his share of the thing held in indivision. The consent of all the co-owners is required for the lease, alienation, or encumbrance of the entire thing held in indivision.

Art. 807. Right to partition; exclusion by agreement. No one may be compelled to hold a thing in indivision with another unless the contrary has been provided by law or juridical act. Any co-owner has a right to demand. partition of a thing held in indivision. Partition may be excluded by agreement for up to fifteen years, or for such other period as provided in R.S. 9:1702 or other specific law.

Art. 808. Partition excluded. Partition of a thing held in indivision is excluded when its use is indispensable for the enjoyment of another thing owned by one or more of the co-owners.

R.S. 9:1702. Agreement not to partition by persons holding property in common. Persons holding property in common may agree that there shall not be a partition of the property held in common for a specific period of time, not to exceed fifteen years. However, persons holding in common a nuclear electric generating plant or unit, or the site of such plant or unit, located in this state may agree that such plant or unit or site shall not be partitioned for a period of time not to exceed ninety-nine years. Any agreement under the provisions of this Section shall be in writing and shall be valid irrespective of the provisions of Civil Code Article 807.

Art. 809. Judicial and extrajudicial partition. The mode of partition may be determined by agreement of all the co-owners. In the absence of such an agreement, a co-owner may demand judicial partition.

Art. 810. Partition in kind. The court shall decree partition in kind when the thing held in indivision is susceptible to division into as many lots of nearly equal value as there are shares and the aggregate value of all lots is not significantly lower than the value of the property in the state of indivision.

Art. 811. Partition by licitation or by private sale. When the thing held in indivision is not susceptible to partition in kind, the court shall decree a partition by licitation or by private sale and the proceeds shall be distributed to the co-owners in proportion to their shares.

Art. 817. Imprescriptibility of action. The action for partition is imprescriptible.

Art. 814. Rescission of partition for lesion. An extrajudicial partition may be rescinded on account of lesion if the value of the part received by a co-owner is less by more than one-fourth of the fair market value of the portion he should have received.

Things and Ownership – Acquisitive prescription of immovables

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Things and Ownership – Acquisitive prescription of immovables

Art. 3473. Prescription of ten years. Ownership and other real rights in immovables may be acquired by the prescription of ten years.

Art. 3486. Immovables; prescription of thirty years. Ownership and other real rights in immovables may be acquired by the prescription of thirty years without the need of just title or possession in good faith.

Things and Ownership – Protection of ownership

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Things and Ownership – Protection of ownership

Art. 526. Recognition of ownership; recovery of the thing. The owner of a thing is entitled to recover it from anyone who possesses or detains it without right and to obtain judgment recognizing his ownership and ordering delivery of the thing to him.

Art. 530. Presumption of ownership of movable. The possessor of a corporeal movable is presumed to be its owner. The previous possessor of a corporeal movable is presumed to have been its owner during the period of his possession. These presumptions do not avail against a previous possessor who was dispossessed as a result of loss or theft.

Art. 531. Proof of ownership of immovable. One who claims the ownership of an immovable against another in possession must prove that he has acquired ownership from a previous owner or by acquisitive prescription. If neither party is in possession, he need only prove a better title.

Things and Ownership – Accession in relation to movables

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Things and Ownership – Accession in relation to movables

Art. 508. Things principal and accessory. Things are divided into principal and accessory. For purposes of accession as between movables, an accessory is a corporeal movable that serves the use, orna­ment, or complement of the principal thing.

Art. 509. Value or bulk as a basis to determine principal thing. In case of doubt as to which is a principal thing and which is an accessory, the most valuable, or the most bulky if value is nearly equal, shall be deemed to be principal.

Art. 510. Union of a principal and an accessory thing. When two corporeal movables are united to form a whole, d one of them is an accessory of the other, the whole belongs to the owner of the principal thing. The owner of the principal thing is bound to reimburse the owner of the accessory its value. The owner of the accessory may demand that it be separated and returned to him, although the separation may cause some injury to the principal thing, if the accessory is more valuable than the principal and has been used without his knowledge.

Things and Ownership – Accession in relation to immovables

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Things and Ownership – Accession in relation to immovables

Art. 491. Buildings, other constructions, standing timber, and crops Buildings, other constructions permanently attached to the ground, standing timber, and unharvested crops or ungathered fruits of trees may belong to a person other than the owner of the ground. Nevertheless, they are presumed to belong to the owner of the ground, unless separate ownership is evidenced by an instrument flied for registry in the conveyance records of the parish in which the immovable is located.

Art. 492. Separate ownership of part of a building. Separate ownership of a part of a building, such as a floor, an apartment, or a room, may be established only by a juridical act of the owner of the entire building when and in the manner expressly authorized by law.

Art. 493. Ownership of improvements. Buildings, other constructions permanently attached to the ground, and plantings made on the land of another with his consent belong to him who made them. They belong to the owner of the ground when they are made without his consent. “When the owner of buildings, other constructions permanently attached to the ground, or plantings no longer has the right to keep them on the land of another, he may remove them subject to his obligation to restore the property to its former condition. If he does not remove them :within ninety days after written demand, the owner of the land may, after the ninetieth day from the date of mailing the written demand, appropriate ownership of the improvements by providing an additional written notice by certified mail, and upon receipt of the certified mail by the owner of the improvements, the owner of the land obtains ownership of the improvements and owes nothing to the owner of the improvements. Until such time as the owner of the land appropriates the improvements, the improvements shall remain the property of he who made them and he shall be solely responsible for any harm caused by the improvements. When buildings, other constructions permanently attached to the ground, or plantings are made on the separate property of a spouse with community assets or with separate assets of the other spouse and when such improvements are made on community property with the separate assets of a spouse, this Article does not apply. The rights of the spouses are governed by Articles 2366, 2367, and 2367.1.

Art. 493.1. Ownership of component parts. Things incorporated in or attached to an immovable so as to become its component parts under Articles 465 and 466 belong to the owner of the immovable.

Art. 495. Things incorporated in, or attached to, an immovable with the consent of the owner of the immovable. One who incorporates in, or attaches to, the immovable of another, with his consent, things that become component parts of the immovable under Articles 465 and 466, may, in the absence of other provisions of law or juridical acts, remove them subject to his obligation of restoring the property to its former condition. If he does not remove them after demand, the owner of the immovable may have them removed at the expense of the person who made them or elect to keep them and pay, at his option, the current value of the materials and of the workmanship or the enhanced value of the immovable.

Art. 498. Claims against third persons. One who has lost the ownership of a thing to the owner of an immovable may assert against third persons his rights under Articles 493, 493.1, 494, 495, 496, or 497 when they are evidenced by an instrument filed for registry in the appropriate conveyance or mortgage records of the parish in which the immovable is located.

Things and Ownership – Ownership of fruits

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Things and Ownership – Ownership of fruits

Art. 551. Kinds of fruits. Fruits are things that are produced by or derived from another thing without diminution of its substance. There are two kinds of fruits; natural fruits and civil fruits. Natural fruits are products of the earth or of animals. Civil fruits are revenues derived from a thing by operation of law or by reason of a juridical act, such as rentals, interest, and certain corporate distributions.

Things and Ownership – Accession

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Things and Ownership – Accession

Art. 482. Accession. The ownership of a thing includes by accession the ownership of everything that it produces ,or is united with it, either naturally or artificially, in accordance with the following provisions.

Art. 483. Ownership of fruits by accession. In the absence of rights of other persons, the owner of a thing acquires the ownership of its natural and civil fruits.

Art. 490. Accession above and below the surface. Unless otherwise provided by law, the ownership of a tract of land carries with it the ownership of everything that is directly above or under it. The owner may make works on, above, or below the land as he pleases, and draw all the advantages that accrue from them, unless he is restrained by law or by rights of others.

Art. 499. Alluvion and dereliction. Accretion formed successively and imperceptibly on the bank of a river or stream, whether navigable or not, is called alluvion. The alluvion belongs to the owner of the bank, who is bound to leave public that portion of the bank which is required for the public use. The same rule applies to dereliction formed by water receding imperceptibly from a bank of a river or stream. The owner of the land situated at the edge of the bank left dry owns the dereliction.

Things and Ownership – Ownership and Possession

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Things and Ownership – Ownership and Possession

Art. 477. Ownership; content. A. Ownership is the right that confers on a person direct, immediate, and exclusive authority over a thing. The owner of a thing may use, enjoy, and dispose of it within the limits and under the conditions established by law.

Art. 479. Necessity of a person. The right of ownership may exist only in favor of a natural person or a juridical person.

Art. 481. Ownership and possession distinguished. The ownership and the possession of a thing are distinct. Ownership exists independently of any exercise of it and may ‘not be lost by nonuse. Ownership is lost when acquisitive prescription accrues in favor of an adverse possessor.

Art. 3421. Possession. Possession is the detention or enjoyment of a corporeal thing, movable or immovable, that one holds or exercises by himself or by another who keeps or exercises it in his name. The exercise of a real right, such as a servitude, with the intent to have it as one’s own is quasi-possession. The rules governing possession apply by analogy to the quasi-possession of incorporeals.

Art. 3422. Nature of possession; right to possess. Possession is a matter of fact; nevertheless, one who has possessed a thing for over a year acquires the right to possess it.

Art. 478. Resolutory condition; real right in favor of other person. The right of ownership may be subject to a resolutory condition, and it may be burdened with a real right in favor of another person as allowed by law. The ownership of a thing burdened with a usufruct is designated as naked ownership.

Art. 480. Co-ownership. Two or more persons may own the same thing in indivision, each having an undivided share.

Things and Ownership – Immovables and movables

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Things and Ownership – Immovables and movables

Art. 462. Tracts of land. Tracts of land, with their component parts, are immovables.

Art. 463. Component parts of tracts of land. Buildings, other constructions permanently attached to the ground, standing timber, and unharvested crops or ungathered fruits of trees, are component parts of a tract of land when they belong to the owner of the ground.

Art 464. Buildings and standing timber as separate immovables. Buildings and standing timber are separate immovables when they belong to a person other than the owner of the ground.

Art. 465. Things incorporated into an immovable. Things incorporated into a tract of land, a building, or other construction, so as to become an integral part of it, such as building materials, are its component parts.

Art. 466. Component parts of buildings or other constructions. Things that are attached to a building and that, according to prevailing usages, serve to complete a building of the same general type, without regard to its specific use, are its component parts. Component parts of this kind may include doors, shutters, gutters, and cabinetry, as well as plumbing, heating, cooling, electrical, and similar systems. Things that are attached to a construction other than a building and that serve its principal use are its component parts. Other things are component parts of a building or other construction if they are attached to such a degree that they cannot be removed without substantial damage to themselves or to the building or other construction.

Art. 470. Incorporeal immovables. Rights and actions that apply to immovable things are incorporeal immovables. Immovables of this kind are such as personal servitudes established on immov­ables, predial servitudes, mineral rights, and petitory or possessory actions.

Art. 467. Immovables by declaration. The owner of an immovable may declare that machinery, appliances, and equipment owned by him and placed on the immovable, other than his private residence, for its service and improvement are deemed to be its component parts. The declaration shall be filed for registry in the conveyance records of the parish in which the immovable is located.

Art. 468. Deimmobilization. Component parts of an immovable so damaged or deteriorated that they can no longer serve the use of lands or buildings are deimmobilized. The owner may deimmobilize the component parts of an immovable by an act translative of ownership and delivery to acquirers in good faith. In the absence of rights of third persons, the owner may deimmobilize things by detachment or removal.

Art. 471. Corporeal movables. Corporeal movables are things, whether animate or inanimate, that normally move or can be moved from one place to another.

Art. 473. Incorporeal movables. Rights, obligations, and actions that apply to a movable thing are incorporeal movables. Movables of this kind are such as bonds, annuities, and interests or shares in entities possessing juridical personality. Interests or shares in a juridical person that owns immovables are considered as movables as long as the entity exists; upon its dissolution, the right of each individual to a share in the immovables is an immovable.

Art. 475. Things not immovable. All things, corporeal or incorporeal, that the law does not consider as immovables, are movables.