Things and Ownership – Ownership in Indivision

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.