What Is a Louisiana Prenuptial Agreement?
A prenuptial agreement defines how you and your spouse plan to divide assets, debts, and property in the event of separation, divorce, or death. It serves to protect each party’s financial interests and prevent contentious legal disputes. Louisiana laws refer to prenups as a matrimonial agreement.
Without a prenuptial agreement, Louisiana courts use community property standards to divide a couple’s assets in divorce. If you and your partner prefer a different method for dividing assets, you can use a prenuptial agreement to specify your preferences.
How to Write a Prenuptial Agreement in Louisiana
Before drafting the Louisiana prenuptial agreement form, discuss the terms you’d like to include with your spouse.
- Provide Contact Information: List your full legal names and current addresses. If either of you had a prior marriage or have children from a previous relationship, include the details.
- Specify Property Division: Define how you’d like to divide property in the event the marriage ends. Clarify arrangements for property obtained before the marriage and during its course.
- Determine Business Ownership: Identify any business owned by either spouse prior to the marriage and specify whether they’ll continue to own it entirely following a divorce. Create a framework for determining who retains ownership of businesses started during the marriage.
- Outline Debts: List the outstanding obligations of each spouse. Include a reasonable estimate of the amount owed and the debt’s source. Indicate responsibility for debt repayment if the marriage ends.
- Decide Tax Filing Status: Determine whether you and your spouse plan to file income taxes jointly or separately following a separation.
- Detail Housing Arrangements: Identify who retains ownership of the marital home if the marriage ends. You can also apportion responsibility for mortgage or rent payments.
- Assign Spousal Support: Specify who receives spousal support if the marriage ends. Both partners may also waive their rights to future alimony.
- Review, Sign, and Notarize: After drafting the agreement, both partners should read it and make any necessary adjustments. Sign the agreement in the presence of a notary before filing it with the registry of your local Louisiana parish if the agreement deals with real estate or personal property, as per LA Civ Code Art. 2332.
Sample Louisiana Prenuptial Agreement
Below, you can view a sample Louisiana prenuptial agreement. Customize this template using our document editor and then download the completed version in PDF or Word format.
Legal Requirements in Louisiana
For a court to recognize the validity of a Louisiana prenuptial agreement, it must comply with local laws.
Signing
Under LA Civ Code Art. 2331, both parties must sign the prenup in the presence of two witnesses and a notary public. After signing the agreement, file it in the conveyance records of your local Louisiana parish if the agreement addresses property. If you and your spouse have legal domicile in separate parishes, you must file a copy with each one per LA Civ Code Art. 2332.
Consider using a notary acknowledgment form to verify both parties signed the prenup voluntarily.
Timing
You must sign and file a prenuptial agreement before marriage for it to be valid. Attempting to create or sign a “prenup” after marriage is not legally possible—at that point, the document would instead be considered a postnuptial (or matrimonial) agreement and subject to different legal requirements.
Already married couples who move to Louisiana and acquire domicile in the state may enter into a matrimonial agreement (postnuptial) during their first year of domicile, but this requires court approval, as per LA Civ Code Art. 2329.
Louisiana does not require preapproval from the court for a prenuptial agreement executed and filed prior to marriage, so long as it complies with all statutory requirements.
Enforceability
Louisiana courts generally uphold the terms of prenuptial agreements that don’t violate public policy. However, if a spouse can prove they signed the document involuntarily or through coercion, a court may deem it unenforceable.
Financial Disclosure
It’s best practice to include a full listing of assets and debts for each spouse in the prenuptial agreement. While Louisiana doesn’t specifically require financial disclosure, not including one may become a point of contention if one spouse decides to challenge the prenup.
Excluded Terms and Limitations
A Louisiana prenup can’t outline future child support or custody arrangements. It also can’t include any provisions that violate state or federal laws.
If you and your spouse decide to separate, you may use a divorce agreement to settle child support and custody matters.
Modifications and Revocations
Modifying or revoking a prenuptial agreement after the marriage requires the written approval of both spouses. Per LA Civ Code Art. 2329, both parties must file a joint petition with their local court to start the process. If the court decides a modification or revocation is appropriate it may agree to alter the rights of the parties. t
Other Considerations
Already married couples who don’t have a prenup may draft a postnuptial agreement instead. If the postnup’s terms are in conflict with state laws regarding property distribution and other marital rights, the parties must petition the court for approval under LA Civ. Code Art. 2329.
A postnup follows similar rules as a prenup and allows spouses to determine how they’ll divide assets and debts if the marriage ends.
