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Louisiana Legislature Report |
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The latest news from the Louisiana Legislature. We follow the latest pre-filed, pending and passed legislation and post our summaries and commentary with a link to the original legislation. Feel free to add your own comments about the proposed and passed new laws. 
Archives
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August 27, 2003
Much needed change to tutorship laws Code of Civil Procedure Article 4061.1 was added to enable natural tutors to sue on behalf of their minor children. Prior to this change, a natural tutor had to qualify and be appointed tutor and the failure to take this step could result in the dismissal of cases filed on behalf of the minor. The article does not apply to shared custody cases. Act 155 [Status: passed, effective date: 8/15/03] New law facilitates buying and selling minority property interests R.S. 9:1113 is new law that provides a procedure to allow majority holders of interests in immovable property to buy out minority holders. The new law also provides time limits and the manner of valuing and distributing sales proceeds. Basically, if the minority owners own less than 15% (the owners can pool their ownership), they can petition the court for sale to the majority holders at a price to be determined by a court appointed appraiser. The majority holders can only purchase a fractional interest that is pro-rate equal to their existing interest. The right to purchase is in the nature of an option and expires after 30 days. After the time limit, any co-owner loses his right to buy his pro-rata share. Act 156 [Status: passed and in effect] August 7, 2003
New forced heirship change worst legislation of the session In what will probably turn out to be a major headache for estate planners, the Legislature passed Act 1207 that includes a new definition for a class of forced heirs. This new class includes people who at the time of the death of the parent have a genetic or inherited condition that "may render them incapable of caring for their persons or administering their estates in the future." This condition must exist "according to medical documentation." What kind of documentation? Prepared by a doctor? Prepared by anyone? Can it be a reference in a hospital record or medical chart? Does the documentation have to exist at the time of death? Does it matter whether the child actually becomes disabled is just the "may" enough to consider the person "permanently incapacitated?" This legislation was not thought through from a practical aspect. It will cause law suits, title problems and uncertainty for years as to what it means. [Status: passed, effective date: 8/15/03] |
