Your Spouse Filed a Partition Motion. The 45-Day Clock Just Started.
Louisiana is the only state in America that runs on the Napoleonic Code — and when your marriage ends, that distinction stops being a trivia fact and starts dictating every dollar you walk away with.
Under the community of acquets and gains, nearly everything you earned, bought, or owed during the marriage belongs equally to both of you. But "equal" doesn't mean "simple." You need to classify every asset as community or separate, trace commingled funds back to their origin, calculate the Sims coverture fraction on pensions, prepare a Sworn Detailed Descriptive List under oath within 45 days of a partition motion — and if you get any of it wrong, you either lose money you're entitled to or spend thousands in attorney fees fixing it.
Free court forms give you blank templates. Attorneys charge $250–$450 per hour. National platforms like LegalZoom use common-law terminology that doesn't apply in Louisiana. None of them give you the math worksheets, step-by-step sequencing, or civil-law-specific calculators you actually need.
The Civil-Law Division System
This guide is built entirely around Louisiana's civil law framework — not adapted from a common-law template, not "available in all 50 states," not a set of blank forms. It's a process-navigation system with interactive worksheets designed for one purpose: helping you divide community property accurately before you walk into a courtroom, mediator's office, or attorney consultation.
It follows the exact sequence the court requires — from classifying assets under Civil Code Articles 2338 and 2341, through preparing your Sworn Detailed Descriptive List under R.S. 9:2801, to calculating the equalizing payment that makes the split exactly 50/50.
What's Inside
- Community vs. Separate Property Classification Guide — walk through every asset you own using the Civil Code definitions, not common-law guesswork. Includes commingling tracing worksheets so you can prove which funds started as separate property.
- 50/50 Balance Sheet Modeler — input your assets and debts, allocate them to either spouse, and instantly see the equalizing payment needed for an exact equal split. Try different scenarios before committing to one.
- Sworn Detailed Descriptive List (DDL) Preparation System — a line-by-line writing guide that walks you through Form H with legally compliant descriptions for real estate, vehicles, bank accounts, investments, household goods, and debts. Designed to meet the 45-day statutory deadline.
- Sims Coverture Fraction Pension Calculator — plug in your marriage date, employment start date, and total years of service to calculate the community interest in LASERS, TRSL, Municipal Police, Firefighters, or any Louisiana state pension. No attorney needed for the basic math.
- Reimbursement Claims Worksheet — calculate what's owed when community funds improved separate property (or vice versa) under Civil Code Articles 2364–2366. Covers mortgage payments on pre-marital homes, renovations paid from community income, and inherited funds used for joint expenses.
- Family Home Division Calculator — model your three options (sell and split equity, refinance buyout, or offset against other assets) with real numbers. Includes a partition by licitation risk assessment so you understand what happens if you can't agree.
- Spousal Support Exposure Worksheet — estimate interim support obligations and final periodic support caps (one-third of net income), factoring in the fault requirement and the 180-day post-judgment limit.
- Retirement Account Division Guide — step-by-step QDRO process for 401(k)s and 403(b)s, plus Domestic Relations Order filing procedures for Louisiana state pension plans. Includes the exact sequence: draft, submit for pre-approval, obtain judge's signature, file with plan administrator.
- Article 102 vs. 103 Decision Framework — compare both divorce paths side by side, including how each affects the community property termination date, the separation timeline, and your financial exposure during the waiting period.
- Settlement Preparation Checklist — a chronological checklist from pre-separation document gathering through post-decree implementation (title transfers, QDRO filing, name changes, account closures).
Every calculator and worksheet is included as a standalone printable PDF — print the ones you need and bring them to your attorney meeting, mediation, or courthouse. 9 PDFs total.
Who This Is For
- Spouses preparing to file who want to understand their financial exposure before committing to an Article 102 or 103 path
- Pro se litigants who are handling an uncontested divorce themselves and need the calculation tools that free court forms don't include
- Anyone facing a DDL deadline who needs a structured system to organize assets, debts, and valuations within 45 days
- Spouses preparing for mediation who want to walk in with modeled scenarios instead of guesses
- Clients working with attorneys who want to reduce billable hours by arriving with organized records, pre-calculated splits, and completed worksheets
Why Free Court Forms Aren't Enough
Louisiana parish courts provide blank filing templates through the Self-Help Center and Louisiana Legal Navigator. These forms are trusted and court-accepted — and this guide doesn't replace them. You'll still use the official forms to file.
But free forms don't calculate anything. They don't tell you how to trace a commingled inheritance back to its separate-property origin. They don't compute the Sims coverture fraction on your spouse's LASERS pension. They don't model what happens if you trade your share of home equity for a larger portion of the retirement accounts. Court staff are legally prohibited from explaining how to fill them out strategically.
National platforms like LegalZoom and 3 Step Divorce ($299–$499) generate documents using common-law frameworks. They reference "marital property" and "equitable distribution" — terms that don't exist in Louisiana law. Their software cannot produce the community property classifications, reimbursement claim calculations, or Sworn Detailed Descriptive List preparation that Louisiana requires.
This guide fills the gap between free blank templates and a $3,000–$7,500 attorney retainer. It's your pre-attorney homework — the organized, calculated, structured workspace that turns expensive billable hours into a targeted legal review.
100% Satisfaction Guarantee
If the guide doesn't help you organize your financial division, email us for a full refund. No time limit, no questions.
— Less Than 15 Minutes of Attorney Time
At Louisiana's average family law billing rate of $250–$450 per hour, this guide pays for itself in the first quarter-hour of attorney time it saves. Every worksheet you complete before your consultation is one fewer hour on the invoice.
Download the free Louisiana Marital Asset & Debt Inventory Checklist to start organizing your records tonight — or get the full guide with every calculator, worksheet, and step-by-step system included.