Succession of Chauvin

257 So. 2d 422, 260 La. 828, 1972 La. LEXIS 5548
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedJanuary 17, 1972
Docket51140
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 257 So. 2d 422 (Succession of Chauvin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Succession of Chauvin, 257 So. 2d 422, 260 La. 828, 1972 La. LEXIS 5548 (La. 1972).

Opinions

DIXON, Justice.

Writs were granted in this case to consider the effect of the remarriage of the surviving widow upon the usufruct of the surviving spouse.

B. J. Chauvin, Sr., was married once, and was survived by his widow and son. By last will and testament, olographic in form, he had provided: “I leave all I die possessed of to my son Bernard J. Chauvin, Jr.j subject to the usufruct thereon which I leave to my loving wife, Bernice.” The will did not mention that the usufruct was to be for life. All the property involved in the succession of B. J. Chauvin, Sr., was community property. There was a judgment of possession on April 8, 1969 recognizing the widow’s ownership in her one-half of the community, recognizing [831]*831Bernard J. Chauvin, Jr., as the only child and sole heir and the owner of the other undivided one-half of the community property “subject to the usufruct in favor of his mother, Mrs. Bernice Buwe, widow of B. J. Chauvin, Sr.”

On June 12, 1969 Mrs. Bernice Chauvin remarried. Her son subsequently sought to have her usufruct terminated because of the remarriage. Mrs. Chauvin filed an exception of no cause of action to her son’s rule; the district court maintained the exception and dismissed the rule.

On appeal, the ruling of the district court was reversed and the case was remanded in part and affirmed in part. The Court of Appeal, relying on Smith v. Nelson, 121 La. 170, 46 So. 200 (1908) and Succession of Carbajal, 154 La. 1060, 98 So. 666 (1924), held that the surviving spouse was allowed to retain the usufruct after her remarriage, saying:

“Thus our jurisprudence holds that a donation mortis causa of the usufruct of community property to the surviving spouse confers a lifetime usufruct which is not terminated by a subsequent marriage. This is true even if the testament grants the same usufruct the survivor would have acquired by operation of law under LSA-C.C. Art. 916 in an intestate succession.” (Succession of Chauvin, La. App, 242 So.2d 340, 342).

After reaching the conclusion that testamentary confirmation of a legal usufruct does not terminate on remarriage, the Court of Appeal went on to hold that C.C. art. 916 1 is a statutory exception to the general rule of C.C. art. 1493,2 which restricts the testator to all the provisions of C.C. art. 916 and requires termination of the usufruct over the legitime when the usufructuary remarries.3

Civil Code Article 540 provides the manner in which usufruct may be established:

“Usufruct may be established by all sorts of titles; by a deed of sale, by a marriage contract, by donation, compromise, [833]*833exchange, last will and even by operation of law.
“Thus the usufruct to which a father is entitled on the estate of his children during the marriage, is a legal usufruct.”

Both the relator and respondent before us take the position in their briefs that the usufruct created by Chauvin’s will was merely a confirmation of the legal usufruct created by C.C. art. 916. Although there is no statutory basis for the doctrine of confirmation of a legal usufruct, the idea is firmly embedded in our jurisprudence.

For convenience, the usufruct of the surviving spouse provided for in C.C. art. 916 is called the “legal usufruct.” (See also C.C. art. 560). Usufructs created by a will are, naturally, called testamentary usufructs.4

The relator relies on Winsberg v. Wins-berg, 233 La. 67, 96 So.2d 44 (1957),5 which overruled Forstall v. Forstall, 28 La.Ann. 197 (1876) and reaffirmed Succession of Moore, 40 La.Ann. 531, 4 So. 460 (1888). Forstall held that where the decedent her queathed his share of the community to his widow, C.C. art. 916 did not apply, and the widow was not entitled to the usufruct over the legitime, because the deceased disposed by last will and testament of his share of the community property. In the Succession of Moore, supra, it was held that Article 916 applied to a testamentary disposition of “the disposable portion” of all the property to the surviving spouse, and the wife thus obtained the usufruct over the legitime, in addition to the disposable portion.

In Winsberg, the husband’s will left all his property (community) to his wife. The heirs were placed in possession of the legitime portion and the wife was placed in possession of the balance. There was no mention of usufruct in the judgment of possession. In a suit for an accounting by a grandchild, it was held that the terms of the will indicated an intention of the testator to leave his wife more than the law allowed, and that since there was no testamentary disposition adverse to the usufruct created by law, the widow would receive the disposable portion in addition to the usufruct over the legitime. The Winsberg case squarely decided that the legitime is subject to the usufruct of the surviving spouse when it is a legal usufruct confirmed by a testamentary disposition.

Relator argues that neither the legal usufruct confirmed by testament nor a purely testamentary usufruct terminates on re[835]*835marriage, relying on Smith v. Nelson, supra, and the Succession of Carbajal, supra. The respondent argues that the confirmation of the legal usufruct by testament subjects the legal usufruct to all the provisions of C.C. art. 916. In the alternative, the respondent argues that if we find the usufruct to be purely testamentary rather than the testamentary confirmation of a legal usufruct, then he is entitled to his legitime in full ownership.

In Smith v. Nelson, supra, the widow of Michael Smith married the defendant Nelson. She died testate in 1897, leaving three children by the first marriage. The will left to her children the property acquired during the first community, and to the surviving spouse, Nelson, the property acquired during the second community, with this further disposition: “Should my children claim the legitime, then I give and bequeath to my said husband the usufruct of all the property, movable and immovable, that was acquired during our marriage.”

The Smith children were sent into possession of the first community in full ownership and were sent into possession of the second community, subject to the usufruct in favor of Nelson. In 1906 the heirs and their issue sought a partition, alleging that their stepfather had remarried, and had thus “lost the usufruct by operation of law.”

The trial court dismissed the suit and the Supreme Court affirmed, noting that the trial court had held: “that as the usufruct enjoyed by Nelson was established by the will of his deceased wife, and by the judgment ordering its execution and putting him in possession, it is not affected by his remarriage.” The opinion then states: “Adhering to the conclusions stated, we deem it unnecessary to cite additional authority in their support.” 121 La. at 173-174, 46 So. at 200-201. The opinion then proceeds to discuss the problems involved in the demands for a partition between the naked owners and the usufructuary.

It is easy to understand how Smith v. Nelson is subject to misinterpretation. It has been cited to support the proposition that the part of C.C. art. 916 providing for the termination of the legal usufruct upon the remarriage of the usufructuary will not be enforced when the legal usufruct is confirmed by testament. Smith v.

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Succession of Chauvin
257 So. 2d 422 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1972)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
257 So. 2d 422, 260 La. 828, 1972 La. LEXIS 5548, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/succession-of-chauvin-la-1972.