Wilkinson v. Wilkinson

312 So. 2d 107, 1975 La. App. LEXIS 3873
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 10, 1975
DocketNo. 10181
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 312 So. 2d 107 (Wilkinson v. Wilkinson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wilkinson v. Wilkinson, 312 So. 2d 107, 1975 La. App. LEXIS 3873 (La. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

SARTAIN, Judge.

This is an appeal by plaintiff-appellant from judgment pertaining to a property settlement incidental to suit for separation and divorce. The trial judge found in favor of defendant holding a prenuptial marriage agreement governing the personal property of the parties absolutely null and further awarding attorney fees and costs against plaintiff. We reverse for reasons stated herein.

On November 25, 1960, George H. Wilkinson, plaintiff herein, and Betty Ann David, defendant herein, entered into a prenuptial marriage agreement stating that it was their intention to remain separate in property and formally renounce the community of acquets and gains between husband and wife. Miss David, a sixteen year old unemancipated minor at the time, was assisted by her mother, whose signature appears on the agreement. The signature of Miss David’s father is absent from the document and it appears from the evidence adduced at trial that he refused to sign it when so requested. Plaintiff and defendant were subsequently married on November 27, 1960. They were granted a final divorce on February 12, 1974.

Defendant argues now that the prenuptial marriage agreement executed by herself and plaintiff is invalid due to the fact that she was a minor at the time of the execution of the contract, and as such, required the assistance of her father in order to form a legally enforceable agreement.

Although unemancipated minors in Louisiana are under a general incapacity to contract by virtue of La.C.C. Art. 1785, that same article expressly acknowledges the validity of a minor’s stipulation in a prenuptial marriage agreement provided they are “made with the consent of those whose authority is in such cases required by law.” The meaning of this portion of La.C.C. Art. 1785 is illuminated by La.C.C. Art. 2330 which states that a minor must have assistance in forming his prenuptial marriage agreements of those whose consent is necessary for the marriage itself. The text of that article states:

“Art. 2330. The minor, who is capable of contracting matrimony, may give his consent to any agreements which this contract is susceptible of; and the agreements entered into and the donations he has made by the same, are valid, provided that, if he be not emancipated, he has been assisted in the agreement by those persons whose consent is necessary to his marriage”.

By “necessary to his marriage” is actually meant necessary to a valid marriage as can be seen from the French text of the La. Civil Code of 1825 which states:

Le mineur, habile a contracter mar-iage, peut consentir a toutes les conventions dont ce contrat est susceptible; et les conventions et donations qu’il y a faites, sont valables, pourvu que, s’il n’est pas emancipe, il ait ete assiste dans le contrat par les personnes dont le con-sentement est necessaire pour la validite du mariage. (Emphasis ours)

When there is a conflict between the English and French texts of the Code of 1825, the French text prevails. Phelps v. Reinach, 38 La.Ann. 547; Sample v. Whitaker, 172 La. 722,135 So. 38 (1931).

The question thus becomes one of the determination of whose consent is necessary for the validity of the marriage of a minor in Louisiana, for it is that person or persons who must assist the minor in the execution of his prenuptial marriage agreement pursuant to the above article.

It is at this point that a basic inconsistency arises in the text of our Civil Code. The text of La.C.C. Art. 97 states:

Art. 97. The minor of either sex, who has attained the competent age to marry, must have received the consent of his father and mother or of the survivor of them; and if they are both dead, the consent of his tutor.
[109]*109He must furnish proof of this consent to the officer to whom he applies for permission to marry.

It appears from the language of this article that the consent of the minor’s parents, if alive, or his tutor if they are deceased, is an essential element to a valid marriage involving the minor. However, it is clear that lack of consent on the part of the parents does not affect the validity of the marriage of a minor. It is expressly stated in La.C.C. Art. 112 that such marriages can not be declared null for lack of consent by the parents.

Art. 112. The marriage of minors, contracted without the consent of the father and mother, can not for that cause be annulled, if it is otherwise contracted with the formalities prescribed by law; but such want of consent shall be a good cause for the father and mother to disinherit their children thus married, if they think proper.

The discrepancy between La.C.C. Arts 97 and 2330 on the one hand and La.C.C. Art. 112 on the other is rooted in the source of these articles found in the Code Napoleon. An examination of these sources reveals the reasons for the contradiction.

The counterpart of La.C.C. Art. 97 is found in Code Napoleon Art. 148 et seq. Article 148 states:

Art. 148. The son who has not attained the full age of twenty-five years, the daughter who has not attained the full age of twenty-one years, cannot contract marriage without the consent of their father and mother; in case of disagreement, the consent of the father is sufficient.1

Article 150 states that if the parents are dead then it is the grandparents who must consent to the marriage. It may be noted that the consent of the father spoken of in Art. 148 as the determining factor with respect to consent is no longer the law in France. The article has been amended in such a way that if either parent consents, the marriage is considered as one contracted with consent. Planiol Civil Law Treatise, Vol. 1, part 1, sec. 747.

The prenuptial marriage agreements of minors in France are treated in virtually the same manner as the contract of marriage itself. The text of Code Napoleon Art. 1398, the source of Louisiana C.C. Art. 2330, states:

Art. 1398. The minor competent to contract marriage is competent to consent to all the agreements of which such contract is susceptible; and the agreements and donations which he has made therein are valid, provided he have been assisted in the contract by the persons whose consent is necessary to render such marriage valid.

Planiol explains Code Napoleon Art. 1398 as follows:

785. The Traditional Rule
Art. 1398 states that the same prerequisites apply to a minor’s marriage contract as to his marriage. This rule is based on the old maxim “Habilis ad nup-tias, habilis ad pacta nuptialia", which means that the conditions are the same for both contracts, the marriage and the marriage contract.
786. Persons Who have to Assist a Minor
Not capable to contract alone, a minor, making a marriage contract, needs the authorization of the same persons as those who must authorize his marriage (Art. 1398). They are: (1) his father and mother, (2) if not living, his other ascendants; (3) if none is living, the family meeting (Art. 148 f f.)
[110]*110The minor can make a valid marriage contract only with the authorization of the parent or ascendant who authorizes his marriage.

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Related

Wilkinson v. Wilkinson
323 So. 2d 120 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1975)

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Bluebook (online)
312 So. 2d 107, 1975 La. App. LEXIS 3873, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilkinson-v-wilkinson-lactapp-1975.