## Facts

- In 1915, Sidney Cosey and Hattie Cosey married and later had one son, Sidney Cosey Jr. (Jr.).
- In 1945, Sidney entered into a written installment contract with the Cate Estate under which the Cate Estate agreed to convey an 11-acre tract to Sidney by warranty deed after he paid installments totaling $825.
- Sidney completed the installment payments in May 1961, during his marriage to Hattie, but the Cate Estate could not immediately deliver title because an owner had died and succession matters delayed conveyance.
- In May 1962, Sidney and Hattie divorced, terminating their community property regime.
- In June 1962, Sidney married Lillian Cosey.
- In December 1962, the Cate Estate executed and recorded a deed conveying the tract to “Sidney and Lillian Cosey.”
- Hattie died in 1964, and Sidney died in 1976.
- Jr., acting as administrator of Sidney’s and Hattie’s estates, sued Lillian and the Cate Estate seeking a declaration that the tract belonged to the former marital community of Sidney and Hattie because it was paid for with funds from that community.
- The trial court ruled for Jr., and Lillian appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether an immovable is “acquired” for community-property purposes when it is fully paid for under an executory installment contract, or only when a deed translative of title is executed and recorded.
2. If the purchase price was paid with funds of a prior marital community but title was later taken by deed during a subsequent marriage, whether the prior community (or its heirs) owns the immovable or instead has only a reimbursement claim.

## Decision

- The appellate court reversed the trial court’s declaration that the 11-acre tract belonged to the former community of Sidney and Hattie.
- The court held that, because Louisiana requires a deed translative of title to transfer ownership of an immovable, ownership was not acquired until the December 1962 deed.
- Because the deed was executed during Sidney’s marriage to Lillian and named “Sidney and Lillian Cosey” as grantees, the tract was treated as acquired during that marriage (subject to the community-property presumption).
- The court recognized that payment of the purchase price with funds of the earlier community did not vest that earlier community with ownership of the immovable; the appropriate remedy was a monetary claim tied to the community funds used to pay the price.

## Legal Principles

- Ownership of Louisiana immovables is transferred only by an act (deed) translative of title; payment of the price and contractual rights to demand a deed do not, by themselves, transfer ownership.
- For community-property classification of immovables, the timing and content of the deed control when the property is acquired for ownership purposes.
- Property acquired during marriage is presumed community, and a deed to both spouses ordinarily places the immovable in the community of that marriage absent proof supporting separate ownership.
- When one marital community’s funds are used to pay for an immovable but title is later taken (by deed) during another marriage, the earlier community’s protection is generally through reimbursement rather than ownership of the immovable itself.

## Conclusion

Because Louisiana law requires a deed to transfer ownership of an immovable, the tract was not acquired until the Cate Estate executed the December 1962 deed to “Sidney and Lillian Cosey,” during Sidney’s second marriage; therefore, the tract was treated as property of that later marital community, and the prior community’s contribution in paying the purchase price supported a reimbursement-type monetary claim rather than title in the land.


Cosey v. Cosey, 364 So. 2d 186 (1978)