Revised Laws of Saint Lucia (2022)

Section I   Legal Community

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   1188.   With respect to marriages taking place after the coming into operation of this article there shall be only one kind of community of property, namely: legal community, the rules governing which are contained in this Chapter. (Substituted by Act 34 of 1956)

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   1189.   Community commences from the day the marriage is solemnized; the parties cannot stipulate that it shall commence at any other period. (Amended by Act 34 of 1956)

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   1190.   Legal community is that which the law, in the absence of stipulation to the contrary, establishes between spouses, by the mere fact of their marriage, in respect of certain descriptions of property.

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   1191.   Legal community may be established by the simple declaration which the parties make in the contract of their intention that it shall exist. It also takes place when no mention is made of it, when it is not expressly nor impliedly excluded, and also when there is no marriage contract. In all cases it is governed by the rules set forth in the following articles.

§ 1. The Assets and Liabilities of the Community

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   1192.   

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      (1)     The property of persons married in community is divided into separate property and the property of the community.

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      (2)     Separate property comprises—

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         (a)     the property, movable and immovable, which the spouses possess on the day when the marriage is solemnized;

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         (b)     the income and earnings of either spouse, investments in the name of one spouse, and insurance policies taken out on the life and in the name of one spouse;

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         (c)     property, movable and immovable, acquired by succession, or by donation or legacy made to either spouse particularly;

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         (d)     compensation payable to either spouse for damages resulting from delicts and quasi-delicts, and the property purchased with all funds thus derived; and

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         (e)     fruits, revenues, and interest, of whatever nature they be, derived from separate property, the proceeds of separate property, and property acquired with separate funds or in exchange for separate property.

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      (3)     Property which is acquired by the husband and wife during marriage in any manner different from that above declared is the property of the community.

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           (Substituted by Act 34 of 1956)

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   1193.   

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      (1)     Property is deemed to be the joint acquisition of the community unless it is admitted or proved to have belonged to, or to have been in the legal possession of one of the spouses previously to the marriage, or, if acquired after marriage, is admitted or proved to have been acquired in one of the ways set out in article 1192, or to otherwise belong to one of the spouses only.

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   Provided, however, that where property is acquired by one of the spouses while they are living separate and apart from each other by virtue of a separation deed, such property is presumed to be the separate property of such spouse unless it is admitted or proved to be community property.

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      (2)     Where spouses purchase property in their joint names such property falls into the community unless it is expressly stated at the time of purchase that they are purchasing with their separate funds.

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           (Substituted by Act 34 of 1956)

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   1194.   Income and earnings are the separate property of that spouse from whose separate property or by whose sole labour they come, without prejudice, nevertheless, to the liability of the spouses to contribute towards the education and the support of the children and the expenses of marriage.

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   In case of disagreement the judge determines the contribution, if any, to be made by either spouse in accordance with the duties, liabilities, means and circumstances of the spouses. (Substituted by Act 34 of 1956)

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   1195.   

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      (1)     A deposit in a bank in the name of one spouse is presumed to be his or her separate property, and the bank is not concerned to ascertain whether it is separate or community property.

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      (2)     Money payable to the wife by or through a bank or from funds in court in her name only is presumed to be her separate property.

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           (Substituted by Act 34 if 1956)

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   1196.   

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      (1)     Gifts and legacies made to one of the spouses do not fall into the community unless there is an express declaration to the contrary.

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      (2)     Gifts and legacies made to the spouses jointly, if made by an ascendant of one of the spouses, are deemed to be the separate property of such spouse as being acquired under a title equivalent to succession, and do not fall into the community unless there is an express declaration to the contrary.

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      (3)     Gifts and legacies made to the spouses jointly, if made by others than ascendants, come under the contrary rule, and fall into the community, unless they have been expressly excluded.

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           (Substituted by Act 34 of 1956)

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   1197.   Immovables abandoned or ceded to one of the spouses by the father, mother, or any other ascendant of the spouse, either in satisfaction of debts due to the spouse by the donor, or subject to the payment of the debts due by the donor to strangers, do not fall into the community. But where, in consequence of such gift or legacy, a payment has been made from the community, compensation must be made.

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   1198.   Property acquired during marriage with separate funds or in exchange for separate property is separate property. (Substituted by Act 34 of 1956)

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   1199.   A purchase made during marriage of a portion of an immovable, in which one of the spouses owned an undivided share, does not constitute a joint acquest. But the community must be indemnified for the amount withdrawn from it to make such purchase.

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   Where the husband, alone and in his own name, purchases at private or judicial sale part or the whole of an immovable, in which the wife owned an undivided share, she has the option, at the dissolution of the community, either of abandoning the immovable to the community, which then becomes her debtor for her share in the price, or of taking back the immovable and refunding to the community the price of the purchase.

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   1200.   The liabilities of the community consist:

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      1.     Of the debts, whether of capital sums, arrears, or interest, contracted by the husband as head of the community or by the wife, with the consent of the husband or with judicial authorisation, on behalf of the community; saving compensation in cases where it is due;

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      2.     Of the maintenance of the spouses, of the education and support of the children, and of all the other charges resulting from the marriage. (Amended by Act 34 of 1956)

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   1201–1207.   (Repealed by Act 34 of 1956)

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   1208.   Debts attached to a gift which falls into the community are chargeable to the community. (Substituted by Act 34 of 1956)

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   1209–1210.   (Repealed by Act 34 of 1956)

§ 2. The Administration of the Community and the effect of the acts of either Spouse in relation to the Conjugal Association

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   1211.   The spouses shall together administer the property of the community. (Substituted by Act 13 of 1989)

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   1212.   One spouse cannot, to the prejudice of the other, bequeath more than the share of such spouse in the community.

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   The bequest of an object belonging to the community is subject to the rules which apply to the bequest of a thing of which the testator is only part owner.

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   If the thing has fallen into the share of the testator and be found in his succession the legatee has a right to the whole of it.

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   1213.   Pecuniary penalties for criminal offences or misdemeanors incurred by either of the spouses cannot be recovered out of the property of the community. (Substituted by Act 34 of 1956)

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   1214.   Acts done by the wife, otherwise than as the agent of her husband in his capacity of head of the community, or when she is judicially authorised, do not affect the property of the community beyond the amount of the benefit it derives from them. (Substituted by Act 34 of 1956)

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   1215.   (Repealed by Act 34 of 1956)

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   1216.   

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      (1)     The separate property of a married woman is no longer subject to the right of administration of her husband which is wholly abolished.

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      (2)     Marital consent or authorisation is no longer necessary for any act or contract by a married woman respecting her separate property. (Substituted by Act 34 of 1956)

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   1217–1219.   (Repealed by Act 34 of 1956)

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   1220.   

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      (1)     Husband and wife may contract obligations for the individual affairs of each other, and may bind themselves and their separate property with or for each other, as though they were unmarried.

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      (2)     Save as in the preceding paragraph stated, the separate property of a spouse shall be liable for the obligations contractual, delictual or otherwise of such spouse and not for the obligations of the other spouse. (Substituted by Act 34 of 1956)

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   1221.   If the separate property of one of the spouses be sold, and the price of it be paid into the community and be not invested in replacement, or if the community receive any other thing which is the separate property of one of the spouses, such spouse has a right to compensation for the value of the thing which has thus fallen into the community. (Substituted by Act 34 of 1956)

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   1222.   If, on the contrary, monies have been withdrawn from the community and have been used to improve or to free from incumbrance an immovable belonging to one of the spouses, or have been applied to the payment of the individual debts, or for the exclusive benefit of such spouse, the other spouse has a right to compensation, out of the property of the community.

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   1223.   The replacement is perfect, as regards the husband, when, in making a purchase he declares that the payment for it is with monies arising from the alienation of an immovable which belonged to himself alone, or for the purpose of replacing such immovable.

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   1224.   The declaration of the husband, that the purchase is made with monies arising from an immovable sold by his wife and for the purpose of replacing it, is not sufficient, if such replacement have not been formally accepted by the wife, either by the deed of purchase itself, or by some other subsequent act made before the dissolution of the community.

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   1225.   The compensation for the price of an immovable belonging to the husband can be claimed only out of the mass of the community; that for the price of an immovable belonging to the wife, may be claimed out of the private property of the husband, if the property of the community prove insufficient.

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   In all cases, such compensation consists in the price brought by the sale and not in the real or conventional value of the immovable sold.

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   1226.   If the spouses have jointly benefited their common child, without mentioning the proportion in which they each intended to contribute, they are deemed to have intended to contribute equally, whether such benefit has been furnished or promised out of the effects of the community, or out of the private property of one of the spouses; in the latter case, such spouse has a right to be indemnified out of the property of the other, for ½ of what has been so furnished, regard being had to the value which the object given had at the time of the gift.

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   1227.   It is a question of fact dependent upon the circumstances of each case whether a benefit conferred by the husband alone upon a common child is chargeable to the community or affects the separate property of the husband. (Substituted by Act 34 of 1956)

§ 3. The Dissolution of the Community

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   1228.   The community is dissolved: 1. By dissolution of the marriage; 2. By separation from bed and board; 3. By separation of property; 4. By the absence of one of the spouses, in the cases and within the restrictions set forth in articles 75 and 76.

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   1229.   Separation of property can only be obtained judicially, and when the interests of the wife are imperiled or the disordered state of the husband's affairs gives reason to fear that his property will not be sufficient to satisfy what the wife has a right to receive from it.

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   All voluntary separations are null.

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   1230.   Separation of property, although judicially ordered, has no effect, so long as it has not been carried into execution, either by the actual payment, established by an authentic act, of what the wife has a right to receive, or at least by proceedings instituted for the purpose of obtaining such payment.

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   1231.   Every judgment ordering separation of property must be inscribed, without delay, by the Registrar upon a list kept for that purpose and posted in his office; and such inscription and the date thereof must be mentioned at the end of such judgment, in the register in which it is recorded.

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   The separation affects third parties, from the day only when these formalities have been complied with.

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   1231A.   The wife who sues or petitions for separation or divorce may accept or renounce the community, according to circumstances, and if the husband fails to make an inventory, she may, upon being authorised, have one made, if she has not renounced. (Added by Act 34 of 1956 and Amended by Act 4 of 1988)

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   1231B.   The wife's renunciation of the community must be registered by depositing it in the registry of the Supreme Court at the time when the action is brought. (Added by Act 34 of 1956)

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   1231C.   If the amount at which the rights of the wife have been determined is not voluntarily paid, execution may be enforced as in ordinary cases.

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   Nevertheless, the husband may compel the wife to receive immovables in payment, at a valuation by experts, provided such immovables are available and do not prejudice her interest. (Added by Act 34 of 1956)

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   1232.   The judgment which declares the separation of property has effect as though delivered on the day of the institution of the action.

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   1233.   The separation can be demanded only by the wife herself; her creditors cannot demand it, even with her consent.

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   Nevertheless, in the case of insolvency of the husband, they may exercise the rights of their debtor, to the extent of the amounts due to them.

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   1234.   The creditors of the husband may intervene in a suit for separation of property, or may take proceedings to set aside a separation that has been decreed or even executed in fraud of their rights.

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   1235.   The wife who has obtained a separation of property must contribute in proportion to her means and to those of her husband, to the expenses of the household as well as to those of the education of their common children. She must bear these expenses alone if nothing remain to the husband.

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   1236.   The wife separated either from bed and board or as to property only, regains full civil capacity to act and contract as though she were married in separation of property. (Substituted by Act 34 of 1956)

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   1237.   (Repealed by Act 34 of 1956)

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   1238.   Community dissolved by divorce, by separation from bed and board, or by separation of property only, cannot be re-established. The parties remain separate as to property, even if they reunite. (Substituted by Act 34 of 1956, Amended by Act 4 of 1988)

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   1239.   (Repealed by Act 34 of 1956)

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   1240.   The dissolution of the community effected by separation, either from bed and board or as to property only, does not give rise to the rights of survivorship of the wife, unless the contrary has been expressly stipulated in the contract of marriage.

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   1241–1255.   (Repealed by Act 34 of 1956)

§ 4. The Acceptance and the Renunciation of the Community

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   1256.   After the dissolution of the community, the wife or her heirs or legal representatives, have a right either to accept or renounce it. Any agreement to the contrary is void.

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   1257.   A wife of full age cannot renounce the community if she has intermeddled with its property, except in the way of mere administration or by acts of a conservatory nature; unless there be fraud on the part of the heirs of the husband. (Amended by Act 34 of 1956)

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   1258.   If the wife be under age, she cannot renounce or accept the community without the authorisation of the Judge. When made with this authorisation, the acceptance is irrevocable, and has the same effect as if the wife had been of age. (Substituted by Act 34 of 1956)

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   1259.   The wife surviving her husband must, within 3 months from his death, cause a faithful and correct inventory of all the property of the community to be made in the presence of the heirs of the husband, or after having duly summoned them. (Amended by Act 34 of 1956)

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   1260.   The wife may however renounce the community, without making an inventory, in the following cases; when the dissolution takes place during the lifetime of the husband; when the heirs of the latter are in possession of all the property; when an inventory has been made at their instance; when a general seizure and sale of the property of the community have been recently made, or when it has been established by a judicial return that none existed.

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   1261.   Besides the 3 months allowed the wife to make the inventory, she has, in order to deliberate upon her acceptance or repudiation, a delay of 40 days, which commence to run from the expiration of the 3 months, or from the closing of the inventory, if it have been completed within the 3 months.

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   1262.   Within these delays of 3 months and 40 days, the wife must make her renunciation, by means of an act in notarial form, or of a judicial declaration, which the Court orders to be recorded.

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   1263.   The wife who is sued as being in community, may nevertheless, according to circumstances, obtain from the Court an extension of the time allowed for inventory and deliberation and by the foregoing articles.

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   1264.   The wife who has neither made an inventory nor renounced within the period above prescribed, is not therefore precluded from so doing; she is allowed to do so, so long as she has not dealt with the property of the community other than as excepted in article 1259. But she can be sued as being in community so long as she has not renounced, and she is liable for the costs of the action up to the time of renunciation.

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   1265.   The widow who has abstracted or concealed any of the effects of the community is declared to be in community, notwithstanding her renunciation. The same rule applies to her heirs.

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   1266.   If the widow die before the expiration of the 3 months, without having made or completed the inventory, her heirs are allowed for its completion a further period of 3 months from her death, and, after the closing of the inventory, a period of 40 days for deliberation.

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   1267.   If the widow die after completing the inventory, her heirs have, in order to deliberate, a fresh delay of 40 days from her death.

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   They may, moreover, in all cases renounce the community, according to the forms established with regard to the wife, and articles 1263 and 1264 are applicable to them.

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   1268.   The creditors of the wife may impugn the renunciation which she or her heirs may have made in fraud of their claims, and may accept the community in their own right.

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   In such case the renunciation is annulled only in favour of the creditors and to the extent of the amount of their claims. It is not annulled in favour of the wife or of her heirs who have renounced.

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   1269.   The widow, whether she accepts or renounces, has a right, during the periods which are allowed her for making the inventory and for deliberation, to sustain herself and her domestics upon the provisions then existing, and in default of these by means of loans obtained on account of the community, subject to the condition of making a moderate use thereof.

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   She owes no rent for her occupation during these periods of the house in which she remains after the death of her husband, whether such house belongs to the community or to the heirs of the husband, or is held under lease; in the last case the rent is at the cost of the community.

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   1270.   When the community is dissolved by the previous death of the wife, her heirs may renounce it within the periods allowed and according to the forms prescribed with regard to the surviving wife, but they are not obliged to make an inventory.

§ 5. The Partition of the Community

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   1271.   After the acceptance of the community by the wife or her heirs, the assets are divided and the liabilities borne in the manner hereinafter determined.

I. The Partition of the Assets

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   1272.   The spouses or their heirs return into the community all that they owe it by way of compensation, according to the rules above prescribed in the second paragraph of this section.

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   1273.   The spouses or their heirs return likewise the sums drawn or the value of the property taken from the community by the spouses respectively, either to endow the child of another marriage or their common child.

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   1274.   Out of the property of the community is pretaken on behalf of the wife or her heirs:

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      (1)     Her separate property, if it exist in kind, or if it do not so exist, the property which has been acquired to replace it.

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      (2)     The price of her immovables that have alienated during the community and not replaced.

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      (3)     The indemnities due to her from the community.

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   The husband or his heirs pretakes in the same manner; but the pretakings on the part of the wife have precedence.

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   1275.   Pretakings are effected in respect of such property as no longer exists in kind; first upon the ready money, next upon other movable property, and finally upon the immovables of the community, the choice as regards the latter being left to the wife or her heirs.

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   1276.   The husband pretakes only from the property of the community.

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   The wife and her heirs, in case the community proves insufficient, may have recourse to the private property of the husband.

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   1277.   The compensation due by the community to the spouses, and by them to the community, bears interest from the day of the dissolution.

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   1278.   After the pretakings have been effected and the debts have been paid out of the community, the remainder is divided equally between the spouses or their representatives.

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   1279.   If the heirs of the wife be divided, so that some have accepted and other have renounced the community, those who have accepted cannot take out of the property falling to the wife's share any more than they would have received if all had accepted.

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   The residue remains with the husband, who is liable toward the heirs who have renounced for such rights as the wife might have exercised in case of renunciation, but only to the extent of the hereditary share of each heir who has thus renounced.

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   1280.   The partition of the community, in all that regards its forms, the licitation of immovables when there is occasion for it, the effects of the partition, the warranty which results from it, and the payment of differences, is subject to all the rules established for the partition among co-heirs in the Book respecting Successions.

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   1281.   The spouse who has abstracted or concealed effects belonging to the community, forfeits his or her share of such effects.

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   1282.   After the partition has been effected, if one of the spouses be the personal creditor of the other, as when the price of a property of the former has been applied to the payment of a personal debt of the other, or from any other cause, the creditor has recourse against the share of the community allotted to the debtor, or against the personal property of the debtor. The personal claims which the spouses may have to enforce against each other, bear interest according to the ordinary rules.

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   1283.   Gifts made by one spouse to the other are not taken out of the community, but only from the share therein, or from the private property of the donor.

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   1284.   The mourning of the wife is chargeable to the heirs of her deceased husband, even when she renounces the community.

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   The cost of such mourning must preserve a due proportion to the fortune of the husband.

II. The Liabilities of the Community and the Contribution to the Debts

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   1285.   The debts of the community are chargeable ½ to each of the spouses.

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   The expenses of seals, inventories, sales of movable property, liquidation, licitation and partition, are included in such debts.

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   1286.   The wife, even though she accepts the community, is not liable for its debts, either toward her husband or toward creditors, beyond the amount of the benefit she derives from it; provided she has made a correct and faithful inventory and has rendered an account both of what is contained in the inventory and of what has fallen to her in the partition.

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   1287.   The husband is liable toward the creditors for the whole of the debts of the community which were contracted by himself; but has recourse against his wife or her heirs if they accept, for the half of such debts, or for such amount being less than half as is equivalent to the benefit which she or they have derived from the community.

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   1288.   (Repealed by Act 34 of 1956)

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   1289.   The wife may be sued for the whole of the debts for which the community has become liable through her; but has recourse against the husband or his heirs for half of such debts, if she accept, and for the whole if she renounce.

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   1290.   The wife who, during the community, binds herself for or together with her husband, even jointly and severally, is held to have done so only in respect of the community. If she accept she is personally liable for her half only of the debt thus contracted, and she is not at all liable if she renounce.

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   1291.   The wife who has paid more than her half of a debt of the community, cannot get back what she has overpaid, unless the receipt erroneously expresses that what she paid was for her half.

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   But she has recourse against her husband.

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   1292.   The spouse who, by reason of the enforcing of an hypothec upon the immovable which has fallen to his share, is sued for the whole of a debt of the community, has his legal recourse for one-half of such debt against the other spouse.

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   1293.   Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions, either of the co-partitioners may, by the deed of partition, be charged with more or less than half of the debts and even with the whole.

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   1294.   All that has been provided above in respect of the husband or of the wife applies to the heirs of either, and such heirs have the same rights and liabilities as the spouse whom they represent.

§ 6. Renunciation of the Community and its Effects

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   1295.   The wife who renounces cannot claim any share in the property of the community.

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   1296.   She may, however, retain her wedding presents and the wearing apparel and linen in use for her own person.

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   1297.   The wife who renounces has a right to take back:

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      1.     The price of her immovables which have been alienated, and the replacement of which has not been made and accepted as mentioned above in article 1224.

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      2.     The indemnities which may be due to her from the community. (Amended by Act 34 of 1956)

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   1298.   The wife who renounces is freed from all contribution to the debts of the community, both as regards her husband and as regards creditors, except those towards whom she bound herself jointly and severally with her husband.

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   She remains liable for debts which have become a charge upon the community through her. (Amended by Act 13 of 1989)

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   1299.   She may exercise all the rights hereinabove enumerated, as well against the property of the community as against the private property of her husband.

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   Her heirs may do the same, except as regards the pretaking of wedding presents, linen and wearing apparel, and as regards lodging and maintenance during the periods allowed for the inventory and for deliberation.