Privacy and Spouses in Louisiana: The Community Property Conundrum and Proposals for Reform

Abstract

Since Warren and Brandeis first expounded on the right of privacy in 1890, individuals' legal ability to protect themselves from unreasonable intrusions upon their seclusion has grown through both jurisprudence and statutes. While privacy rights on a national level have developed, community property laws in Louisiana have not evolved to ensure similar protections for intra-spousal privacy rights. One reason Louisiana law has not progressed in this respect is because privacy rights create a conundrum for community property: how can spouses share property with one another as part of the community, yet still retain a right of privacy from one another in that property? Community property ownership, management, and debt rules cause consternation for Louisiana courts considering an individual spouse's right of privacy. Two Louisiana courts have held that community property rules trump a spouse's right of privacy. Thus, while intra-spousal privacy rights have developed on a national level, an individual spouse's privacy rights in Louisiana have remained stagnant. This Article seeks to provide guidance to the Louisiana legislature and courts as to how to amend current community property law so as to give spouses a reasonable right of privacy from one another in community property.