Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in Louisiana

I have dated a man on and off for 5 years. We split in July of last year with no contact until October when began calling and using all means to get me back. In November he began talking about marriage. He purchased a house in Florida around Thanksgiving and he said "your new home is paid for" and he was ready for us to be a family (I must mention I am a single parent and my only income was my job). He told me to quit my job and not to worry he would take care of us and pay for my schooling because money was not an issue. He asked me if I wanted to get married, I said yes, and I had my engagement ring just after Christmas. I quit my job, pulled my daughter out of school in Louisiana, moved all if my belongings and we began our life. I have documentation (emails and text) of everything. He has a business in Mississippi, so he would go back for a few days to handle business and come back. Well, while on his last trip, a women should up at what was supposed to be my home and told me she was his wife! They were married during our last split. I did not have any idea. I had to move back to Louisiana, pull my daughter out if school again, I have no income to support my child, no place to live, not to mention I am completly devastated! Do I have any legal rights to compensation for what he has done to my daughter and I?


Asked on 2/02/10, 7:13 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Adam Lambert The Law Office of Adam S. Lambert

No. You were never married and he had no legal duty to support you or your daughter, or to continue to live with you, date you, whatever. In Louisiana, there is no such thing as common law marriage, so you can live with someone for 50 years and it makes no difference. You simply have no spousal rights because you are not a spouse.

The small amount of good news for you is that if he gave you the ring as a gift and/or gave you the ring in anticipation of marriage and he broke off the engagement, you can keep the ring, hock it, whatever you want. That should defer some of your costs.

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Answered on 2/09/10, 9:51 am


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