Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Louisiana

You know your first 2 mistakes were not making sure who owned the property and not getting the agreement in writing. Unless an agreement is in writing, and recorded in the public records, it has not affect on 3rd parties. In this case, she could be considered a 3rd party. You can sue the husband, but what for? You bought the house by paying it off instead of trying to enforce the monthly payments agreement.

Actually, Mr. Pizzalatto is not totally correct. When you are talking about selling property, the agreement is not valid AT ALL if it is not in writing. Under Louisiana law, any agreement to buy or sell property MUST be in writing or it is not valid at all. You have no chance of getting that property.

You MAY be able to sue the "seller" for fraud, assuming you can prove that he purported to sell you the property, but you can't get the property. At best, you could only get your payments back. Nevertheless, even in that instance, I would think that the Judge would also charge you a reasonable rent for the time you actually lived in the property. You could end up winning the case and getting nothing.