Art. 2342.Act of Sale By Sheriff

An act of sale is the formal written instrument that transfers recorded title, the same kind of documentary instrument Louisiana's civil-law property practice uses in an ordinary private sale between a seller and buyer. Here, the sheriff executes it on the judgment debtor's behalf after a judicial sale rather than a private seller signing it voluntarily.

The article's central point is about timing and effect, not just paperwork. Ownership does not wait for the act of sale to take hold. The transfer of the debtor's rights to the purchaser already happens at adjudication, the moment the property is struck to the winning bidder. The act of sale that follows is a documentary record of a transfer that has already occurred; it adds nothing to the adjudication's legal force and exists only to furnish proof of it for the public record and any future purchaser tracing title.

The fifteen-day window gives the sheriff time to prepare and execute that document after the sale closes. A purchaser should expect the act of sale to arrive as a distinct, later step in the process rather than something handed over at the moment the gavel falls on the winning bid.