When property subject to a legal or a judicial mortgage is seized to enforce the mortgage, or is about to be seized for this purpose, and the property is no longer owned by the original debtor, the third possessor has the following rights:
Art. 3743.Rights of Third Possessor
Book VII. Special Proceedings · Title II. Real Actions · Chapter 3. Hypothecary Action · Amendment history unavailable · Last verified July 30, 2026
In one sentenceArticle 3743 gives a third possessor whose property is seized, or about to be seized, to enforce a legal or judicial mortgage the right to arrest the seizure by injunction on specific defenses such as an unrecorded or extinguished mortgage, to plead discussion, and to invoke the other protections available to a third possessor under Article 2703.
Full Text of Art. 3743
(1) To arrest the seizure, or threatened seizure, and consequent judicial sale of the property by injunction on the grounds that the mortgage was not recorded, that the inscription of its recordation had perempted, or that the debt secured by the mortgage is prescribed or extinguished, or to plead discussion as provided in Articles 5154 and 5155; and
Plain-English Summary
The third possessor is the new owner of formerly mortgaged property, someone who acquired it from the original debtor and now faces a creditor's seizure over a debt the third possessor never personally owed. Article 3743 does not leave that person defenseless. When property subject to a legal or judicial mortgage is seized, or about to be seized, to enforce it, the third possessor gets specific tools to respond.
The first is injunctive: the third possessor can arrest the seizure, or a threatened seizure, along with the judicial sale that would follow it, by seeking an injunction. That injunction has to rest on one of a few defined grounds — that the mortgage was never recorded, that the recorded inscription had perempted, meaning its effect had lapsed with time, or that the debt the mortgage secures has itself prescribed or been extinguished. Alternatively, the third possessor can plead discussion, a civil-law procedural device, provided for elsewhere in the Code, that can require the creditor to look first to the original debtor's other property before reaching the third possessor's.
The second tool is a cross-reference: Article 3743 also gives the third possessor every right granted under Article 2703(1) and (3), incorporating additional protections that apply to third possessors generally rather than repeating them here.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a third possessor?
Someone who has acquired mortgaged property from the original debtor and now owns property still subject to the mortgage, even though the third possessor never personally owed the underlying debt.
Can a third possessor stop a seizure of the property?
Yes, by injunction, if the third possessor can show the mortgage was never recorded, that its recorded inscription had perempted, or that the underlying debt has prescribed or been extinguished.
What does it mean to plead discussion?
It is a civil-law procedural device that lets a third possessor require the creditor to exhaust the original debtor's other property before proceeding against the property the third possessor now owns.
Does the third possessor have any other protections besides those listed in Article 3743?
Yes. Article 3743 also extends the rights granted to a third possessor under Article 2703(1) and (3), adding to the specific protections it lists directly.
Source & verification. Article text is reproduced verbatim from
the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure (legis.la.gov). Enacted by the Louisiana Legislature.
Last verified July 30, 2026.
· Official source
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