Art. 5153.Transferee In Revocatory Action; Right to Plead Discussion

A revocatory action is the civil-law tool a creditor uses to undo a transfer its debtor made in fraud of the creditor's rights, for instance where the debtor gave away or sold property in an effort to place it beyond the creditor's reach. The creditor sues to have the transfer set aside so the property can again be reached to satisfy the debt. The person who received the property, the transferee, is the defendant in that action.

Article 5153 gives the transferee a way to slow that process down. By pleading discussion, the transferee can require the creditor to first obtain a judgment against the debtor and execute it, before the transfer itself gets set aside. The logic mirrors discussion's role elsewhere in this Chapter: someone who did not directly incur the debt, but only stands to lose property because of it, gets to insist that the creditor try the direct route against the actual debtor first.

Article 5155 limits how the transferee can raise this defense: discussion in a revocatory action may be pleaded only through the dilatory exception, a preliminary procedural objection, rather than in an injunction proceeding, which is reserved for a third possessor under Article 5154. If the transferee's plea succeeds, Article 5156 requires the court to stay the revocatory action against the transferee until the creditor has executed its judgment against the debtor's own property.