If the managing spouse with respect to the community right sought to be enforced is an absentee or a mental incompetent, then the other spouse is the proper plaintiff to enforce that community right.
Art. 695.Absent Or Mentally Incompetent Managing Spouse
Title III. Parties · Chapter 2. Parties Plaintiff · Enacted 1979 · no amendments on record · Last verified July 30, 2026
In one sentenceArticle 695 shifts proper-plaintiff status to the non-managing spouse when the spouse who would normally manage a particular community right is an absentee or a mental incompetent, so enforcement of that right does not stall for lack of a plaintiff able to act.
Full Text of Art. 695
Amendment History
Added by Acts 1979, No. 711, §4, eff. 1/1/1980.
Plain-English Summary
Article 686 ordinarily makes the managing spouse the proper plaintiff to enforce a community right assigned to that spouse's management. Article 695 addresses what happens when that managing spouse cannot fill the role — because the spouse is an absentee, someone whose whereabouts are unknown and who cannot be located to act, or because the spouse is a mental incompetent, unable to manage the right in question.
In either situation, Article 695 shifts proper-plaintiff status to the other spouse. That spouse can step in and enforce the community right that would ordinarily fall to the missing or incapacitated spouse's management, so the family's community interests do not go unprotected because the managing spouse cannot act.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if the spouse who normally manages a community right cannot be found?
Article 695 lets the other spouse become the proper plaintiff to enforce that community right when the managing spouse is an absentee.
Does mental incompetence of the managing spouse block a lawsuit over community property?
No. Article 695 lets the other spouse sue to enforce the community right when the managing spouse is a mental incompetent.
How does Article 695 relate to the managing-spouse rule in Article 686?
Article 695 is the exception to it, covering the specific situations where the managing spouse cannot function as the proper plaintiff and shifting that role to the other spouse.
Source & verification. Article text is reproduced verbatim from
the vLex (Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure, 2026 Edition). Enacted by the Louisiana Legislature.
Last verified July 30, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: absentee spouse community right Louisianaincompetent managing spouse lawsuitArticle 695 Louisiana Code of Civil Procedureother spouse sues for community propertymanaging spouse cannot act