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SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA
No. 97-CC-1718 IN RE: HOWARD MARSHALL CHARITABLE REMAINDER ANNUITY TRUST

LEMMON, J., Dissenting from Denial of Rehearing The real issue presented in this case is whether Louisiana has in rem jurisdiction over property belonging to the succession of the decedent, a Texas domiciliary, on the basis that the asset is located in Louisiana. The succession asset at issue is a debt due to the decedent by the trust which he established and of which he was an income beneficiary. The trust derived its income from mineral royalties. In rem jurisdiction is governed by La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 8, which provides that "[a] court which is otherwise competent under the laws of this state has jurisdiction to enforce a right in, to, or against property having a situs in this state, claimed or owned by a nonresident."1 (emphasis added). Since jurisdiction in rem is based upon the legal situs of the property, the court applies the rules with respect to situs in each particular case. With regard to incorporeals, the term "situs" is simply a shorthand for the place whose law is for independent reasons applicable to one set of facts or another. Robert A. Leflar et al., American Conflicts Law

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Louisiana Law