Short answer. It depends on the penalty imposed. Civil interdiction, which attaches to the graver penalties, takes away the right to manage property and to dispose of it by any conveyance during the sentence. Where civil interdiction does not attach, ownership and the power to sell are unaffected.
What the law says
Civil interdiction shall deprive the offender during the time of his sentence of the rights of parental authority, or guardianship, either as to the person or property of any ward, of marital authority, of the right to manage his property and of the right to dispose of such property by any act or any conveyance inter vivos.
Revised Penal Code, Article 34 — Civil Interdiction Explained. Read the full provision →
What civil interdiction actually removes
Article 34 provides that civil interdiction shall deprive the offender during the time of his sentence of, among other things, the right to manage his property and of the right to dispose of such property by any act or any conveyance inter vivos. Two capacities go together: administration and disposal. So it is not only a sale that is caught. Mortgaging, donating, leasing on his own authority and other acts of management fall on the same side of the line, because the deprivation is of the power to deal with the property at all.
He remains the owner
This is the point most readers get wrong. Civil interdiction does not confiscate anything and does not transfer title to the State or to the family. The convict still owns what he owned; what he loses is the legal capacity to act on it himself while the sentence runs. The wording is also specific about the kind of act covered — a conveyance inter vivos, that is, one taking effect between living persons. Dispositions that operate only on death sit outside that phrase, which is a distinction worth putting to a lawyer in any estate question.
It attaches to the penalty, not to every conviction
Civil interdiction is an accessory penalty. It is not imposed separately by the judge; it follows automatically from certain principal penalties that the Code lists, and it lasts only for the time of the sentence. That is why the answer for any particular person begins with the dispositive portion of the decision: identify the principal penalty imposed, then check whether civil interdiction is among the accessory penalties the Code attaches to it. A conviction carrying a lighter penalty may leave the person's capacity to deal with his property untouched.
Why it matters to buyers and to family
A deed signed by someone under civil interdiction is exposed to challenge, so this is not a formality that can be worked around by proceeding quietly. Where property genuinely has to be dealt with during the sentence — a sale the family depends on, a loan falling due — the route is through whatever representation the law allows for a person who lacks capacity to act, not through a signature that may not hold. Bring the judgment, the titles and the proposed transaction to counsel before anything is signed.