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Last
Modified on
Apr 20, 2026
Yes. Louisiana now states the rule directly. If a person has possession of a document purporting to be the testament of a deceased person, that person must present the document to the court for filing even if the person doubts the document’s validity or believes it is not the true testament. Presenting the document does not constitute a representation that it is authentic or valid. La. C.C.P. art. 2853.
Why the rule exists
The statute solves a practical and ethical problem. Families sometimes find more than one testamentary document, or they find a will that appears suspicious, incomplete, or superseded. Louisiana procedure rejects the idea that a private person can suppress that document and unilaterally decide the estate should proceed as intestate. La. C.C.P. art. 2853.
The same chapter confirms that if the testament is not in the petitioner’s possession, the petitioner may request that the court direct a notary to search for it, including by examining books, papers, documents, and receptacles likely to contain the testament. If the search succeeds, the notary must take possession of the document and return it to court; if the search fails despite diligent effort, the notary must report that as well. La. C.C.P. arts. 2854, 2855.
The procedural consequence
Filing a purported testament does not resolve validity. It preserves the document in the succession record and allows an interested person to seek probate or to challenge it later through the proper contradictory procedure. In that sense, Article 2853 protects both the succession and the person who files the document. La. C.C.P. arts. 2853.
Timing still matters. Louisiana’s law provides a five-year period to probate a testament after judicial opening of the succession. La. R.S. 9:5643; That is another reason not to delay once a purported testament surfaces.
Field Law can help
A suspicious will should usually be filed, not buried. If your family has found a document that may be a testament but may also be vulnerable to attack, Field Law can help you comply with the filing rule, preserve the estate’s options, and decide what probate or litigation step should come next.
