The children may be grown, your assets may have changed, or the person named as executor may no longer be the right choice. We compare the existing provisions with the life you have now before recommending changes.
Choosing someone to care for a child and choosing someone to manage an inheritance are related but different decisions. We help you consider both, name appropriate alternates, and address when and how children should receive property.
Age alone does not tell you whether a will needs to be replaced. The useful question is whether its instructions still fit your family, property, and wishes. Bring the signed will and any later amendments so we can review the actual language.
For example, a will written when children were young may still name a deceased relative as executor or contain trust terms that no longer fit. A review identifies which provisions remain useful and which decisions need attention. A change in law does not by itself mean every older will is invalid.
Each spouse should understand the choices in their own will. Review can also uncover a need to update lifetime decision-making documents. Our Baton Rouge estate-planning service addresses that broader coordination.
For minor children, Louisiana uses the term tutor for a role often described as guardian. A will can record the appropriate choice, but it does not simply override a surviving parent’s rights. Civil Code Article 250 addresses the surviving parent’s right to tutorship; Article 257 addresses appointment by the parent dying last and a specified interdiction situation. Existing custody arrangements and family circumstances matter.
Think about the proposed caregiver’s willingness, relationship with the children, health, location, and ability to keep siblings together. Discuss the responsibility with that person and choose an alternate. We help translate those preferences into provisions suited to your circumstances.
Then consider who should manage the money. A testamentary trust can give a trustee responsibility for an inheritance under terms in the will. The caregiver and trustee may be different people. Decisions include permitted support and education expenses, how distributions will work, successor trustees, and the timing of a child’s access to funds, within applicable Louisiana limits.
Tell us about life insurance and retirement accounts as well as property passing under the will. A trust provision in the will does not automatically change an account’s beneficiary designation. Coordinating those arrangements is part of making the intended plan workable.
Current Louisiana Law
Louisiana recognizes notarial and olographic testaments. For a fuller explanation, the Louisiana wills guide explains signing requirements, forced heirship, community property, and succession consequences.
Civil Code Article 1576 requires a written and dated testament executed before a notary in the presence of two witnesses and signed by the testator, witnesses, and notary.
An olographic testament must be entirely written, dated, and signed in the testator’s handwriting. It needs no notary or witnesses for execution, but handwriting, meaning, alterations, or missing pages may create later proof questions.
An Important 2025 Distinction
Louisiana’s 2025 changes separated the basic validity requirements for a notarial testament from the additional features that can allow the document to be admitted without separate proof. Code of Civil Procedure Article 2887 explains when a notarial testament does not need proof and how another notarial testament may be proved.
The practical goal is not merely to satisfy the minimum signing rule. Careful drafting and execution should also anticipate what the executor and succession attorney will need when the original will is presented to the court.
If either spouse has children from an earlier relationship, discuss how the plan will provide for the survivor and those children. Our Baton Rouge blended-family planning page explains those additional decisions. Shared property, business interests, a beneficiary with a disability, and intended gifts to a partner or charity also deserve specific attention.
Managing an Inheritance for Your Children
A testamentary trust can place inheritance under a trustee’s management for a young beneficiary, a person who needs continuing support, successive generations, shared family property, or another defined planning purpose.
The trust begins through the succession, so it does not avoid probate. A funded living trust has a different role. Compare the structures in the Louisiana trusts guide.
A Clear Local Process
1. Understand
Bring your existing wills, a general asset list, and your questions. We identify what has changed and discuss the people you would trust to carry out the plan.
2. Coordinate
We explain the recommended provisions and review beneficiaries, the executor, and any tutor or trustee choices with you. You make the decisions; we prepare the documents and identify related arrangements that need attention.
3. Complete
Complete the Louisiana formalities, preserve the original will, and understand where documents and beneficiary arrangements should be reviewed.
Your Free Consultation
Do not delay because the file is incomplete. Begin with the names of the important people, a general property list, existing wills or trusts, beneficiary information, and the questions you want the plan to answer.
The secure intake questionnaire helps the firm understand the planning need before responding. The initial consultation is free.
Clear Scope and Fees
Many will-based estate plans can be offered for a clearly explained flat fee. Trust provisions, family or ownership complexity, tax questions, urgency, and supporting documents may affect the scope.
Field Law explains the proposed work and fee before representation begins. Confirm which documents, review meetings, signing arrangements, and related updates are included, and which tasks you will handle afterward.
Common Local Starting Questions
Select a question to read the answer.
Yes. The review considers the existing document, current Louisiana law, family and property changes, and whether the will coordinates with the rest of the plan. A new Louisiana will may be clearer than attempting an informal amendment.
No. A will supplies instructions for a testate succession. Probate concerns the court’s recognition of the testament; succession is the broader process of addressing property, obligations, administration, and possession.
Many conferences and drafting steps can be handled by telephone or video. The client’s participation and Louisiana execution requirements still affect how the documents are completed.
Review it after marriage, divorce, birth, adoption, death, a changed fiduciary or beneficiary relationship, a major property or business change, relocation, or another development that affects the plan.
Related Field Law Guidance
A Free Consultation. A Clear Next Step.
Tell us whether you want to review older wills or put arrangements in place for your children. The secure questionnaire starts intake so Field Law can understand your needs before responding about a free consultation. It does not immediately book an appointment.
This page provides general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Louisiana law and the effect of a will depend on the document, execution, family, ownership, and facts. Review the specific plan before relying on a form, altering an original testament, or making a property transfer.
© 2026 Field Law. All rights reserved.
Responsible Attorney: James Morgan Field, III, Louisiana Bar Roll No. 34285. Attorney Morgan Field is listed with the Louisiana State Bar Association under his full name.
*Images are obtained under license from Canva and other third-party stock image providers, with attribution included where required.
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