Louisiana permits affidavit-based small-succession procedure in limited situations, but the availability of that shortcut depends on both value and posture. Article 3421 defines a small succession to include, among other things, a Louisiana domiciliary estate…
A lot of families call a succession uncontested because everyone gets along. That is helpful, but it does not always make the process simple. An uncontested succession may still involve title issues, heirship proof, affidavit…
Some succession fights are really fights about a house. Others involve a business, an LLC, rental property, or investment accounts. Those cases are usually more complex because they combine succession law with business documents, accounting…
A lot of people think a trust solves everything automatically. It does not. After the trust creator dies or becomes incapacitated, someone still has to administer the trust properly. That means identifying assets, following the…
Estate and succession problems often do not arrive neatly separated from elder-law problems. Families dealing with a death may also be dealing with failed incapacity planning, prior caregiving disputes, long-term care expenses, Medicaid concerns, or…
Filiation disputes arise when someone claims the right to inherit as a child of the decedent, but the legal parent-child relationship was never fully established before death. In an intestate succession, descendants are the first…
Families are often surprised to learn that handling part of an estate in another state does not always solve the Louisiana side of the problem. If the person who died owned Louisiana property, there may…
Forced heirship in Louisiana begins with Article 1493. Today, the category generally includes descendants of the first degree who are twenty-three years of age or younger at the decedent’s death and descendants of the first…
Many successions are routine. Some are not. A succession becomes litigation when there is a real dispute that cannot be resolved through ordinary administration. That may mean a fight over a will, over who the…
When families start asking whether a will can be thrown out, the real question is whether the document should control what happens to the estate. In Louisiana, courts do not invalidate wills just because someone…