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Aug 02, 2026
Who needs an estate plan in Louisiana? Every adult can benefit from having at least basic legal documents in place. However, estate planning becomes especially important at certain stages of life.
Turning eighteen, getting married, becoming a parent, and preparing for retirement all create new legal and financial concerns. These events should prompt a person to create an estate plan or review documents prepared earlier.
An Estate Plan Is More Than a Will
A last will and testament is an important part of an estate plan, but it only takes effect after death. A complete plan should also address what happens if the person becomes unable to make financial or medical decisions.
Depending on the person’s circumstances, a Louisiana estate plan may include:
- A last will and testament
- A financial mandate
- A health-care mandate
- A living will
- One or more trusts
- A tutor nomination for minor children
- Beneficiary-designation guidance
- Instructions for digital property
- Business-succession documents
Not everyone needs every document. The plan should reflect the person’s family, property, health concerns, and goals.
1. Young Adults Who Have Turned Eighteen
Turning eighteen changes the legal relationship between a young adult and the young adult’s parents.
Under Louisiana Civil Code Article 29, a person reaches the age of majority at eighteen. Parents no longer have parental authority simply because their adult child still lives at home, attends school, or depends on them financially.
If the young adult experiences a serious illness or accident, the parents may encounter difficulty managing finances, accessing information, or making decisions.
Documents a Young Adult Should Consider
A young adult’s estate plan may be simple. The most important documents frequently include:
- A financial mandate
- A health-care mandate
- A living will
- Authorization to receive medical information
- A basic will when the person owns property or has specific wishes
A financial mandate can authorize someone to handle banking, insurance, housing, school, tax, or other financial matters. A health-care mandate can identify the person who should make medical decisions if the young adult cannot communicate.
Louisiana law requires certain powers to be granted expressly. For example, Louisiana Civil Code Article 2997 provides that authority to make health-care decisions must be stated expressly in a mandate.
A living will serves a different purpose. It provides instructions concerning life-sustaining procedures if the person has a terminal and irreversible condition. Louisiana Revised Statute 40:1151.2 permits any adult to make this declaration.
Our article on how a Louisiana mandate protects your interests explains the role of a financial power of attorney in greater detail.
Young Adults Still Need to Consider Property
A young person may not own a home or have substantial savings. However, the person may have:
- A vehicle
- A bank account
- Life insurance
- A retirement account through work
- Digital assets
- Personal belongings
- A legal claim arising from an accident
- Property inherited from a parent or grandparent
A will can identify who should receive those assets. Beneficiary designations should also be reviewed because life insurance and retirement accounts may pass under those designations rather than the will.
2. New Spouses and Parents
Marriage and parenthood create new responsibilities. They also create reasons to decide what should happen if one spouse or parent dies or becomes incapacitated.
Marriage Does Not Mean a Spouse Inherits Everything
Louisiana law does not guarantee that a surviving spouse will inherit the entire estate.
The result depends on whether the deceased spouse had a will, whether the property was community or separate, and which relatives survive. When a married person dies without a will and leaves descendants, the children generally inherit the deceased person’s separate property.
A will can provide greater protection for a spouse, subject to Louisiana’s forced-heirship rules. It can also address usufruct, trusts, and the rights of children from prior relationships.
Estate planning becomes especially important for:
- Blended families
- Second marriages
- Spouses who own substantial separate property
- Couples with children from prior relationships
- Spouses with unequal assets or incomes
- Couples who signed a matrimonial agreement
Parents Should Nominate a Tutor
Louisiana uses the term “tutor” for the person commonly called a guardian of a minor child.
A parent may nominate a tutor in a will. Under Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Article 4062, the court generally appoints the nominated person unless that person is disqualified or the appointment would not serve the child’s best interest.
Without a nomination, relatives may disagree about who should care for the child. A written nomination gives the court clear evidence of the parent’s wishes.
Learn more about naming a tutor for a minor child.
Parents Should Plan How Children Receive Property
Naming a minor child as an outright beneficiary can create additional problems. A minor cannot independently manage inherited property.
Parents should consider:
- Who will manage the inheritance
- How the money may be used
- Whether a trust is appropriate
- At what age the child should receive control
- Who should serve as trustee
- What happens if the child dies before receiving the property
A testamentary trust can hold the inheritance and allow a trustee to use it for the child’s education, health, maintenance, and support. The trust can continue beyond age eighteen if the parents believe the child should not receive complete control immediately.
Life-insurance and retirement-account beneficiary designations should be coordinated with the will and any trust. Otherwise, an asset may pass outside the structure the parents intended to create.
3. People Preparing for Retirement
Retirement planning usually focuses on income, investments, and health insurance. It should also include a review of the person’s estate plan.
Documents prepared years earlier may no longer match the person’s family, property, health, or retirement goals.
Review Decision-Making Documents
A financial mandate becomes increasingly important when someone owns several accounts, receives retirement benefits, or depends on another person for assistance.
The mandate should give the selected person enough authority to handle foreseeable matters. Depending on the principal’s needs, that may include:
- Banking and investments
- Real estate
- Insurance
- Taxes
- Retirement benefits
- Business interests
- Claims and litigation
- Long-term-care arrangements
- Applications for available benefits
The health-care mandate and living will should also be reviewed. The people named years ago may have died, moved away, or become unable to serve.
Coordinate Beneficiary Designations
Retirement accounts, life insurance, and annuities often pass through beneficiary designations. Those designations should be reviewed when someone retires, divorces, remarries, or experiences a death in the family.
An outdated beneficiary designation can defeat the plan stated in a will. It may also send an asset directly to a beneficiary when a trust would have been more appropriate.
Plan for Long-Term Care
Long-term-care planning does not always mean Medicaid planning. Families may expect to pay for care through:
- Personal savings and investments
- Retirement income
- Privately purchased long-term-care insurance
- Life-insurance or annuity benefits
- Family assistance
- A combination of these resources
The estate plan should identify who can manage these resources if the owner becomes incapacitated. It should also coordinate legal authority with the family’s expected method of paying for care.
Our guide to making long-term care part of an estate plan discusses these privately funded options.
Review the Will and Trusts
A retirement review should also confirm that the will still names the correct beneficiaries and executor. Existing trusts should be reviewed for outdated terms, deceased trustees, or changes in the beneficiaries’ needs.
The review may reveal property that was never transferred to a trust or an estate plan that no longer coordinates with current ownership and beneficiary designations.
Other Events That Should Prompt an Estate-Plan Review
These three groups are not the only people who should consider estate planning. A review is also appropriate after:
- Divorce
- Death of a spouse or beneficiary
- Starting or selling a business
- Receiving an inheritance
- Buying property in another state
- A beneficiary developing a disability
- A significant change in assets
- A serious diagnosis
- Moving into or out of Louisiana
- A major change in family relationships
Estate planning should change as life changes. A document that was appropriate ten years ago may not solve today’s problems.
Field Law Can Help
Determining who needs an estate plan in Louisiana begins with recognizing the decisions that would have to be made after incapacity or death. Young adults need decision-making documents. New spouses and parents need to protect dependents. People approaching retirement need to coordinate property, beneficiaries, health-care instructions, and long-term-care plans.
At Field Law, estate planning and successions are the focus of our practice. We help clients identify the documents they actually need and create plans that work under Louisiana law.
Contact Field Law to schedule a consultation and begin creating or updating your Louisiana estate plan.
