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What Is Trust Administration in Louisiana – and When Can It Turn Into a Dispute?
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…
What Happens When Probate and Elder Law Collide in Louisiana?
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 Fights in Louisiana Successions: When an Heir Has to Prove Parentage After Death
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…
What Out-of-State Families Need to Know About Louisiana Successions
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 Deep Dive: Who Qualifies, When Representation Matters, and Why the Date of Death Controls
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…
What Is Succession Litigation in Louisiana, and When Does a Family Need It?
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…
Can a Will Be Invalidated in Louisiana? What Courts Actually Look At
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…
Can a Louisiana Will Be Defended in Court? What Happens When Someone Tries to Break It
A will contest does not always mean the will is weak. Sometimes the will is valid, the evidence is strong, and the people receiving under the document need counsel prepared to defend it. In Louisiana,…
What a Surviving Spouse Actually Gets in an Intestate Louisiana Succession
A surviving spouse in Louisiana is an intestate successor, but that does not mean the spouse automatically receives everything when there is no will. The starting point is Article 880, which directs that in the…
Why Some Baton Rouge Families Still End Up in Succession Even When They Thought They Planned Ahead
A lot of families believe they have planned ahead, only to discover after a death that they still need a succession. That can be frustrating, especially when the family thought a will, a trust, or…
