Planning Around Real Life
You have built a life together, but your wills may still reflect an earlier stage. Children have grown, property has changed, or the person named as executor is no longer the right choice.
Review how each spouse’s will supports the survivor, what eventually passes to children, and whether account beneficiaries still match the plan.
You want the right person caring for your children and a sensible plan for their inheritance. In a blended family, you may also need to support your spouse while preserving gifts for children from an earlier relationship.
Address tutors, inheritance management, alternate beneficiaries, and Louisiana’s forced-heirship rules before signing.
After handling your spouse’s succession, you may want to put your own affairs in order and reduce the work your children will face. Your existing will may still name your spouse as beneficiary or executor.
Review the property you now own, replacement decision-makers, and the instructions your family will need. If avoiding another succession is a priority, compare a will with a funded living trust. A will by itself does not avoid succession.
A Workable Will
Louisiana law uses the term “testament.” A thoughtfully prepared testament coordinates the property, people, and future court authority that the document can actually control.
1. Direct
Name legatees, describe particular gifts, provide alternate beneficiaries, and address how the plan should work if someone dies before you.
2. Appoint
Nominate an executor for the succession, a tutor for minor children, and trustees when an inheritance should remain under management.
3. Prepare
Authorize independent administration when appropriate and give the executor practical instructions that the Louisiana court can apply.
Current Louisiana Formalities
Civil Code Article 1574 recognizes only olographic and notarial testaments. The form requirements matter: a document that expresses clear wishes can still fail if it is not executed as a Louisiana testament.
Under Civil Code Article 1576, a notarial testament is prepared in writing, dated, executed before a notary in the presence of two witnesses, and signed by the testator, each witness, and the notary.
Careful drafting and supervised execution can create a clearer record of the plan. Additional execution choices may also make the testament easier to prove after death.
Under Civil Code Article 1575, an olographic testament must be entirely written, dated, and signed in the testator’s handwriting. It does not require a notary or witnesses for execution.
Louisiana amended Article 1575 in 2025. A handwritten testament may satisfy the current form requirements yet still create disputes about handwriting, intent, property descriptions, alterations, missing pages, or ambiguous beneficiaries.
Draft for the Future Process
The will does not transfer succession property automatically. After death, the original testament generally must be presented to the appropriate Louisiana court and recognized through a testate succession.
The executor may then gather property, address debts, prepare filings, and move the estate toward possession. The dedicated Louisiana succession guide explains that process in greater depth.
Independent Administration
Code of Civil Procedure Article 3396.2 allows a testator to authorize independent administration. The court must still appoint the succession representative and issue the appropriate authority.
The provision can reduce the need for separate court approval of particular administrative acts, but it does not remove all filings, fiduciary duties, notices, or judicial oversight.
Louisiana-Specific Planning
A generic form may not account for Louisiana ownership, inheritance, and family-law concepts. These issues should be addressed before deciding what the will says.
The plan must distinguish each spouse’s ownership. A testament usually controls the testator’s share, not the surviving spouse’s share.
Civil Code Article 1493 defines qualifying descendants who may have protected inheritance rights. Age, incapacity, infirmity, representation, and medical documentation can affect the analysis.
A will may give one person use of property while another owns the underlying interest. Clear terms should address scope, expenses, security, sale, and termination where relevant.
A parent’s will can address nomination of a tutor for minor children and management of their inheritance. Parental rights, eligibility, and court appointment must be considered; the will does not settle every custody or tutorship question.
More Than an Outright Gift
A testamentary trust begins through the succession after death. It may be useful when a beneficiary is young, has a disability, needs protection from outside influence, should not receive immediate control, or would benefit from long-term management.
The will can identify the trustee, beneficiaries, duration, distribution standards, successor trustees, and the circumstances in which the trust ends. The terms should be practical for the property and the people involved.
A testamentary trust does not avoid succession. A funded living trust has a different role. Compare those options in the Louisiana trusts guide.
A Defined Planning Process
1. Understand
Identify spouses, descendants, other beneficiaries, decision-makers, concerns, and the result the plan should produce.
2. Review
Review ownership, community property, beneficiary designations, business interests, debts, and assets requiring special treatment.
3. Design
Select legatees, executors, tutors, trustees, alternates, administrative authority, and supporting estate-planning documents.
4. Complete
Complete the required formalities, store the original securely, and make sure a trusted person knows how it can be found.
Keep the Plan Current
A carefully written will still needs a carefully considered execution. When a client anticipates disagreement over an inheritance, we consider the document’s history, the circumstances of signing, and the questions someone might raise after the client can no longer answer them.
Our work has included successive executed wills as part of that planning. We also draft for less obvious contingencies: a beneficiary dies first, someone renounces an inheritance, or the surviving spouse needs the use of property while another person ultimately inherits it. These decisions belong in the planning conversation, while the client can explain what they want and why.
Avoid Informal Changes
Cross-outs, handwritten additions, detached pages, conflicting copies, and unexplained signatures can create questions about amendment, revocation, form, and intent.
A formal review can determine whether the existing will still works, whether a new will is appropriate, and how the older document should be handled.
Clear Advice, Defined Work
Field Law is based in Baton Rouge and prepares wills for clients throughout Louisiana. Many planning conferences and drafting steps can be handled remotely when appropriate. Signing still must satisfy the document’s execution requirements.
Many will-based plans can be offered for a clearly explained flat fee. Before representation begins, Field Law explains the proposed work and fee, including which supporting documents, trust provisions, or additional services are included. Family circumstances, property, tax issues, and urgency may affect the scope.
For an existing-plan review, gather your current will, any trust or mandate, and information about property ownership and account beneficiaries. After a spouse’s death, include available succession papers so the review starts with what you actually own.
Common Starting Questions
Hypothetical illustration: a parent wants a spouse to remain comfortable while children ultimately receive an inheritance. Giving everything outright, providing a right to use property, and arranging management through a trust can have different effects.
A Louisiana will review separates ownership from use, current income from eventual inheritance, and management authority from a beneficiary’s rights. Existing community-property interests, forced-heirship rules where applicable, and the nature of each asset affect what the will can do. A will does not dispose of someone else’s ownership or automatically control every beneficiary-designated account.
We also address who pays expenses, what happens if an intended beneficiary dies first, and how the plan is carried out. Trust planning supplies the detail when continuing management is appropriate. These choices require a lawful, coordinated plan; they do not guarantee that no one will challenge it.
Select a question to read the answer.
No. Its age alone does not answer whether it still works. Review its terms, execution, current family circumstances, property, and named decision-makers. A review can identify what should remain and what needs to change.
Start with your own will, executor and alternate choices, beneficiaries, mandates, and current property ownership. Your spouse’s succession may affect what you own or can leave to others. Updating your will does not complete any unfinished work in that succession.
It can be part of that plan, but the terms need careful coordination. Ownership, forced-heirship rights, a possible usufruct, and trust provisions can affect the result. Explain what each person should receive and when before choosing the structure.
A notarial testament requires a notary and two witnesses. An olographic testament does not require either for execution, but it must satisfy Louisiana’s handwriting, date, and signature requirements.
No. A will directs a testate succession. A funded living trust, beneficiary designation, or other transfer method may keep selected property outside the succession, but each option has different consequences.
A will can address nomination of a tutor and arrangements for managing an inheritance. Existing parental rights, the nominee’s eligibility, and court appointment still matter. Discuss the child’s circumstances before assuming the will alone resolves those issues.
It depends on whether the descendant is a forced heir and whether another Louisiana rule applies. An adult child who is not a forced heir can generally be excluded, while a forced heir may retain protected rights unless a valid exception or disinherison ground applies.
Keep it secure but accessible after death. Tell the executor or another trusted person where it is stored and how it can be obtained. A copy may help identify the plan, but the original has particular importance in probate.
Related Guidance and Primary Sources
Clear Instructions. A Workable Future Process.
Tell Field Law who your plan should protect, what property and existing documents need review, and which decisions matter most. The secure questionnaire helps the firm understand the planning needs before responding with the appropriate consultation path.
Page updated October 13, 2026. Attorney information: Morgan Field, Managing Attorney. This page provides general information and does not create an attorney-client relationship.
© 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.
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