Louisiana Living Trust
The Louisiana rules that shape the document: the Section 9:1752 notarized-act execution requirement, the Section 9:2021 default of irrevocability, and forced heirship under Civil Code articles 1493-1495.
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Introduction
Louisiana never adopted the Uniform Trust Code that governs every other state; trusts here are creatures of Louisiana's own civil-law Trust Code, La. R.S. 9:1721 et seq., and two of its rules catch nearly every new settlor off guard. First, R.S. 9:1752 requires either a notarized authentic act, signed before a notary and two witnesses, or a privately signed act witnessed by two people and then acknowledged by the settlor or proved by one witness's affidavit; a plain signed writing, which most states accept, does not create a valid Louisiana trust. Second, R.S. 9:2021 presumes a trust irrevocable unless the instrument expressly reserves the settlor's power to amend or revoke it, the reverse of what most living-trust guidance assumes. A Louisiana living trust still avoids probate, called succession here, only for assets you actually transfer into it by a properly executed act and, for real property, one recorded in the parish where it lies; anything left titled in your own name goes through Louisiana succession regardless of what the trust says.
Key Things to Know
- 1
Louisiana's execution rule is the strictest of any state on this axis. La. R.S. 9:1752 allows only two paths: a notarized authentic act signed before a notary and two witnesses, or an act under private signature executed in the presence of two witnesses and then duly acknowledged by the settlor (or proved by one attesting witness's affidavit). The plain signed writing that most American trust codes accept does not create a valid Louisiana trust, and the same two-path rule applies to later transfers of a beneficiary's interest under R.S. 9:2003.
- 2
A Louisiana trust is presumed irrevocable, not revocable, unless the instrument says otherwise. R.S. 9:2021 lets a settlor modify the trust after creation only to the extent the instrument expressly reserves that right, and R.S. 9:2023 applies the same rule to revocation. If your trust document is silent on revocation, Louisiana treats it as locked, the opposite default of the 'revocable living trust' most readers expect.
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An individual trustee must post bond by default. R.S. 9:2171 requires an individual trustee to furnish security for the faithful performance of duties unless the trust instrument dispenses with it; a corporate trustee needs none unless the instrument requires it. Most states run the opposite default, so a Louisiana trust instrument should address bond expressly if the settlor wants to waive it.
- 4
Louisiana's forced heirship protects certain descendants, not a surviving spouse. Civil Code articles 1493 through 1495 reserve a 'legitime,' three-fourths of the estate for one forced heir or one-half for two or more, to descendants who are 23 or younger, or of any age if permanently incapacitated. If the legitime is placed in trust, Trust Code Subpart I (R.S. 9:1841, 9:1844) requires income sufficient for the heir's health, maintenance, support, and education, a term capped at that heir's lifetime, and principal delivered free of trust when the interest ends. A surviving spouse's protection is a separate civil-law usufruct over the decedent's community property share under Civil Code article 890, which a will or trust can limit; it is not an elective share and does not reach separate-property trust assets the way forced heirship reaches the legitime.
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Funding community property into the trust needs both spouses' signatures. Civil Code article 2347(A) requires the concurrence of both spouses to transfer or encumber community immovable property, so both must sign the act funding a family home or other community real estate into the trust even if only one spouse holds record title. No provision in the Louisiana Trust Code lets one spouse later revoke the trust alone as to that spouse's community half.
- 6
Louisiana homestead protection splits into two separate rules, and only one reaches a living trust in writing. The ad valorem property-tax exemption (up to $7,500 of assessed value) expressly extends to a home held in trust when the settlor is the trust's principal beneficiary and occupies the home (La. Const. art. VII, Section 20(A)(3)). The separate creditor-seizure homestead exemption in R.S. 20:1 (up to $35,000 of equity, or full value for catastrophic or terminal-illness debts) requires title to be 'in either the husband or wife' and has no comparable trust carve-out, so whether it survives a transfer of the home into a living trust is unresolved. Ask a Louisiana attorney before moving your homestead into a trust.
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Several Louisiana rules make a revocable living trust here different from most states: it caps out sooner (R.S. 9:1831 generally ends the trust at the last natural-person income beneficiary's death or 20 years after the last settlor's death, whichever is later, with a 50-year outer limit if no settlor or income beneficiary is a natural person), it currently carries no state estate or inheritance tax exposure (Louisiana's inheritance tax was repealed and its estate transfer tax has computed to zero since 2005), it gives a settlor-beneficiary no creditor protection during life since R.S. 9:2004(2) denies spendthrift protection to the extent a beneficiary donated the property to the trust, it has no mandatory trust registration, and it has no general certificate-of-trust statute; the only recording shortcut is the narrower 'extract of trust' under R.S. 9:2092(B), used solely to record immovable-property holdings in the parish conveyance records.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Living Trust in Louisiana, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Living Trust guide walks through them.
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Louisiana Requirements for Living Trust
Louisiana Notarized or Two-Witness Execution
La. R.S. 9:1752 requires either a notarized authentic act (notary plus two witnesses) or an act under private signature executed before two witnesses and then acknowledged by the settlor or proved by one witness's affidavit. A plain signed writing does not create a valid Louisiana trust; the same two-path rule governs later transfers of a beneficiary's interest under R.S. 9:2003.
Louisiana Trust Is Irrevocable Unless Expressly Reserved
La. R.S. 9:2021 and 9:2023 presume a Louisiana trust is irrevocable unless the instrument expressly reserves the settlor's power to modify, amend, or revoke it. A settlor who wants a revocable living trust must state that reservation in the instrument.
Louisiana Individual Trustee Bond by Default
La. R.S. 9:2171 requires an individual trustee to furnish security for the faithful performance of duties unless the trust instrument dispenses with it. A corporate trustee needs no bond unless the instrument requires one.
Louisiana Forced Heirship and the Legitime in Trust
Civil Code articles 1493 through 1495 reserve a mandatory legitime for descendants who are 23 or younger or permanently incapacitated. If the legitime is placed in trust, R.S. 9:1841 and 9:1844 require income for the heir's support, cap the term at that heir's lifetime, and require principal delivered free of trust when the interest ends.
Louisiana Community Property Concurrence to Fund the Trust
Civil Code article 2347(A) requires both spouses to concur before community immovable property is transferred into the trust, even if only one spouse holds record title. No Trust Code provision lets one spouse alone later revoke the trust as to that spouse's community half.
Louisiana Real Property Funding and Parish Recordation
A transfer of Louisiana immovable property into the trust is made by authentic act or act under private signature (Civ. Code art. 1839) and has effect against third parties only once recorded in the parish where the property lies. R.S. 9:2092 requires recording the trust instrument or a qualifying extract of trust in each parish where trust-held immovables are located.