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Settling an Estate in Louisiana

Reviewed by DocDraft Legal Team · Louisiana · Last updated August 27, 2026

Louisiana is the only civil law state in the country, and almost none of the vocabulary used elsewhere applies here. The process is a succession, not probate. It is filed in the district court of the parish where the decedent was domiciled at death under Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure article 2811, because Louisiana has parishes rather than counties and no dedicated probate court. Louisiana divides successions along two axes at once: testate against intestate, and simple possession against administration, so a solvent family of competent heirs can be sent into possession by petition without ever appointing a representative. Louisiana also enforces forced heirship, a rule with no counterpart in any other state, under which certain children take a reserved portion of the estate no matter what the testament says.

Find out where you stand in Louisiana

Where are you in settling the estate?

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Is a succession always required in Louisiana?

No. Louisiana calls the process a succession, and property held with a beneficiary designation, in a trust, or in a valid survivorship arrangement passes outside it. Small successions can be settled by affidavit with no court filing at all, and solvent estates with competent heirs can be sent into possession without any administration.

Which court handles a succession in Louisiana?

The district court of the parish where the decedent was domiciled at death, under Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure article 2811. Louisiana has parishes rather than counties and no separate probate court. In Orleans Parish the filing goes to the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans.

What is the small succession threshold in Louisiana?

Article 3421 defines a small succession as one where a Louisiana domiciliary left property with a gross value of $125,000 or less at the date of death. Immovable property counts. In an intestate small succession the affidavit is recorded in the conveyance records of the parish where the land sits.

How long does a succession take in Louisiana?

A simple possession can close in weeks once the petition and descriptive list are ready. A full administration usually runs several months to more than a year. Louisiana sets no fixed creditor bar date, so timing turns on the tableau of distribution and on how quickly the heirs agree.

A succession, not a probate: forced heirs, usufruct, and the parish district court

Louisiana inherited its private law from France and Spain rather than from England, and settling an estate here uses a different vocabulary from the first sentence. There is no probate court and there are no counties. A succession is opened in the district court of the parish of the decedent's domicile under Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure article 2811, which in New Orleans means the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans. Assets are movables and immovables rather than personal and real property. Louisiana then sorts successions along two independent lines. The first is testate against intestate, which decides whether a testament must be probated before anything else happens. The second is simple possession against administration. Where every heir is competent, accepts the succession unconditionally, and the succession is relatively free of debt, the heirs may petition ex parte to be placed in possession and no representative is ever appointed. Where debts, disputed heirship, minors, or a business make that impossible, the court appoints a testamentary executor or an administrator, and the testament or the heirs may authorize an independent administration that lets the representative act without prior court approval. Below all of that sits the small succession. Article 3421 sets the ceiling at a gross value of $125,000 or less at the date of death for a Louisiana domiciliary, applies the same figure to the ancillary succession of a nonresident who owned Louisiana property, and drops the value test entirely for a death that occurred at least twenty years before the affidavit is executed. Under article 3431 the small succession of a Louisiana domiciliary who died intestate needs no judicial opening at all, and unlike the small estate affidavits of most states the Louisiana affidavit can carry immovable property, which article 3432 requires be described in enough detail to transfer it. Louisiana also has no nonclaim statute and publishes no bar date that extinguishes every creditor. Claims run on their own prescriptive periods, a creditor can suspend prescription by delivering a formal proof of claim under article 3245, and a representative who wants to pay debts files a tableau of distribution that is homologated only after the opposition period runs. Two civil law rules then override the testament itself. Forced heirship under Civil Code article 1493 reserves a portion of the estate for children who are twenty three or younger at the decedent's death, and for children of any age who are permanently incapable of caring for themselves or their property. Under Civil Code article 890 a surviving spouse takes a usufruct over the decedent's share of the community property when there are descendants.

Relevant Laws

Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure article 2811 (Court in which succession opened)

Requires a proceeding to open a succession to be brought in the district court of the parish where the deceased was domiciled at the time of death. Where the decedent was not domiciled in Louisiana, the succession may be opened in the district court of any parish where immovable property is situated, or where movable property is situated if the decedent owned no Louisiana immovables. Louisiana has no separate probate court.

Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure article 3421 (Small successions defined)

Defines a small succession as that of a person who died domiciled in Louisiana leaving property with a gross value of $125,000 or less valued as of the date of death, the ancillary succession of a person domiciled elsewhere leaving Louisiana property of $125,000 or less, or the succession of a person whose death occurred at least twenty years before the affidavit is executed, regardless of value. Articles 3431 and 3432 supply the affidavit procedure and its required contents.

Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure article 3245 (Formal proof of claim; prescription)

Louisiana has no nonclaim statute that bars all claims on a published date. Instead a creditor suspends the running of prescription against a claim by delivering a formal written proof of the claim to the succession representative personally or by certified or registered mail, and the suspension holds even if the representative later rejects the claim, for as long as the succession is under administration. Where no succession proceeding has been opened, filing the formal proof in the mortgage records of the parish suspends prescription for five years from the date of submission.

Louisiana Civil Code article 1493 (Forced heirs)

Louisiana is the only state that enforces forced heirship. Forced heirs are descendants of the first degree who are twenty three years of age or younger at the decedent's death, and descendants of the first degree of any age who because of mental incapacity or physical infirmity are permanently incapable of caring for their persons or administering their estates. Representation by a grandchild applies only where the predeceased child would have been twenty three or younger. Article 1495 fixes the forced portion at one fourth for one forced heir and one half for two or more.

Regional Variances

Louisiana succession routes by estate size and posture

Gross value $125,000 or less, Louisiana domiciliary, died intestate

Small succession affidavit. Under Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure article 3431 no judicial opening is necessary at all, so nothing is filed with the district court. Article 3432 requires the affidavit to be sworn by at least two persons including the surviving spouse and one or more heirs, to value each item of property, to state each heir's interest and whether a legal usufruct of the surviving spouse attaches, and to describe any immovable in enough detail to transfer it. No representative is appointed and no bond is required.

Gross value $125,000 or less, Louisiana domiciliary, died testate

The affidavit route narrows. Article 3431 reaches a testate Louisiana domiciliary who left no immovable property in Louisiana, and only where the surviving spouse, everyone who would inherit under the testament, and everyone who would inherit without it all agree to waive probate of the testament. A testate estate holding Louisiana land therefore normally goes to the district court of the parish to have the testament probated.

Nonresident owner, Louisiana property $125,000 or less

Ancillary small succession. Article 3421 applies the same $125,000 gross ceiling to the succession of a person domiciled outside Louisiana who left Louisiana property, and article 3431 covers the nonresident who died intestate or whose testament was probated by court order in the state of domicile. Article 2811 fixes venue in the district court of any parish where the Louisiana immovable sits.

Above the ceiling, solvent, all heirs competent

Simple possession. The heirs or universal legatees petition the district court of the parish ex parte to be placed in possession where every heir is competent, accepts the succession unconditionally, and the succession is relatively free of debt. No representative is appointed, no letters issue, and no accounting cycle follows. The judgment of possession is the only substantive order in the file.

Above the ceiling, with debts, minors, or a dispute

Administration. The court confirms a testamentary executor or appoints an administrator and issues letters. The representative files a sworn detailed descriptive list of assets and liabilities, pays debts by tableau of distribution, and closes on a final account and a judgment of possession. Where the testament authorizes it, or the heirs and legatees consent, the administration may proceed as an independent administration in which the representative acts without prior court authority.

Louisiana mechanics that have no equivalent in common law states

Creditor claims: no bar date

Louisiana publishes no notice that extinguishes every unpresented claim. Each claim runs on its own prescriptive period under the Civil Code, and under Code of Civil Procedure article 3245 a creditor suspends prescription by delivering a formal written proof of claim to the succession representative, or by filing it in the parish mortgage records where no succession has been opened. Rejection by the representative does not restart the clock.

Tableau of distribution

A succession representative does not simply pay creditors. The representative files a tableau of distribution listing the debts and the proposed payments, publishes notice and mails it to anyone who requested notice, and the court homologates the tableau after the statutory opposition period expires. An opposition may be filed at any time before homologation and is tried summarily.

Sworn detailed descriptive list

In place of a court ordered inventory by a notary and appraisers, Louisiana allows the succession representative to file a sworn detailed descriptive list of the succession's assets and liabilities, sworn to as true and correct. An interested party who disputes the values may traverse the list, which makes it the point where valuations are tested.

Judgment of possession as the title document

Louisiana does not issue a deed or a certificate of transfer to move estate land. The judgment of possession itself recognizes the heirs and legatees, states each interest, and declares any usufruct. A certified copy recorded in the conveyance records of the parish where the immovable is located is what links the title.

Forced heirship and the spousal usufruct

Civil Code article 1493 reserves a forced portion for children twenty three or younger at death and for permanently incapacitated children of any age, at one fourth of the estate for one forced heir and one half for two or more under article 1495. Article 890 gives a surviving spouse a usufruct over the decedent's share of the community property where descendants survive, ending on the spouse's death or remarriage.

Suggested Compliance Checklist

Establish whether the succession is testate or intestate

Immediately days after starting

Search for an olographic or notarial testament before doing anything else, because this fork controls every later choice in a Louisiana succession. A testament must be probated by the district court of the parish before its legacies take effect, and its absence hands the distribution entirely to the Civil Code. It also determines whether the small succession affidavit route under article 3431 is open.

Value the gross estate against the $125,000 small succession ceiling

Weeks 1-4 days after starting

Total the gross value of all property as of the date of death and compare it to the $125,000 figure in Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure article 3421. Include immovables, since Louisiana does not carve real estate out of its affidavit route the way most states do. Check the alternate qualifier as well: a death at least twenty years before the affidavit is executed qualifies regardless of value.

Prepare the small succession affidavit if the estate qualifies

Weeks 2-8 days after starting

Draft the affidavit to meet article 3432: sworn by at least two persons including the surviving spouse and one or more heirs, showing the value of each item and the aggregate, stating each heir's interest and whether a legal usufruct of the surviving spouse attaches, and describing any immovable in enough detail to transfer it. Record it in the conveyance records of the parish where the land is located.

Document: small-estate-affidavit

File the sworn detailed descriptive list of assets and liabilities

Early in the administration days after starting

Where an administration is opened, compile a full list of the succession's movables, immovables, and debts and file it with the district court of the parish, sworn to as true and correct. Louisiana accepts this in place of a court ordered inventory by a notary and appraisers, but an interested party may traverse it, so support each valuation before signing.

Document: asset-inventory

Pay debts by tableau of distribution, not on your own authority

Before any distribution days after starting

File a tableau of distribution listing the debts and the proposed payments, publish notice and mail it to anyone who requested notice, and wait for the court to homologate it after the opposition period runs. Louisiana has no bar date that extinguishes unpresented claims, and article 3245 lets a creditor suspend prescription by formal proof of claim, so a representative who distributes early can be personally liable.

Frequently Asked Questions

Louisiana Civil Code article 1493 limits forced heirship to descendants of the first degree who are twenty three years of age or younger at the decedent's death, and to descendants of the first degree of any age who because of mental incapacity or physical infirmity are permanently incapable of taking care of their persons or administering their estates. A grandchild may represent a predeceased child only if that child would have been twenty three or younger at the decedent's death. Where a forced heir exists, the reserved forced portion is one fourth of the estate for a single forced heir and one half where there are two or more.

Under Louisiana Civil Code article 890, where the deceased spouse is survived by descendants the surviving spouse takes a usufruct over the decedent's share of the community property, to the extent the decedent did not dispose of it by testament. The descendants own the property in naked ownership while the spouse holds the right to use it and take its fruits. The legal usufruct terminates when the surviving spouse dies or remarries, whichever happens first, unless a testament grants a longer or lifetime usufruct. A small succession affidavit under article 3432 must state whether a legal usufruct attaches to the property being transferred.

Yes. A succession representative is a fiduciary and pays debts through a tableau of distribution rather than on personal judgment. The tableau lists the debts and the proposed payments, notice is given, an interested party may oppose it, and the court homologates it only after the opposition period expires. A representative who distributes to heirs while valid claims remain unpaid, or who pays a lower ranking creditor ahead of a higher ranking one, can be answerable for the shortfall out of pocket. An attorney can review the ranking before any payment is made.

The Civil Code decides everything. Louisiana is a community property state, so the surviving spouse already owns one half of the community and only the decedent's half enters the succession. That half passes to the decedent's descendants, subject to the surviving spouse's usufruct under article 890. Separate property passes to descendants as well, and where there are none it moves to the decedent's siblings subject to a usufruct in favor of surviving parents, then to the parents, and then to more remote relations. A surviving spouse inherits the separate property outright only where no descendant, sibling, or parent survives.

Louisiana immovable property owned by someone domiciled in another state generally requires an ancillary succession here, because article 2811 allows a succession to be opened in the district court of any parish where the decedent's immovable property is situated. The small succession rules reach these estates too: the $125,000 ceiling in article 3421 applies to the ancillary succession of a nonresident whose Louisiana property falls at or below that gross value. Conversely, land the decedent owned in another state is settled under that state's law, not Louisiana's.

Other Louisiana guides

Asset Protection Planning in Louisiana (2026)

Dealing With Debt Collectors in Louisiana (2026)

Expunging a Criminal Record in Louisiana (2026)

Filing Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in Louisiana (2026)

Firing an Employee in Louisiana (2026)

How to Break a Lease in Louisiana Legally (2026)

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