Louisiana Probate and Intestate Succession: What Happens Without a Will (2026)

Louisiana calls the process of settling a deceased person's affairs a "succession," not probate, and handles it in the district court of the parish where the person lived, or the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans in New Orleans. As a civil-law jurisdiction, Louisiana also applies forced heirship and spousal usufruct rules found in no other state.

Information last verified on 2026-07-16. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

How Succession Works in Louisiana

Louisiana does not have "probate" in the sense the other 49 states use the term. The process is called a succession, reflecting Louisiana's status as the only civil-law jurisdiction in the United States, with a legal system rooted in French and Spanish civil codes rather than English common law. Successions are opened in the district court of the parish, Louisiana's equivalent of a county, where the decedent was domiciled at death, or the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans for New Orleans residents. Louisiana does not follow the Uniform Probate Code's formal and informal terminology used in states like Maine. Instead, Book VI of the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure sets out its own framework built around two main tracks.

Succession without administration, sometimes called simple possession or an unadministered succession, is available when there are no debts, or when the heirs agree the debts will be paid without a court-supervised administration. Heirs petition the court directly for a Judgment of Possession, without any court-appointed representative managing assets along the way. This is the fastest track. Trivial, debt-free estates can resolve in as little as a matter of days once filed, and most run roughly 30 to 90 days.

Administered succession is required when there are debts, disputes among heirs, or other complications. The court confirms or appoints a succession representative, called an executor if the decedent left a will or an administrator if not, who collects the estate's assets, pays valid debts, and only then petitions for a Judgment of Possession. Independently administered successions typically run 3 to 9 months, while a supervised or contested administration can take a year or more. Louisiana has no fixed statutory creditor-claims deadline comparable to other states' set number of months; successions proceed on a judicial timeline rather than a hard notice-and-bar clock.

Intestate Succession in Louisiana: Who Inherits Without a Will

Louisiana's civil-law intestacy rules genuinely do not work like the other 8 community property states. Community property and separate property follow two different priority ladders, and the surviving spouse's rights differ sharply depending on which kind of property is at issue and whether the decedent left descendants.

Community property (La. Civ. Code arts. 889 to 890). If the decedent leaves no descendants, the surviving spouse inherits the decedent's half of the community property in full ownership under article 889. But if the decedent leaves one or more descendants, the surviving spouse does not take ownership of the decedent's half of the community property at all. Instead, article 890 gives the spouse a legal usufruct, a right to use, possess, and enjoy that property (and collect its income) for as long as the usufruct lasts, which terminates on the surviving spouse's death or remarriage, whichever happens first. The descendants take the underlying ownership of that half immediately, as what Louisiana law calls "naked owners": they own the property from the moment of death, but cannot take possession or use it themselves until the usufruct ends. This rule applies whether or not the descendants are also children of the surviving spouse. Louisiana does not draw the "his children, her children" distinction that trips up readers of common-law states' statutes.

Separate property (arts. 891 to 895) is governed by a different, lower-ranking ladder for the surviving spouse. If the decedent leaves descendants, they inherit the decedent's separate property outright, in full ownership, and the surviving spouse receives nothing from the separate property in that scenario (the spouse's usufruct under article 890 applies only to community property). If there are no descendants but a surviving parent and siblings (or a deceased sibling's descendants), the siblings inherit the separate property in full ownership, subject to a usufruct in favor of the surviving parent or parents, under article 891 (if both parents survive, that usufruct is joint and successive). If there are no descendants and no siblings but a surviving parent, the parent inherits the separate property outright under article 892. If none of the above survive, the surviving spouse, if not judicially separated from the decedent, inherits the separate property under article 894, ranking ahead of more distant relatives. Half-siblings inherit only from their shared parent's side of the separate property under article 893. If nobody in any of these categories survives, more distant ascendants inherit under article 895, split equally between the decedent's paternal and maternal lines regardless of how many relatives are on each side.

Forced heirship (La. Civ. Code arts. 1493 and 1495) is Louisiana's most distinctive feature and has no equivalent anywhere else in the country. A "forced heir" is a descendant of the first degree (a child) who is 23 years of age or younger at the time of the decedent's death, meaning they have not yet reached their 24th birthday, or a descendant of the first degree of any age who is permanently incapable of caring for themselves or administering their own estate because of mental incapacity or physical infirmity. Forced heirs are entitled to a reserved portion of the estate called the legitime, which the decedent cannot give away, whether by will or lifetime gift, beyond certain limits. If the decedent leaves one forced heir, total donations may not exceed three-quarters of the estate, meaning the forced heir's legitime is one-quarter. If the decedent leaves two or more forced heirs, total donations may not exceed one-half, meaning the legitime is one-half, shared collectively among the forced heirs. A 2024 bill, HB 818, that would have lowered the qualifying age from 23-or-younger to 18-or-younger died in committee and was never enacted, so the under-24 standard remains current Louisiana law.

One way to make sure your property goes to the people you actually choose, rather than following Louisiana's intestate succession order, is to have a valid will in place. recordinglaw.com's free Louisiana Last Will and Testament Generator can help you create one, with no account required. Keep in mind that Louisiana's forced heirship rules are an exception to how freely a will can control distribution here: if you have a descendant who is 23 or younger, or a descendant of any age who is permanently incapacitated, Louisiana law reserves the legitime for that descendant under articles 1493 and 1495 regardless of what your will says, unlike in most other states where a valid will can direct property to anyone you choose. If you have a forced heir, get a free case evaluation from a Louisiana estate planning lawyer on drafting the will around the legitime (attorney advertising).

Small Succession and Simplified Procedures in Louisiana

Louisiana allows a Small Succession Affidavit when a decedent domiciled in Louisiana leaves property with a gross value of $200,000 or less, measured as of the date of death and excluding assets that pass outside succession entirely, such as payable-on-death or transfer-on-death accounts, life insurance with a named beneficiary, and jointly held property with survivorship rights. La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 3421 sets two further categories that out-of-state families in particular should note: the ancillary succession of a decedent domiciled outside Louisiana who left Louisiana property qualifies only up to $125,000, and a succession qualifies at any value if the date of death occurred at least 20 years before the affidavit is executed. The $200,000 figure for a Louisiana domiciliary was raised from $125,000 by 2026 La. Acts No. 293 (HB 215), effective August 1, 2026; article 3432 sets out the required contents for an intestate affidavit. For thresholds, waiting periods and forms, see our guide to the Louisiana small estate affidavit.

The affidavit must be signed by the surviving spouse, if any, plus at least one adult heir, or by two adult heirs if the decedent was unmarried, and sworn before a notary. No judicial approval is required, and the affidavit is effective on filing. This mechanism avoids a full judicial succession proceeding entirely for genuinely small, straightforward estates.

Does Louisiana Have an Estate or Inheritance Tax?

No. Louisiana levies no state estate tax and no state inheritance tax. Louisiana's inheritance tax was repealed outright for deaths occurring on or after July 1, 2004, and no state estate tax has replaced it. The federal estate tax can still apply to the very largest estates regardless of state, with a 2026 basic exclusion amount of $15,000,000 per person, but that affects only a small fraction of the wealthiest estates nationally and has nothing to do with Louisiana law specifically.

Do You Need a Succession Attorney?

Louisiana's succession system is genuinely more complex than the probate systems in the other 49 states, and that complexity is worth taking seriously. The usufruct-versus-ownership split between spouse and descendants, the separate ladder for separate property, and forced heirship's reserved legitime for qualifying children are all civil-law concepts that do not track how most Americans, and most general estate-planning content written for common-law states, describe inheritance. A succession attorney is particularly worth engaging when the estate includes both community and separate property that need to be classified correctly, when a forced heir is involved and a will needs to account for the legitime, when real property is part of the estate, or when heirs disagree about how the community and separate property should be characterized or divided. For a straightforward, debt-free estate under the $200,000 small succession threshold, the affidavit process is designed to be manageable without an administered court proceeding, though consulting an attorney before filing is still a reasonable precaution given how easy it is to misclassify community versus separate property.

Probate by State covers how the process works, and how intestate succession, small-estate options, and estate or inheritance tax vary, in every other state.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about succession, intestate succession, and forced heirship in Louisiana as of the verification date above. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. It is not a substitute for advice from a succession attorney licensed in Louisiana, particularly where community and separate property need to be classified, a forced heir is involved, or the estate is contested. Figures, thresholds, and statute citations reflect Louisiana law as currently understood; verify current details directly with the official source before relying on any figure here.

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Last updated: 2026-07-16. Figures and statutes cited reflect their in-force version as of 2026-07-16.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Does Louisiana have probate?

Louisiana does not use the word probate. The equivalent process is called a succession, handled in the district court of the parish where the decedent lived, under Louisiana's civil-law Code of Civil Procedure rather than the common-law probate rules used elsewhere.

What does it mean to be a "naked owner" in a Louisiana succession?

A naked owner holds legal ownership of property but not the right to use, possess, or profit from it while someone else holds a usufruct over it. Under La. Civ. Code art. 890, when a Louisiana decedent leaves descendants, they become naked owners of the decedent's half of the community property immediately, while the surviving spouse holds a usufruct over it.

Does my spouse automatically inherit everything in Louisiana if I die without a will?

Not necessarily. If you leave no descendants, your spouse inherits your half of the community property outright under art. 889. If you leave descendants, your spouse instead receives a usufruct over your half of the community property, and your descendants own it as naked owners under art. 890. Separate property follows a different ladder where descendants generally rank ahead of the spouse.

What is forced heirship in Louisiana?

Forced heirship reserves a portion of your estate, called the legitime, for descendants who are 23 or younger, or of any age if permanently incapacitated, under La. Civ. Code arts. 1493 and 1495. The legitime is one-quarter of the estate for one forced heir, or one-half shared collectively for two or more, and generally cannot be defeated even by a will.

How much does an estate have to be worth to use a small succession in Louisiana?

If the decedent was domiciled in Louisiana, an estate with a gross value of $200,000 or less at the date of death can use a Small Succession Affidavit under La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 3421 et seq., as amended by 2026 La. Acts No. 293 (HB 215) effective August 1, 2026, instead of a full court proceeding. The cap is $125,000 for the Louisiana property of a decedent domiciled in another state, and there is no dollar limit if the death occurred at least 20 years before the affidavit.

Does Louisiana have an inheritance tax or estate tax?

No. Louisiana has neither a state inheritance tax nor a state estate tax. Its inheritance tax was repealed for deaths on or after July 1, 2004.

How long does a Louisiana succession take?

It depends on the track. An unadministered succession without debts often resolves in 30 to 90 days after filing. An administered succession, required when there are debts or disputes, typically takes 3 to 9 months, and a contested or supervised administration can take a year or more.