How Louisiana Estate Planning is Different
Three Unique Louisiana Estate Laws:
Hey there I’m Estate Planning attorney Paul Rabalais and in this post I’m going to describe how Louisiana estate planning laws and rules are so different from the laws and regulations of other states.
In several areas, Louisiana law is different from the laws of the other 49 states, primarily because Louisiana is a civil law jurisdiction with Spanish and French origins, as opposed to a common law legal system which emerged in England. Nonetheless the following are three unique estate planning differences between Louisiana and the rest of the states:
1. Usufruct:
Usufruct is a form of ownership widely recognized in Louisiana but not recognized in other states. When a married person in Louisiana dies without a last will and testament, and that married person has children, the usufruct of the deceased spouse’s share of community property is inherited by the surviving spouse. This means that the surviving spouse, generally, has the right to use the deceased spouse’s share of community property, but when that surviving spouse (also known as a usufructuary) dies, the children or descendants of the first spouse to die (known as naked owners) inherit full ownership of these assets. There are many laws on the rights and obligations of a usufructuary and the naked owners, but those rules are beyond the scope of this video, but they have been addressed in previous videos on our firm’s YouTube channel. And because usufruct is so common due to its position in the intestate law (which is what happens when someone dies without a last will and testament), many married people who write wills often bequeath the usufruct of all or a portion of their estate to their surviving spouse.
2. Forced Heirship:
Louisiana’s unique forced heirship rules require that if, at the time of your death, you have children 23 years of age or younger, or, at the time of your death, you have children of any age who, because of mental incapacity or physical infirmity, are permanently incapable of taking care of their persons or administering their estate, you generally cannot exclude or disinherit those children from your estate. Many people confuse the fact that your children will inherit from you if you have no will, with the forced heirship laws that declare which children are automatically entitled to inherit from you, even if you write a will or living trust and attempt to exclude them.
3. Community Property:
Louisiana is not the only community property state. Other community property states include Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Washington, Nevada, Wisconsin and Idaho. If you live in a community property state and are subject to the community property rules, then income earned by a spouse during the marriage, and generally assets acquired by a spouse during the marriage are considered community property and thus owned 50/50 by each spouse, although states often have separate property treatment when a spouse acquires an asset before marriage, or a spouse is the recipient of a gift or inheritance.
Similarities:
So those are differences between Louisiana and other states, but there are also many similarities between Louisiana and other states. For example,
Like residents of all states, people in Louisiana use revocable living trusts so that those trust assets avoid probate in Louisiana, although probate in Louisiana is generally referred to as a succession;
Just like in other states, creating powers of attorney and documents authorizing others to make certain health care decisions is common in Louisiana;
And all of the federal estate and gift tax rules are, of course, applicable to Louisiana residents just as they are to residents of all other states.
Conclusion:
So our national estate planning law firm, America’s Estate Planning Lawyers was established to help people not just in Louisiana but all across the United States create and maintain their own customized estate legal program - by utilizing our in-house group of estate planning attorneys along with our national co-counsel network that we’ve established with estate planning attorneys around the country. So whatever state you live in, to request your no-expense initial zoom estate planning design meeting with an attorney from AEPL, click the link below. Have a great day.