Wills and estate planning in Louisiana

Researched 2026-10-20 · confidence: medium · 2026 figures

In plain words: in Louisiana a will is valid when it's signed in front of 2 adult witnesses and a notary. There is no state estate tax. The federal estate tax exemption is $15,000,000 a person in 2026.

Witnesses to a will	2
Handwritten (holographic) will	Recognised
Self-proving affidavit	Available
Electronic wills	Not allowed
Power of attorney	No notary
Health care directive	2 witnesses
State estate tax	No
State inheritance tax	No
Community property	Yes
Age of majority / UTMA age	18 / 22

Signing a will

Statute: La. C.C. art. 1576 (as amended by Acts 2025, No. 30, eff. Aug. 1, 2025); olographic: La. C.C. art. 1575.

The testament stays valid but a legacy to a witness or to the notary is invalid; a witness who would be an intestate heir may take the lesser of the intestate share or the legacy (La. C.C. art. 1582), and a legacy to a witness's spouse is similarly invalid (art. 1582.1).

CIVIL-LAW STATE; forms of testament are olographic and notarial only. MAJOR 2025 CHANGE: Acts 2025, No. 30 (SB 49), effective Aug. 1, 2025, rewrote art. 1576 and REPEALED arts. 1577-1580.1. Former art. 1577 required the testator to declare in front of a notary and two competent witnesses that the instrument is his testament, to sign at the end and on each other separate page, and required an attestation clause signed by the notary and witnesses (classic wording: 'In our presence the testator has declared or signified that this instrument is his testament and has signed it at the end and on each other separate page, and in the presence of the testator and each other we have hereunto subscribed our names this ___ day of ___, ___'). Under new art. 1576, validity requires only: in writing, dated, executed before a notary and two witnesses, and signed by the testator, each witness and the notary; the testator's signature and the date may appear anywhere. BUT under new C.C.P. art. 2887 the notarial testament is SELF-PROVING only if (a) the testator signs EVERY page AND it contains an attestation clause signed by the notary and witnesses, or (b) every page is signed and the notary and witnesses attach a later affidavit stating the testator declared it his testament and signed every page. Drafting rule: keep every-page signatures and the attestation clause. Special forms for testators unable to read/sign/blind/deaf (old arts. 1578-1580.1) were repealed; attorney must confirm how such testators now execute. Witness incompetence: art. 1581 (as amended 2025; persons under 16, insane, blind, unable to sign are traditionally incompetent - confirm amended text). Olographic testament (art. 1575, amended 2025): entirely written, dated and signed in the testator's own hand; signature may be anywhere if it identifies the testator; date may appear anywhere and be clarified by extrinsic evidence; no witnesses or notary. FORCED HEIRSHIP (La. C.C. arts. 1493-1495; La. Const. art. XII, sec. 5): forced heirs are descendants of the first degree who at the decedent's death are 23 or younger, or who of any age are permanently incapable of taking care of their persons or administering their estates because of mental incapacity or physical infirmity (grandchildren may represent a predeceased parent who would have been 23 or younger). Forced portion = 25% of the estate if one forced heir, 50% if two or more (but never more than the heir's intestate share). Disinherison only for just cause listed in art. 1621 with formalities. Also 'marital portion' for a surviving spouse left in necessitous circumstances (art. 2432). Usufruct for surviving spouse over community left to descendants (art. 890) can be confirmed/extended by testament (art. 1499). 2025 changes confirmed from the official Senate digest / resume digest of Act 30 (SB 49) on legis.la.gov; codified current article text not read directly. Research caveats: UTMA age is 22 per Acts 2023, No. 60 amending R.S. 9:751/9:770 (prospective; see Acts 2024, No. 194 on retroactivity) - legislative digest said 25 but enacted text says 22. Forced-heir age 23 and forced portions are from long-standing law, not re-read this session. Mandate durability article not re-verified.

Power of attorney

Statute: La. C.C. arts. 2989-3032 (Mandate / procuration).

Louisiana uses the civil-law mandate (procuration), not the UPOAA. Art. 2993: no particular form required, BUT when the law prescribes a form for the act, the mandate must be in that form (e.g., a mandate to sell/mortgage immovables must be an authentic act - notary + 2 witnesses - or an act under private signature, arts. 1833/1839). In practice draft as an authentic act (notary + 2 witnesses) so it can be recorded and is accepted by banks. Art. 2997 requires EXPRESS authority to: make inter vivos donations (incl. to a trust), accept/renounce successions, contract loans, acknowledge or remit debts, become a surety, draw/endorse negotiable instruments, enter compromises/arbitration, make health-care decisions, and (since 2016) restrict the principal's communications. A mandate is not terminated by the principal's incapacity unless it says so (durability default; art. 3024-3025 as amended - verify). No statutory form.

Health care directive

Called: Declaration concerning life-sustaining procedures (living will).

Statute: La. R.S. 40:1151-1151.9 (Natural Death Act; formerly R.S. 40:1299.58.1 et seq.).

Two competent adults who are not related to the declarant by blood or marriage and are not entitled to any portion of the declarant's estate (La. R.S. 40:1151.1 definition of witness; 40:1151.2).

Optional registration with the Louisiana Secretary of State's Living Will Registry. Health-care decisions by an agent are done by a mandate with express health-care authority (La. C.C. art. 2997) - often called a medical power of attorney; Louisiana has no separate statutory health-care POA act. Also LaPOST for seriously ill patients (R.S. 40:1155.1 et seq.). Witness rules taken from statute summaries; statute text itself not read directly.

If there's no will: what a spouse gets

Community property state: the surviving spouse keeps their own half of the community; the decedent's half of the community passes to the descendants subject to the surviving spouse's usufruct until death or remarriage (La. C.C. arts. 888-890), and the decedent's separate property goes to the descendants outright.

A spouse's right to a share

No elective share; instead forced heirship protects children 23 or younger or permanently incapacitated (25% of the estate for one forced heir, 50% for two or more; La. C.C. arts. 1493-1495), and a needy spouse may claim the marital portion (art. 2432).

Estate and inheritance tax

No state estate tax.

No inheritance tax (Louisiana's inheritance tax applies only to deaths before July 1, 2004; La. R.S. 47:2401 et seq., since repealed).

Probate

Succession proceedings are moderate and can be done by independent administration; a 'small succession' may be handled by affidavit without court proceedings when the decedent's Louisiana property has a gross value of $125,000 or less (La. C.C.P. art. 3421 et seq., restructured by 2024 SB 32), or any value if death occurred 20+ years before filing.

Official form: sos.la.gov.

Money God drafts a Louisiana will, power of attorney and health care directive from a short interview, then you send it to your attorney for review before signing.

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Sources

Researched from state statutes and official forms. Laws change; this page is information, not legal advice. Every Money God draft is reviewed by a licensed attorney in your state before you sign it.