The Louisiana Small Succession Affidavit

I’ve been involved in hundreds of Succession judicial proceedings over the years. Most people perceive these court proceedings as taking too much time, costing too much money, and being too much of a bureaucratic hassle.

Now, in , it is possible for a family to skip the full-blown judicial court-supervised Succession proceeding when a family member dies owning assets in their name, but only under the following circumstances.

In certain circumstances, families can transfer title to property by going through the Small Succession Affidavit procedure. When this applies, no judicial pleadings need to filed at the courthouse. The Succession is completed through the preparation and recording of an Affidavit and certified copy of the deceased’s death certificate in the appropriate parish real estate records.

However, this affidavit procedure is applicable in limited circumstances. To qualify for this procedure, the resident must have died without a last will and testament, and EITHER, at the time of his or her death owned $125,000 of property or less, OR, died at least 20 years prior to the filing of the affidavit.

Note that if a resident died WITH a last will and testament, then the Small Succession Affidavit procedure is not available. Note also that this procedure is also available when someone died and they are not a resident, but they own property in – in fact, if they had a Will that was probated in another state, the procedure is available.

The Small Succession Affidavit Procedure should make it somewhat easier for families to clear title to property when the assets of the deceased are minimal. Often times, families are stuck because they want to get the property in their name, but the deceased did not leave enough financial resources behind to complete a judicial proceeding. This procedure should help.

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This post is for informational purposes only and does not provide legal advice. Please do not act or refrain from acting based on anything you read on this site. Using this site or communicating with Rabalais Estate Planning, LLC, through this site does not form an attorney/client relationship.

Paul Rabalais
Estate Planning Attorney
www.RabalaisEstatePlanning.com
Phone: (225) 329-2450

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