Dying without a will is known in legal terms as dying “intestate.” When that happens, the State of Louisiana steps in to decide who gets the property, who raises any minor children, and who handles the estate. Most people who put off contacting an estate planning lawyer do so because they assume their spouse or children will just automatically inherit everything. Unfortunately, Louisiana’s intestate succession laws are different from those of most states and rooted in a Civil Law tradition derived from the Napoleonic Code. These differences can surprise families who never got around to signing a simple will.
What Happens If You Die Without a Will in Louisiana?
Louisiana will divide your property into two categories. The first is separate property, which is anything you owned before marriage or received by donation or inheritance during marriage, and the second is community property, which is generally everything you acquired during the marriage. The rules for who inherits depend heavily on whether you leave a surviving spouse, whether you have children or descendants, and whether your parents or siblings are still living.
Surviving Spouse and Children/Grandchildren
Your surviving spouse will receive usufruct, which is a lifetime right to use and enjoy, of half of the community property. Your children (or their descendants) own the rest immediately. Any separate property goes entirely to your children or their descendants.
Ultimately, this often looks like the surviving spouse living in the family home and using the family bank accounts for life; but your spouse won’t be able to sell the house or empty the accounts without court approval, even if they should desperately need it, such as to pay for catastrophic medical bills or long-term, end-of-life care. And the moment the usufruct ends, which is usually at the spouse’s death but can also be at their remarriage, everything passes outright to your children.
Surviving Spouse and No Children
In this situation, your spouse would get full ownership of all community property. With the separate property, though, while your spouse would get usufruct for life, the ownership goes to your parents if they are alive or to your brothers and sisters (or their descendants) if your parents have predeceased you. The result here is that your spouse may end up sharing ownership with your siblings or parents, and there could be years of litigation sorting things out.
Descendants and No Spouse
In this case, all property, both community and separate, goes outright to your children in equal portions, per stirpes, meaning “to each branch.” If you have two children, for instance, it would be a 50/50 split, but if one of your children predeceased you and had two children of their own, your two grandchildren would split that “branch’s” 50% share between them.
You Have No Living Family
If this is the case, your property will “escheat” to the State of Louisiana. This is extremely rare.
Talk to an Estate Planning Lawyer
The above are just a few scenarios, and dying without a will always causes difficulty for the surviving family. No matter what your income level, don’t leave things up to chance. Talk to us today at Walter D. White, A Professional Law Corporation in Shreveport, LA to set up a free consultation.