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Started By
Message
Louisiana Estate Planning Is Not the Same As Other States
Posted on 3/5/08 at 10:49 am
Posted on 3/5/08 at 10:49 am
Can someone tell me if this is true?
quote:
Estate planning is a serious responsibility. It is a way to make sure that all you have worked for your whole life goes to those you love. It is a way to make sure everyone is provided for. You are never too young to think about drawing up a will. In Louisiana, the estate planning laws and laws of inheritance are somewhat different than those anywhere else.
What Happens If You Don't Leave A Will?
If you don't leave a will, what do you think will happen to your wealth and possessions? Most of us imagine that it will automatically be transferred to our husbands or wives. In Louisiana, that is not the case.
According to Louisiana estate planning law, if there is no will everything goes to the deceased's parents. They own the property and have full usage rights. If the parents are no longer living, everything goes to the deceased's siblings.
Without a will, your accumulated wealth and possessions do not go to your spouse, except for purchases made together during your married life.
Any wealth that the individual has acquired separately of their spouse will be transferred to parents or siblings, and this includes business earnings. Separate property is acquired prior to a marriage; acquired by inheritance or donated to one spouse individually; or acquired by one spouse with separate funds or with separate and community funds where the community funds are very small in comparison to the separate funds.
If there are kids, the kids will get ownership of the estate, but they will not have usage rights. This means that, although they get a share of the inheritance, they have no rights over it being sold or divided among others. Even in the case where the kids inherit the wealth, the spouse still gets nothing.
It is always important to make a will, but this is why it is especially important in the state of Louisiana.
Posted on 3/5/08 at 10:50 am to SPEEDY
**Wrong board...Should be on Money talk
Posted on 3/5/08 at 10:50 am to SPEEDY
Mostly.
Posted on 3/5/08 at 11:04 am to Broke
Since this isn't moved I'll answer it here. LA is a community property state. There are no rights of survivorship here which would automatically pass assets to a spouse. You have Napoloenic law and attorneys to thank for having you go through probate when you die. A simple him to her/her to him will works fine usually.
Posted on 3/5/08 at 11:11 am to SPEEDY
quote:
According to Louisiana estate planning law, if there is no will everything goes to the deceased's parents. They own the property and have full usage rights. If the parents are no longer living, everything goes to the deceased's siblings
quote:
Even in the case where the kids inherit the wealth, the spouse still gets nothing.
these are misleading. if you have no will and a spouse but no children, she inherets the community property. period. seperate property will still go to the parents/siblings, but that's usually not much of an issue, as the spouse really has no claim to that, anyway.
if you have a spouse and kids, the kids inherit everything, subject to what is called a usufruct in favor of the surviving spouse. taking a house as an example, for simplicity's sake, the kids would be the "owners" but the spouse could use it as she saw fit (keeping in mind that he/she would/could have to account for the use/disposal of it). so the spouse does indeed get something of value.
in fact, if you have a wife and kids and just want them to get everything, a will is completely unnecessary in Louisiana (assuming little to no seperate property comes into the marriage - if you have a bunch of seperate property, get a will so you can dictate where it goes). second wives and kids with them can create a problem, though.
eta: if you do have seperate property concerns, you can also write your own will very easily and have it be valid. it only has to be written, dated, and signed in the handwriting of the testator. Although the date may appear anywhere in the testament, the testator must sign the testament at the end of the testament. If anything is written by the testator after his signature, the testament shall not be invalid and such writing may be considered by the court, in its discretion, as part of the testament. The olographic testament is subject to no other requirement as to form. The date is sufficiently indicated if the day, month, and year are reasonably ascertainable from information in the testament, as clarified by extrinsic evidence, if necessary.
This post was edited on 3/5/08 at 11:28 am
Posted on 3/5/08 at 11:21 am to SPEEDY
Not quite right, in La, it passes in direct relation to blood. From parent to child, no children, then to parents and so forth. Since 1984 there are about 7 different combinations before property moves to the married Spouse.
That being said, unless otherwise noted, any property accumulated during the marriage is community property (anything that benefits the communal relationship; money, property, etc), so the spouse has a joint interest. But land acquired before, or inherited is different. Money however could be disputed, because how do you determine what was there before and what was there after. It actually works to protect the non-working spouse.
That is why you get a pre-nup and make a will. You can write a will on the back of a napkin and put it away for safe keeping, doesn't have to be recorded, just needs to be verified. Put it in a deposit box, or give it to your attorney. Just make sure a non-related third party knows about it.
That being said, unless otherwise noted, any property accumulated during the marriage is community property (anything that benefits the communal relationship; money, property, etc), so the spouse has a joint interest. But land acquired before, or inherited is different. Money however could be disputed, because how do you determine what was there before and what was there after. It actually works to protect the non-working spouse.
That is why you get a pre-nup and make a will. You can write a will on the back of a napkin and put it away for safe keeping, doesn't have to be recorded, just needs to be verified. Put it in a deposit box, or give it to your attorney. Just make sure a non-related third party knows about it.
Posted on 3/5/08 at 11:27 am to Celtic Tiger
What in the case of children from a previous marriage?
Suppose you are now on your 3rd wife. You have children with each of your ex wife, but none with your current spouse. Your estate would go to your children and not your current wife?
Could you make a will that excluded your children and left everything with your current wife?
Suppose you are now on your 3rd wife. You have children with each of your ex wife, but none with your current spouse. Your estate would go to your children and not your current wife?
Could you make a will that excluded your children and left everything with your current wife?
Posted on 3/5/08 at 11:33 am to SPEEDY
your kids would inherit, but the current wife would get the usufruct, which will cause problems with the kids, most likely. i would suggest a will in that case, like 94 said, you can write it on a cocktail napkin as long as it's in your handwriting, dated, and signed. and if you write a will, you can leave whatever you want to who the hell ever you want, like your favorite pet, or a crackwhore. it might piss off the wife and/or kids, but you'd be dead while they fight over it, so frick it!
Posted on 3/5/08 at 11:39 am to Celtic Tiger
What if you had a life insurance policy and named the current wife the beneficiary. Would the kids from the previous marriages have any right to that money?
Posted on 3/5/08 at 11:43 am to SPEEDY
no, insurance policy named beneficiaries alone are entitled to the proceeds. (i'm not 100% on this one, but like 95, i'll check and change my answer if i find out i'm wrong)
and i was just about to edit my post above for clarification to say that the 3rd wife will have usufruct over only the property you accumulated during your community property regime with her. everything you had going into that marriage would be seperate and the kids get it free without a will.
but it sounds like you got a lot of shite going on and not the nice neat nuclear family the law supposed was the norm when it was drawn up. situations like yours get complicated and usually nasty pretty quickly. you really should write a will of have one drawn up.
and i was just about to edit my post above for clarification to say that the 3rd wife will have usufruct over only the property you accumulated during your community property regime with her. everything you had going into that marriage would be seperate and the kids get it free without a will.
but it sounds like you got a lot of shite going on and not the nice neat nuclear family the law supposed was the norm when it was drawn up. situations like yours get complicated and usually nasty pretty quickly. you really should write a will of have one drawn up.
This post was edited on 3/5/08 at 11:49 am
Posted on 3/5/08 at 11:49 am to SPEEDY
quote:It depends. As stated before, ALL separate property go to children, NOT to wife. Any community property you acquired w/ 3rd wife is already half owned by that wife. The husband's half ownership would go to his chilren of another marriage. New wife would have usufruct (use) over husbands half, however, children not related to new wife can force new wife to put up a bond to secure their interest.
Suppose you are now on your 3rd wife. You have children with each of your ex wife, but none with your current spouse. Your estate would go to your children and not your current wife?
quote:
Could you make a will that excluded your children and left everything with your current wife
In LA, you can't have a will exclude children under the age of 24.Its called "forced heirship" meaning, kids under 24 have to be left something called "forced portion" which is a percentage of the estate. If kids are over 24, you can leave them nothing.
If you have forced heirs and want to leave almost everything to wife, draft your will saying "to extent law requires you to leave forced heir their portion, you leave them thier forced portion", if not required by law, leave them nothing. I'd then leave everything else to wife and appoint her as independent executrix w/ authority to determine what particular assets of estate make up the forced portion and distribute as she sees fit.
As for the insurance policy question, life insurance proceeds do not go through probate in LA. Whoever is the listed beneficiary gets the money.
This post was edited on 3/5/08 at 12:07 pm
Posted on 3/5/08 at 11:54 am to Jacked up Tepper
i forgot about forced heirship. good call. also includes kids of any age who, because of mental incapacity or physical infirmity, are permanently incapable of taking care of their persons or administering their estates at the time of the death of the decedent. just in case.
This post was edited on 3/5/08 at 12:00 pm
Posted on 3/5/08 at 11:58 am to Jacked up Tepper
quote:
As for the insurance policy question, life insurance proceeds do not go through probate in LA. Whoever is the listed beneficiary gets the money.
Same for annuities.
Posted on 3/5/08 at 12:01 pm to Celtic Tiger
quote:
but it sounds like you got a lot of shite going on and not the nice neat nuclear family the law supposed was the norm when it was drawn up. situations like yours get complicated
Oh no, this isn't for me. I'm still married to wife #1
Thanks for the info
Posted on 3/5/08 at 12:28 pm to Celtic Tiger
quote:
usufruct
I always loved that word.
Used to call our closing attorney here in Mandeville and randomly shout "usufruct, usufruct, usufruct!" - then hang up.
I gave that group some real doozzies to work.
Posted on 3/5/08 at 12:48 pm to Jacked up Tepper
quote:
you can't have a will exclude children under the age of 24.Its
or retards
Posted on 3/5/08 at 12:52 pm to Meauxjeaux
quote:
Used to call our closing attorney here in Mandeville and randomly shout "usufruct, usufruct, usufruct!" - then hang up.
Ever check the bills, and see what he charged you for those calls?
Posted on 3/5/08 at 3:42 pm to Y.A. Tittle
i realize it was a joke, but if i remember correctly (unlike other states) you cannot leave property to your dog in Louisiana. I believe the civil code articles on capacity to inherit use the word person and that has been interpreted to preclude pet donations.
Unless you have very complicated affairs with kids from different wives or were very rich before marrying and don't like your blood family, the legal system works well and does what most people would want.
think about it, if you and your siblings together inherited property from your parents, and you don't have any kids, wouldn't most people want your share of that property to go back to your siblings (who may still be co-owners with you) instead of your spouse. Perhaps not--but it seems logical to me, and in any case as mentioned your spouse gets your community property--what you accumulated during your marriage.
I def. wouldn't use whomever sent that 'la is different the sky is falling' thing, they are scaremongering.
Unless you have very complicated affairs with kids from different wives or were very rich before marrying and don't like your blood family, the legal system works well and does what most people would want.
think about it, if you and your siblings together inherited property from your parents, and you don't have any kids, wouldn't most people want your share of that property to go back to your siblings (who may still be co-owners with you) instead of your spouse. Perhaps not--but it seems logical to me, and in any case as mentioned your spouse gets your community property--what you accumulated during your marriage.
I def. wouldn't use whomever sent that 'la is different the sky is falling' thing, they are scaremongering.
Posted on 3/5/08 at 3:48 pm to Cadercole
quote:
i realize it was a joke, but if i remember correctly (unlike other states) you cannot leave property to your dog in Louisiana. I believe the civil code articles on capacity to inherit use the word person and that has been interpreted to preclude pet donations.
Of course, I don't think there's anything that would preclude you from setting up some sort of trust, to insure the care of a pet, upon your death. Although, I guess you're probably right about some sort of direct bequeath to Fido (who I'm pretty sure couldn't legally own anything that would be left to him, anyway).
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