Protecting your family’s future starts with a plan built specifically for Louisiana’s unique laws. As a Covington estate planning attorney, Charlton “Chink” Ogden provides the guidance necessary to secure your assets, care for your loved ones, and ensure your final wishes are honored. From drafting a first Last Will and Testament to creating a Revocable Living Trust, Charlton helps clients in Covington, Mandeville, and across the Northshore find peace of mind.
Last Will and Testament: Ensure your property is distributed according to your wishes, not the state’s default intestacy laws.
Revocable Living Trusts: A powerful tool to avoid the public succession process at the 22nd JDC.
Power of Attorney (General & Medical): Choose someone you trust to handle your financial and healthcare decisions if you become incapacitated.
Living Wills: Provide clear instructions regarding end-of-life medical care, removing the burden of these difficult decisions from your loved ones.
One of the most common questions Charlton hears is whether a client should choose a Last Will and Testament or a Revocable Living Trust. Both are effective tools, but they serve very different purposes under Louisiana law.
A Will is the foundation of most estate plans. It allows you to designate who will inherit your property and name a tutor for minor children. However, a Will does not avoid succession. When you pass away with only a Will, your family must still file a petition at the 22nd Judicial District Court to have the Will validated and the property transferred.
A Living Trust is a more robust estate planning tool. Its primary advantage is that it allows your assets to pass to your heirs without going through a court-supervised succession. By placing your home and accounts into a trust, you maintain full control during your lifetime, but upon your death, your successor trustee can distribute assets privately.
Privacy: Successions are public record; Trusts are private.
Speed: Assets can often be distributed in weeks rather than months.
Cost: While a Trust costs more to set up initially, it often saves your family thousands in court costs and legal fees at the St. Tammany Clerk of Court later.
As your Covington estate planning attorney, Charlton Ogden will review your assets and family goals to help you determine if the simplicity of a Will or the probate-avoidance of a Trust is the better fit for your legacy.
Louisiana is one of the only states in the country where you cannot simply leave your children out of your will. Under the Louisiana Civil Code, certain descendants are called “forced heirs,” meaning the law guarantees them a minimum share of your estate whether you intended it or not.
Who qualifies as a forced heir? Louisiana defines forced heirs as children who are 23 years old or younger at the time of your death, and children of any age who are permanently incapable of caring for themselves due to mental incapacity or physical infirmity. The protected share they are entitled to is called the “legitime,” which is a Latin term meaning the lawful portion.
What is the legitime? If you have one forced heir, that child is entitled to one-quarter of your estate. If you have two or more forced heirs, they share one-half of your estate collectively. The remaining portion — three-quarters with one forced heir, or one-half with two or more — is called the “disposable portion,” and you are free to leave it to anyone you choose.
Can you disinherit a forced heir? In very limited circumstances, yes. Louisiana law allows disinherison of a forced heir only for specific causes listed in the Civil Code, such as striking a parent, being convicted of a felony and sentenced to death, or marrying against the express prohibition of a parent. These are narrow exceptions. Attempting to disinherit a forced heir outside these causes leaves your estate vulnerable to a legal challenge after your death.
How Charlton structures plans around forced heirship. Most families in Covington and across St. Tammany Parish are not trying to cut children out entirely. They are trying to control timing, protect a child with special needs, treat multiple children equitably, or provide for a surviving spouse without conflict. Charlton has handled estate plans across a wide range of family situations. As your Covington estate planning attorney, Charlton reviews your assets, your family dynamics, and your goals to structure a plan that works within Louisiana’s forced heirship rules rather than around them.
If your family situation is complicated, or if you have a child with disabilities who might need the disposable portion protected through a special needs trust, those conversations are exactly why a local Louisiana attorney matters. An online form cannot account for any of this.
What happens if I die without a will in Louisiana?
If you die without a will, Louisiana’s intestacy laws decide who gets everything. The state distributes your property according to a fixed order of heirs, starting with your descendants, then your parents and siblings, and so on. Community property and separate property are treated differently under these rules, and the results do not always match what most people would have wanted. Your surviving spouse may have fewer rights than you assume. The simplest way to avoid that outcome is to have a will in place before you need one.
Do online will services work under Louisiana law?
They can create a valid document, but validity is not the same as effectiveness. Louisiana’s succession laws include requirements and concepts — forced heirship, usufruct, the distinction between community and separate property — that generic national will templates are not designed to handle. A document that is technically valid may still leave your family with complications at the 22nd Judicial District Court that a well-drafted Louisiana-specific plan would have avoided entirely. Charlton reviews your actual situation rather than filling in blanks.
What is usufruct, and how does it affect estate planning?
Usufruct is a Louisiana legal concept with no real equivalent in other states. It is the right to use and enjoy property that belongs to someone else. In a typical Louisiana estate plan involving a married couple, when one spouse dies, the survivor often receives the usufruct of the deceased spouse’s share of community property. That means the surviving spouse can continue living in the home and using the assets, but the underlying ownership, called “naked ownership,” belongs to the children. This arrangement works well in most families. In blended families or situations with significant assets, careful planning is required to avoid conflict down the road. Charlton explains how usufruct affects your specific situation before any documents are drafted.
How long does the process take working with Charlton?
Most estate planning engagements move at the pace the client sets. A straightforward will and power of attorney can typically be completed within a few weeks of the initial meeting. More involved plans with trusts, business interests, or complex family dynamics take longer. Charlton does not rush the process because the goal is a plan that actually reflects your intentions, not a document produced as quickly as possible. The initial consultation is the right place to talk through the timeline and what to expect.
If you are ready to get started, Charlton is a Covington estate planning attorney who works with clients across St. Tammany Parish at whatever pace fits your schedule. Call (985) 892-8592 or use the contact form below.
Louisiana’s Civil Code is unique. Concepts like Forced Heirship and Usufruct do not exist in other states. Using a ‘one-size-fits-all’ online form can lead to major legal headaches for your heirs at the Covington courthouse later. By working with a local Covington estate planning attorney, you ensure that your documents are fully compliant with Louisiana law and specifically tailored to your family’s needs.
Effective estate planning is the first step in a larger strategy that includes Covington Succession & Estate Planning. We help you look at the big picture to minimize taxes and court costs.