Louisiana Intestate Succession: Who Inherits When There’s No Will

When someone dies in Louisiana without a will, families usually ask one question first: who gets what? Most people assume the answer is “the spouse gets everything.” In Louisiana, that’s often wrong.

I’m Charlton “Chink” Ogden, and I’ve practiced Louisiana law since 1981. Louisiana intestate succession follows a specific order set out in the Civil Code, and that order looks different from what you’d find in most other states. Here’s how it works, step by step.

What Is Louisiana Intestate Succession?

“Intestate” means without a valid will. Succession is Louisiana’s word for what other states call probate: the court process that moves a person’s property into the names of the people who inherit it.

Under Civil Code Article 880, when there’s no valid will, property passes “by operation of law.” That means automatically, in an order the law sets. It passes to descendants, ascendants (parents and grandparents), and collaterals (brothers, sisters, and other relatives along the side branches of the family), by blood or by adoption. It also passes to a surviving spouse, as long as the couple wasn’t judicially separated.

Notice what’s not on that list: stepchildren. A stepchild who was never legally adopted doesn’t inherit from a stepparent under Louisiana intestacy rules, no matter how close the relationship was. In blended families, that surprise lands hard.

Step One: Separate Community Property From Separate Property

Louisiana is a community property state, and that changes everything about who inherits. Before anyone can say who gets what, the property has to be sorted into two piles.

Community property is generally what a married couple acquired during the marriage. Each spouse owns a present, undivided half of it. When one spouse dies, the surviving spouse keeps their own half. Only the deceased spouse’s half passes through the succession.

Separate property is generally what a spouse owned before the marriage, or received individually by gift or inheritance. It follows a different set of rules.

Sorting the two isn’t always simple, especially after decades of marriage, refinanced homes, and mixed accounts. But it’s the first question in every intestate succession, because the two piles follow different inheritance rules.

Who Inherits Community Property Without a Will?

The answer turns on one fact: did the deceased spouse leave children or other descendants?

If there are no descendants, the surviving spouse inherits the deceased spouse’s half of the community property, under Article 889. Combined with the half the survivor already owns, the spouse ends up owning all of the community property.

If there are descendants, the deceased spouse’s half of the community goes to the children, under Article 888. The surviving spouse doesn’t own that half. Instead, under Article 890, the spouse receives a usufruct over it. A usufruct is the right to use and enjoy property that someone else owns. The children hold what’s called naked ownership. They own that interest in the property, but the surviving spouse keeps the right to use and enjoy it while the usufruct lasts.

The spouse’s usufruct ends when the spouse dies or remarries, whichever comes first.

Here’s how that plays out. Say a husband and wife bought their Covington home during their marriage, and the husband dies without a will, leaving his wife and two adult children. The wife keeps her half of the house. The two children inherit his half. The wife can keep living in the home under her usufruct, and the children’s ownership becomes complete when she dies or remarries.

Who Inherits Separate Property Without a Will?

Separate property follows a longer list, and the surviving spouse is much further down it than most people expect. The order is:

1. Descendants. Children inherit first, in equal shares (Article 888). The surviving spouse’s usufruct under Article 890 covers community property only, so when there are descendants, the intestacy rules give the spouse nothing from the separate property. (One narrow exception, the marital portion, is covered below.)
2. Brothers and sisters, with a usufruct for parents. With no descendants, but with surviving parents and siblings, the siblings (or their descendants) inherit the separate property, subject to a usufruct for the surviving parent or parents (Article 891).
3. Siblings alone, or parents alone. With no descendants and no parents, the siblings take full ownership. With no descendants and no siblings, the parents inherit (Article 892).
4. The surviving spouse. Only when there are no descendants, parents, siblings, or siblings’ descendants does the spouse inherit the separate property (Article 894).
5. Other ascendants, then other relatives. Grandparents and more distant ancestors come next (Article 895), followed by the nearest other collateral relatives, such as aunts, uncles, and cousins (Article 896).

In other words, a married person who dies without a will and without children may leave their separate property to their brothers and sisters, not their spouse. That’s one of the most common surprises in a Louisiana intestate succession.

When siblings share the same two parents, they split the property equally. When some are half-siblings, Article 893 divides the property between the father’s side and the mother’s side, and the math changes.

What If One of the Children Died First?

The children of a child who died before the parent step into their parent’s place. Louisiana calls this representation, and under Article 882, it applies without limit down the line of descendants.

So if a woman dies without a will leaving two living sons and two grandchildren from a daughter who died earlier, her estate is split into three shares. Each son takes one share. The two grandchildren split their mother’s share between them. The law calls that inheriting “by roots,” meaning by family branch, rather than “by heads,” meaning one equal share per person.

Does a Surviving Spouse Inherit Everything in Louisiana?

Usually not. To sum it up:

• The surviving spouse always keeps their own half of the community property.
• If there are no descendants, the spouse inherits the other half of the community too.
• If there are descendants, the spouse receives a usufruct over the deceased spouse’s community half, but not ownership. The usufruct ends at death or remarriage.
• The spouse inherits separate property only if there are no descendants, parents, siblings, or siblings’ descendants.

There’s one safety valve. Under Article 2432, when a spouse dies rich in comparison with the surviving spouse, the survivor can claim what’s called the marital portion from the succession. It’s a fact-specific claim, not an automatic share, but it’s worth knowing about when the separate property rules leave a spouse with very little.

For a surviving spouse who assumed the house, the accounts, and everything else were simply “theirs now,” that can be a hard conversation.

What Happens Next Without a Will

Knowing who inherits is only half of it. The next step is establishing those inheritance rights so property can be transferred or title can be cleared. Depending on the circumstances, a court may send the heirs into possession without a formal administration (Article 3001 of the Code of Civil Procedure), or it may appoint an administrator. Some estates qualify for a small succession affidavit that avoids opening a court proceeding at all. Under current Louisiana law, the general small succession limit for someone who died domiciled in Louisiana is $200,000, with different rules for nonresidents and for deaths at least twenty years old (Article 3421). Court proceedings generally end with a Judgment of Possession, while a qualifying affidavit doesn’t require one. When succession is necessary in Louisiana explains when court involvement is required. My Covington succession and Mandeville succession pages explain the process at the 22nd Judicial District Court.

How a Will Changes the Outcome

Everything above is the default, what the law does when you haven’t said otherwise. A will lets you leave property to a stepchild, give your spouse more than a usufruct, or keep separate property in your own household instead of sending it to your siblings. It still has to respect forced heirship, but within that limit, the choices are yours.

If you’re thinking about this for your own family, start with how to make a will in Louisiana and the benefits of having a will in Louisiana.

Talk Through Your Family’s Situation

If someone in your family has died without a will, the first job is figuring out who the heirs actually are and what’s community versus separate. I help families across Covington, Mandeville, and the Northshore work through Louisiana intestate succession from that first question to the Judgment of Possession. Call (985) 892-8592 or send a message through my contact page.