Digital Resource Center
Estate Planning done your way.
This digital resource center offers a full range of estate planning materials including frameworks, templates, articles and informative articles. All valuable resources that make estate planning as simple as possible.
Find what you need, no matter your situation.
Download free guides, purchase templates, and dive into a library full of important estate planning articles, that will help you get estate planning done (finally!)
Louisiana
Estate Planning
Templates
Pick up at any point in the estate planning journey with these downloadable templates.
Choose your own estate planning journey.
With this curated collection of Louisiana legal templates and supplemental documents, Louisiana estate planning has never been more simple.
All resources are digital and can be downloaded or accessed upon purchase.
Take what you need and leave the rest.
Estate
Planning
Made
Simple
Estate Planning Made Simple
Start your estate planning journey with articles and guides packed with useful and realistic information Louisiana estate planning.
These articles go beneath the surface level of estate planning. Each topic is discussed and applied to common situations for Louisiana residents.
All content is intended as general information.
This is a great place to start your estate planning journey!
Articles and Guides
Estate Planning 101
This short and sweet course will take you through the entire estate planning process from start to finish. Sign up now to get lifetime access in this self-paced introductory course.
Create a Handwritten Louisiana Will Right Now!
Sign up to get the FREE guide immediately!
✺ Frequently asked questions ✺
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A: Yes.
Seriously, yes pretty much everyone needs a will.
If you:
own a house
have kids
own a business
are a single parent
are over the age of 18 with a bank account
have inherited property or assets
have sold or want to sell your business
have a pension or retirement account
have significant savings or investments
Then you definitely need a will.
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A: If you don’t have a will, Louisiana law will determine where your property goes after you die.
This is called dying intestate.
The default rules may be what you want, but they may not. And if you don’t know what those default rules are or you don’t want the state deciding where your property goes, then you need a will.
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A: An executor is the person who is responsible for gathering all of your property after you die and distributing it to the people named in your will.
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A: A power of attorney is a document that gives someone the power to act on your behalf if you are unable to do so. Now you can give a power of attorney even if you are competent.
Probably the most frequently used limited power of attorney is to allow your real estate agent to sign the documents to sell your property if you are out of state.
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A: A usufruct is one way that property can be held in Louisiana.
It divides the property between a usufructuary and a naked owner.
The usufructuary has the ability to use the property and get the rent or income from the property for a certain term (usually their lifetime), and at the end of the term, the property automatically passes to the naked owner.
It is very similar to a life estate in other states
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A: Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but having a will in and of itself will not protect you from death taxes.
By death taxes, I mean federal or state estate or inheritance taxes.
But there is good news!
First, Louisiana does not have any death taxes.
Second, currently the federal estate tax exemption is over $12 million per person.
So if you are a single person in Louisiana and die with less than the exemption amount of just over $12 million, no federal death taxes are due.
And if you are married, you can essentially have over $24 million of exemption. The estate tax exemption is set to go down to around $6 million in 2026.
Louisiana Living Will Template
$39.00 $49.00
This user-friendly template includes step-by-step instructions and a straightforward declaration of living will template that’s easy to complete.
Tailored to Louisiana's specific legal requirements, it includes provisions for making critical medical decisions and appointing witnesses.
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The Louisiana Living Will template is a legal document and, when completed accurately, can be recognized by the state of Louisiana during the estate planning process.
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Upon purchase, you will receive the following:
1 downloadable copy of the Living Will Template with link to the Google Doc.
Each download includes 1 instruction page and 1 Declaration of Living Will template.
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The Living Will Template includes a Declaration of Living Will document that is recognized by the state of Louisiana.
There are instructions included in the template, as well.
This document is intended for general information purposes and does not include any legal advice.
Should you require legal advice, or would like this document reviewed by a legal professional, please contact me or another estate planning attorney directly.
Move forward
without getting
overwhelmed.
If you relate to this…
“I don't want to think about what happens after I'm gone.”
“There are so many decisions to make - how can I be sure I'm making the right choices?”
“Isn't estate planning only for wealthy people with millions of dollars?”
“I'd rather not spend my hard-earned money on something that might not happen for several decades.”
Then you’ve come to the right place.
Get Your Inventory Done with Ease!
The first and most important step in any estate planning process is creating an inventory of everything you own (and owe).
Book Estate Planning Services
When you need a Louisiana estate planning lawyer to prepare your estate plan thoughtfully, strategically, and accurately.
Addie Prewitt offers one-on-one estate planning services for those needing the support of a legal professional.
✺ Frequently asked questions ✺
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A: In Louisiana, a guardian for an adult that cannot take care of their person or property is called a curator.
In other states, a curator is called a conservator.
The proceeding to appoint a curator is called interdiction in Louisiana.
Signing a durable power of attorney and/or health care power of attorney to appoint an agent typically alleviates the need for a curator.
Louisiana law allows a person to nominate the person or persons that they would like to serve as curator if they are unable to take care of themselves, and you will usually see this provision contained in a power of attorney.
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An interdiction is when a Louisiana court appoints someone to manage an incompetent or incapacitated adult’s financial or personal affairs.
In other states, this can be called a conservatorship or guardianship.
The person appointed to care for the incompetent person is called a curator.
A conservatorship is when a court appoints someone to manage a minor or incapacitated person's financial and personal affairs.
The conservator becomes responsible for the minor's finances and can limit spending decisions.
A conservatorship and a guardianship are generally not the same, but one person can serve in both roles.
Guardianship is usually the appointment of a person to oversee the physical and medical care of a person with limited capacity, or a minor.
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A: A prohibited substitution is someone (A) giving something to one person (B) in full ownership with a charge at B’s death to deliver the property to a third person (C).
Typically a client (A) might say “I want to leave all of my property in full ownership to my spouse (B) and whatever is left after my spouse dies, I want to go to my children (C).”
This alone would be prohibited substitution and would nullify the entire will. To accomplish the client’s objective of providing for his spouse and then leaving whatever is left to the client’s children, the client could use a trust or even a usufruct.
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A: Generally, In Louisiana, children under the age of 24 and disabled children regardless of age are forced heirs.
As a forced heir, a child is entitled to a certain portion of their parent’s estate.
If a parent dies with one child, a forced heir is entitled to one-fourth of the parent’s probate estate.
If a parent dies with more than one-child, a forced heir is entitled to one-half of the estate divided by the number of children of the parent. So for example:
If there are 2 children, a forced heir is entitled to one-quarter of the probate estate
If there are 3 children, a forced heir is entitled to one-sixth of the probate estate
If there are 4 children, a forced heir is entitled to one-eighth of the probate estate (and so on)
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A: A trust is an arrangement in which a person (called the grantor or settlor) gives property to another person (called the trustee) to hold such property and administer and manage it under the terms created in the trust instrument or agreement for the benefit of certain named persons (beneficiary).
In this arrangement, the trustee is a fiduciary, which generally means that the trustee has to act in the best interests of the beneficiaries.
As if that is not complicated enough, a person can hold more than one office (settlor, trustee, beneficiary) at the same time.
For example, in a living trust (or revocable trust), the same person is typically the settlor, the trustee and the beneficiary.
The purpose of creating the trust will dictate whether the same person can occupy multiple roles.
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A: A will must be probated to pass your property to the people named in your will.
The probate process requires judicial oversight.
The trust we are talking about here is a living revocable trust.
This is a trust that you put all of your property into a trust before you die and then the property is automatically held in the trust for the benefit of certain individuals and may be distributed out to them depending on the terms of the trust.
Also a will can say that certain property of yours goes into trust for the benefit of someone else.
This is quite common when the deceased has minor children.
Estate Planning Workbook
$49.00 $75.00
The Louisiana Estate Planning Workbook is a downloadable, interactive workbook. This supplemental toolkit is designed to prepare you for the entire estate planning. This is a digital product with lifetime access.
Estate planning should be accessible and easy for everyone to do.
It’s too important to put off any longer.
Create a Handwritten Louisiana Will Right Now!
Sign up to get the FREE guide immediately!