Louisiana Small Succession Affidavit PDF: Filing, Recording, Assets

Louisiana’s small succession affidavit lets heirs transfer a deceased person’s assets without opening a full court succession, as long as the estate’s gross value is $125,000 or less at the date of death. You fill out one of three statutory forms (depending on whether there was a will and where the person lived), swear to it before a notary, attach a certified death certificate, and record it with the Clerk of Court in the parish where the deceased lived or owned property. Once recorded, banks, the Office of Motor Vehicles, and other institutions must release the deceased’s property to the heirs named in the document.

One trap catches families before they ever start: if the deceased lived in Louisiana, left a will, and owned real estate here, the affidavit process is not available at any dollar amount. That estate has to go through judicial succession.

Who Qualifies for a Small Succession

Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Article 3421 recognizes three paths into the small succession process.¹

The usual one is the estate of a Louisiana resident whose property had a gross value of $125,000 or less at the date of death. “Gross” means before debts. An estate with $100,000 in assets and $80,000 in debt is still a $100,000 estate for this test.

The second path covers out-of-state decedents who owned Louisiana property worth $125,000 or less. The third removes the dollar cap entirely for any death that occurred at least twenty years before the affidavit is signed, which exists because unresolved old successions are common in the state.

Clearing the dollar threshold alone is not enough. Article 3431 then controls whether you can actually skip court:

If the person lived in Louisiana and died without a will, the affidavit is available.
If the person lived in Louisiana and left a will but owned no Louisiana real estate, heirs can use the affidavit only when the surviving spouse, everyone named in the will, and everyone who would have inherited without a will all agree to waive probate of the testament.
If the person lived outside Louisiana and either died without a will or had the will probated by a court in another state, the affidavit is available for their Louisiana property.²

The missing combination is the one that trips families up most often. A Louisiana resident who left a will and owned any immovable property in the state cannot use this process. A modest home is enough to force the family into a judicial succession.

Picking the Right Affidavit Form

Louisiana does not use one universal affidavit. It has three, and the wrong one will be rejected at recording.

Article 3432 is the intestate form, used when the deceased left no will. It covers both movable and immovable property and is the most common version.³

Article 3432.1 is for Louisiana residents who died with a will. It is strictly limited to movable property. The affidavit must affirm that the deceased owned no immovable property in Louisiana, and a copy of the will has to be attached.⁴

Article 3433 is for out-of-state residents whose wills were already probated in another state. Unlike 3432.1, this version can include Louisiana real estate. You must attach both the will and a certified copy of the probate order from the other state’s court.⁵

Blank forms are available from some parish Clerks of Court as downloadable PDFs. If your parish doesn’t post one online, call the Clerk’s office — they will usually email or hand you a template.

What the Affidavit Has to Include

Gather everything before you start drafting. A missing detail means redoing the whole document, re-notarizing, and sometimes paying another recording fee.

Information About the Deceased and the Family

You need the date of death, the parish of domicile, and the marital status of the deceased.³ List the surviving spouse’s name and address, if any, along with the names and last known addresses of every heir. For intestate successions, identify which heirs are “forced heirs” under Louisiana law — children under 24, or children of any age with a mental or physical incapacity that prevents them from caring for themselves.

For testate successions, list every legatee named in the will with their address. Any legatee who is not signing must be given advance notice by U.S. mail of the intent to execute the affidavit and must not have objected.⁴

Property Descriptions, Values, and Shares

Describe each asset in enough detail to identify it for transfer. Classify each item as community property or separate property, which affects the ownership percentages.³

For real estate, use the full legal description from the most recent deed or tax assessment, including lot number, subdivision, and municipal address. For bank accounts, list the institution, account number, and balance at death. For vehicles, include year, make, model, and VIN, because the Office of Motor Vehicles needs the VIN to transfer the title. Show the value of every individual item and the aggregate value of the whole estate as of the date of death.

Then state each heir’s or legatee’s percentage interest in each item. Intestate shares follow Louisiana’s rules of intestate succession. Testate shares follow the will. Getting these wrong creates title defects on real estate that can take years to clean up.

Signing and Notarizing

All three affidavit types require multiple signers.

For an intestate affidavit under Article 3432, the surviving spouse (if any) and at least one competent adult heir must sign. With no surviving spouse, at least two heirs must sign. With no surviving spouse and only one heir, that heir has to find a second person with actual knowledge of the facts to sign alongside them.³

For testate affidavits under 3432.1 and 3433, the rule is similar: at least two signers, including the surviving spouse (if any) and one or more legatees. Without a surviving spouse, at least two people with actual knowledge of the facts must sign.⁵

Everyone signs before a notary public. The statute itself does not require additional witnesses beyond the notary, but many Louisiana notaries follow the state’s traditional practice of using two witnesses, so expect that. Notarization typically runs $25 to $75 depending on the parish and the notary.

Each signer swears under penalty of perjury that the information is true and complete. A false affidavit exposes you to criminal perjury charges and civil liability to anyone harmed by the false statements.

Recording the Affidavit

Once notarized, attach a certified copy of the death certificate and bring the package to the Clerk of Court for recording in the conveyance records.

If the estate includes real estate, record the affidavit in every parish where that property sits.⁶ A house in Orleans Parish and a hunting camp in Vermilion Parish means filing in both. For estates with only movable property, record in the parish where the deceased lived.

Fees vary by parish. St. Landry Parish, for example, charges $110 for a one-to-five-page document, $210 for six to twenty-five pages, and $310 for twenty-six to fifty pages.⁷ Most parishes land in a similar range, so budget $100 to $300 per parish. Certified copies for use with banks and the DMV typically cost another $10 to $25 each.

Using the Recorded Affidavit to Collect Assets

A recorded affidavit is “full and sufficient authority” for any bank, financial institution, corporation, or other person holding the deceased’s property to release it to the heirs named in the document, in the percentages shown.⁶ An institution that honors it is legally protected: no creditor, heir, or succession representative can sue them for making the transfer.

For real estate, the recorded affidavit is prima facie evidence of the facts it states, including each heir’s relationship to the deceased and their ownership share. It is not technically the same as a court judgment of possession, but it functions similarly for establishing a chain of title. Anyone claiming to be a successor who was left out has two years from the recording date to challenge the affidavit in court. After that, the claim prescribes.⁶

In practice, banks want a certified copy of the recorded affidavit plus government-issued photo ID from each heir. The Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles needs a certified copy to transfer vehicle titles. For U.S. savings bonds, TreasuryDirect has its own procedures and may ask for additional documentation.⁸

Debts You Take On By Signing

Signing the affidavit is an acceptance of the succession, and acceptance comes with liability. Under Louisiana Civil Code Article 1416, an heir who accepts becomes liable for the deceased’s debts up to the value of what they inherit. Receive $40,000 in assets, and creditors can pursue you for up to $40,000 in the deceased’s unpaid debts. They cannot reach your personal assets beyond that.

The affidavit process has no built-in creditor notification mechanism, unlike a formal judicial succession. Before signing, do an honest tally of what the deceased owed. If debts are close to or exceed the value of the assets, the faster process may create more problems than it solves, and a court-supervised succession may be the safer route.

Taxes, Social Security, and Loose Ends

Louisiana imposes no state inheritance tax and no state estate transfer tax. The inheritance tax was repealed effective January 1, 2012, and the estate transfer tax has not applied to deaths after December 31, 2004.⁹ Heirs owe nothing to the state simply for inheriting.

Someone still needs to file the deceased’s final federal income tax return (Form 1040) covering income from January 1 through the date of death, under the normal filing deadlines. A surviving spouse who did not remarry during the year of death can file jointly for that year.¹⁰ If no surviving spouse or court-appointed representative exists and a refund is due, the filer must attach Form 1310. If the estate earns income after death (rental payments, interest), the estate may need its own Employer Identification Number and a Form 1041 fiduciary return.¹¹ Federal estate tax is not a concern at the small succession dollar level.

Notify the Social Security Administration promptly if the deceased was receiving benefits. Funeral homes often report the death, but if one wasn’t involved, call 1-800-772-1213 with the deceased’s name, Social Security number, date of birth, and date of death.¹² Any benefit payments deposited after the date of death will be reclaimed by the federal government, and the bank will debit the account. Don’t spend them. A surviving spouse may be eligible for a one-time $255 death benefit.

1
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Art. 3421 – Small Successions Defined
2
Justia. Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Art. 3431 – Small Successions; Judicial Opening Unnecessary
3
Justia. Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Art. 3432 – Affidavit for Small Succession for a Person Who Died Intestate; Contents
4
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Art. 3432.1 – Affidavit for Small Succession for a Person Domiciled in Louisiana Who Died Testate; Contents
5
Justia. Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Art. 3433 – Affidavit for Small Succession for a Person Domiciled Outside of Louisiana Who Died Testate; Contents
6
Justia. Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Art. 3434 – Endorsed Copy of Affidavit Authority for Delivery of Property
7
St. Landry Parish Clerk of Court. Recording Fee Schedule
8
TreasuryDirect. Death of a Savings Bond Owner
9
Louisiana Department of Revenue. Inheritance and Estate Transfer Taxes
10
Internal Revenue Service. Filing a Final Federal Tax Return for Someone Who Has Died
11
Internal Revenue Service. Application for Employer Identification Number
12
Social Security Administration. What to Do When Someone Dies