Louisiana Notary

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Civil Law Basics

Succession and Testament – Renunciation

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Succession and Testament – Renunciation

Art. 947. Right of successor to accept or renounce. A successor is not obligated to accept rights to succeed. He may accept some of those rights and renounce others.

Art. 948. Minor successor deemed to accept. A successor who is a minor is deemed to accept rights to succeed, but his legal representative may renounce on behalf of the minor when expressly authorized by the court.

Art. 949. Death of decedent as prerequisite to acceptance or renunciation A person may not accept or renounce rights to succeed before the death of the decedent.

Art. 951. Nullity of premature acceptance or renunciation. A premature acceptance or renunciation is absolutely null.

Art. 963. Requirement of formality. Renunciation must be express and in writing.

Art. 964. Accretion upon renunciation in intestate successions. The rights of an intestate successor who renounces accrete to those persons who would have succeeded to them if the successor had predeceased the decedent.

Art. 965. Accretion upon renunciation in testate successions. In the absence of a governing, testamentary disposition, the rights of a testate successor who renounces accrete to those persons who would have succeeded to them if the legatee had predeceased the decedent.

Succession and Testament – Separate property of the deceased

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Succession and Testament – Separate property of the deceased

Art. 891. Devolution of separate property; parents and brothers and sisters If the deceased leaves no descendants but is survived by a father, mother, or both, and by a brother or sister, or both, or descendants from them, the brothers and sisters or their descendants succeed to the separate property of the deceased subject to a usufruct in favor of the surviving parent or parents. If both parents survive the deceased, the usufruct shall be joint and successive.

Art. 894. Separate property; rights of surviving spouse. If the deceased leaves neither descendants, nor parents, nor brothers, sisters, or descendants from them, his spouse not judicially separated from him shall succeed to his separate property to the exclusion of other ascendants and other collaterals.

Art. 895. Separate property; rights of other ascendants. If a deceased leaves neither descendants, nor brothers, sisters, or descendants from them, nor parents, nor spouse not judicially separated, his other ascendants succeed to his separate property. If the ascendants in the paternal and maternal lines are in the same degree, the property is divided into two equal shares, one of which goes to the ascendants on the paternal side, and the other to the ascendants on the maternal side, whether the number of ascendants on each side be equal or not. In this case, the ascendants in each line inherit by heads.

Art. 896. Separate property; rights of other collaterals. If the deceased leaves neither descendants, nor brothers, sisters, or descendants from them, nor parents, nor spouse not judicially separated, nor other ascendants, his other collaterals succeed to his separate property. Among the collateral relations, the nearest in degree excludes all the others. If there are several in the same degree, they take equally and by heads.

Succession and Testament – Community property of the decedent

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Succession and Testament – Community property of the decedent

Art. 889. Devolution of community property. If the deceased leaves no descendants, his surviving spouse succeeds to his share of the community property.

Art. 890. Usufruct of surviving spouse. If the deceased spouse is survived by descendants, the surviving spouse shall have a usufruct over the decedent’s share of the community property to the extent that the decedent has not disposed of it by testament. This usufruct terminates when the surviving spouse dies or remarries, whichever occurs first.

Art. 535. Usufruct. Usufruct is a real right of limited duration on the property of another. The features of the right vary with the nature of the things subject to it as consumables or nonconsumables.

Art. 536. Consumable things. Consumable things are those that cannot be used without being expended or consumed, or without their substance being changed, such as money, harvested agricultural products, stocks of merchandise, foodstuffs, and beverages.

Art. 537. Nonconsumable things. Nonconsumable things are those that may be enjoyed without alteration of their substance, although their substance may be diminished or deteriorated naturally by time or by the use to which they are applied, such as lands, houses, shares of stock, animals, furniture, and vehicles.

Art. 538. Usufruct of consumable things. If the things subject to the usufruct are consumables, the usufructuary becomes owner of them. He may consume, alienate, or encumber them as he sees fit. At the termination of the usufruct he is bound either to pay to the naked owner the value that the things had at the commencement of the usufruct or to deliver to him things of the same quantity and quality.

Art. 539. Usufruct of nonconsumable things. If the things subject to the usufruct are nonconsumables, the usufructuary has the right to possess them and to derive the utility, profits, and advantages that they may produce, under the obligation of preserving their substance. He is bound to use them as a prudent administrator and to deliver them to the naked owner at the termination of the usufruct.

Art. 573. Dispensation of security by operation of law. A. Security is dispensed with when any of the following occur:

(1) A person has a legal usufruct under Article 223 or 3252.

(2) A surviving spouse has a legal usufruct under Article 890 unless the naked owner is not a child of the usufructuary or if the naked owner is a child of the usufructuary and is also a forced heir of the decedent, the naked owner may obtain security but only to the extent of his legitime.

(3) A parent has a legal usufruct under Article 891 unless the naked owner is not a child of the usufructuary.

(4) A surviving spouse has a legal usufruct under Article 2434 unless the naked owner is a child of the decedent but not a child of the usufructuary.

B. A seller or donor of property under reservation of usufruct is not required to give security.

Succession and Testament – Who is called to be an heir?

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Succession and Testament – Who is called to be an heir?

Art. 881. Representation: effect. Representation is a fiction of the law, the effect of which is to put the representative in the place, degree, and rights of the person represented.

Art. 888. Succession rights of descendants. Descendants succeed to the property of their ascendants. They take in equal portions and by heads if they are in the same degree. They take by roots if all or some of them succeed by representation.

Succession and Testament – Basic principles

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Succession and Testament – Basic principles

Art. 880. Intestate succession. In the absence of valid testamentary disposition, the undisposed property of the deceased devolves by operation of law in favor of his descendants, ascendants, and collaterals, by blood or by adoption, and in favor of his spouse not judicially separated from him, in the order provided in and according to the following articles.

Succession and Testament – Succession

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Succession and Testament – Succession

Art. 871. Meaning of succession. Succession is the transmission of the estate of the deceased to his successors. The successors thus have the right to take possession of the estate of the deceased after complying with applicable provisions of law.

Art. 873. Kinds of succession. There are two kinds of succession: testate and intestate.

Art. 874. Testate succession. Testate succession results from the will of the deceased, contained in a testament executed in a form prescribed by law. This kind of succession is covered under the Title: Of donations inter vivos and morris causa.

Art. 875. Intestate succession. Intestate succession results from provisions of law in favor of certain persons, in default of testate successors. Intestate succession is the subject of the present title.

Art. 872. Meaning of estate.The estate of a deceased means the property, rights, and obligations that a person leaves after his death, whether the property exceeds the charges or the charges exceed the property, or whether he has only left charges without any property. The estate includes not only the rights and obligations of the deceased as they exist at the time of death, but all that has accrued thereto since death, and the new charges to which it becomes subject.

Art. 876. Kinds of successors. There are two kinds of successors corresponding to the two kinds of succession· described in the preceding articles: Testate successors, also called legatees. Intestate successors, also called heirs.

Titled Movable Transactions – The office of motor vehicles

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Titled Movable Transactions – The office of motor vehicles

R.S. 32:730. Alteration and forgery; false name, address, or statement; other fraud. Whoever alters or forges any certificate of title to a vehicle, or any endorsement or sale and assignment thereof, or resale or reassignment thereof, or any cancellation of any chattel mortgage on a vehicle is guilty of forgery and punishable as provided by law. Whoever holds or uses such certificate or endorsement of sale and assignment or cancellation knowing the same to have been altered or forged; or whoever uses a false or fictitious name or gives a false or fictitious address or makes any false statement in any application or affidavit required under the provisions of this Chapter, or in a bill of sale or sworn statement of ownership or otherwise commits a fraud in any application, shall, upon conviction thereof be punished by imprisonment not exceeding four years, or by fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, or both, in the discretion of the court.

Titled Movable Transactions

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Titled Movable Transactions

R.S. 32:705. Delivery of certificate to purchaser of vehicle. A. No person shall sell a vehicle without delivery to the purchaser thereof, whether such purchaser be a dealer or otherwise, a certificate of title issued under this Chapter in the name of the seller with such signed endorsement of sale and assignment thereon as may be necessary to show title in the purchaser;

Property Descriptions – Boundaries

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Property Descriptions – Boundaries

Art. 784. Boundary; marker. A boundary is the line of separation between contiguous lands. A boundary marker is a natural or artificial object that marks on the ground the line of separation of contiguous lands.

Art. 785. Fixing of the boundary. The fixing of the boundary may involve determination of the line of separation between contiguous lands, if it is uncertain or disputed; it may also involve the placement of markers on the ground, if markers were never placed, were wrongly placed, or are no longer to be seen. The boundary is fixed in accordance with the following rules.

Art. 786. Persons who may compel fixing of boundary. The boundary may be fixed upon the demand of an owner or of one who possesses as owner. It may also be fixed upon the demand of a usufructuary but it is not binding upon the naked owner unless he has been made a party to the proceeding.

Art. 788. Imprescriptibility of the right. The right to compel the fixing of the boundary between contiguous lands is imprescriptible.

Art. 789. Fixing of boundary judicially or extrajudicially. The boundary may be fixed judicially or extrajudicially. It is fixed extrajudicially when the parties, by written agreement, determine the line of separation between their lands with or without reference to markers on the ground.

Art. 790. Costs. When the boundary is fixed extrajudicially costs are divided equally between the adjoining owners in the absence of contrary agreement. When the boundary is fixed judicially court costs are taxed in accordance with the rules of the Code of Civil Procedure. Expenses of litigation not taxed as court costs are borne by the person who has incurred them.

Art. 795. Effect of boundary agreement. When the boundary is fixed extrajudicially, the agreement of the parties has the effect of a compromise.