Successions

GAUDIN LAW GROUP wants to clarify the legal process that affects a person’s things, and his family, after death. First, let’s explain some basic concepts and terms.

You may have heard the word Succession or Probate in the context of someone’s death. “Succession” means many people or things following one after the other. That general definition identifies the concept of estate succession well. A person dies and leaves stuff on earth (you can’t take it with you) and this legal process is a just way to give that stuff to future generations. The Court formally acknowledges the right to keep this stuff so people interested in receiving this stuff don’t shoot at each other in the streets at High Noon.

Generally, when a person dies, his successors immediately inherit (= acquire) the property he owned. Even though the inheritance is immediate, our laws postpone taking possession of the property until payment of this person’s debts, if any. Afterwards, the deceased’s “successors” inherit the remaining assets. A successor is the generic legal name for people who will inherit someone’s assets or property. An heir (pronounced like “air”) is a successor who inherits according to laws that regulate the process IF a deceased did not sign a Last Will & Testament. A Legatee (pronounced like “leg-ah-tee”) is the legal name applied to a successor who inherits according to the deceased’s Last Will & Testament.

An estate is a name given to a person’s collective assets and debts–all his rights, interests, and obligations. This is what is being referred to when you hear about estate planning! Hopefully, a person engaged in some level of basic estate planning before he dies and his estate succeeds to his successors.
You may think of this process as the probate process; used generally, probate has become synonymous for the process of succession of an estate to successors. Technically, probate refers to proving someone’s Last Will & Testament is not a forgery or was valid on the date of death. But over time, words like probate, or estate settlement, or succession have become to represent the same concept.

It’s common to hear others talk fearfully about how the probate process costs too much, takes too long, or is not necessary.

It Costs Too Much?

A succession case has the potential to costs a lot in fees and related expenses just like any other legal case IF the circumstances are complicated and the goals are hard to achieve. Whether people get along with each other affects the projected budget. A successor must occasionally advance money to initially pay for fees and expenses to get started. At some point, if the deceased acquired assets (i.e., property), those assets can be used to reimburse the person who advanced the deposit. If the circumstances are generally clear cut and simple, and no one is fighting, then the total cost of the project should be two to three thousand. And the assets of the deceased will pay for it. In other more tricky and contentious cases, Gaudin Law Group breaks down the project into individual phases and gives the client an educated estimate of the fees and expenses for each phase. Whether the estimates are worth paying or not is a topic of conversation with your trusted attorney. He will help you decide and make a wise decision.

It Takes Too Long?

Whether the process is over “quickly” (as in a few weeks) depends on whether circumstances are complicated and the goals hard to achieve. Once completed documents are provided to the Court for approval, a reasonable expectation for a reply from the Court is two weeks, give or take. If there is an issue that cannot be decided by one side only, then a “hearing” in Court is required and the Court may schedule that hearing in 30-45 days. If there are successors who live all over the country, or have unresolved differences which create conflict, or there’s a business to wind-down, or there’s property to sell and the market is slow, the process may drag on. However, your attorney should be working to push the project forward as best as possible by communicating and doing lots of little things to chip-away at the to dos.

It’s Not Necessary?

Whether to engage the Court immediately after someone’s death is debatable, and for many families, its best to wait a little while for the grieving process unfold. Nevertheless, a succession is inevitable because our current business and societal systems require it. We have heard about, and worked with, families who waited for generations to request their inheritance rights be formally recognized or acknowledged through the Louisiana succession process. Waiting generations is not recommended! What initially could have been a small and straight forward process would then become a complex project. But a complex project was then necessary because the remaining successors could not use the property for commerce (i.e., sell it or use the equity as collateral for a loan) because they did not have papers that proved it was their property through inheritance.