Louisiana Trust Planning Guide

Quick tax summary for 2026

Item	Louisiana
State estate tax	None
State inheritance tax	None (repealed 2008)
Federal estate tax threshold	$13.61M per person
State income tax on trust income	Graduated; max 4.25%

Why Louisiana is different

Louisiana follows civil law (based on French and Spanish legal traditions), not the common law that applies in every other state. This affects trust planning in several important ways:

Forced heirship: Louisiana's constitution gives children under 24, or children who are permanently incapacitated, a mandatory right to a portion of your estate regardless of your will or trust. You cannot fully disinherit these heirs.
Community property: Property acquired during marriage belongs equally to both spouses. A trust must account for the community vs. separate property distinction.
Usufruct: Louisiana law allows a surviving spouse to receive a usufruct (lifetime use) of community property, with naked ownership passing to children. This is the default — a trust can alter it.

Trusts established under Louisiana law should be drafted by an attorney familiar with Louisiana's Civil Code. Trusts from other states may not be fully recognized or may require adaptation.

Practical planning moves

Probate in Louisiana:

Louisiana's equivalent of probate is called a "succession." For small estates under $125,000 with no real estate in dispute, a Small Succession Affidavit may be available.
Full succession proceedings are filed in district court and can take 6–18 months.
A funded trust avoids the succession process for trust-held assets.

Community property and trust funding:

Both spouses must typically consent to transfer community property into a trust. A marital deduction trust (A-B trust) or community property trust can address the co-ownership issue.
Separate property (acquired before marriage or by gift/inheritance) can be transferred to a trust by the owning spouse alone.

Property tax:

Louisiana's homestead exemption shields the first $75,000 of a primary residence's assessed value from state and local property taxes. It is automatically renewed and not annual.
Age-freeze provisions lock in the assessed value for qualifying seniors — check with your parish assessor.

Medicaid estate recovery:

Louisiana Department of Health pursues recovery against the succession (probate) estate. Assets in a funded trust are generally not subject to recovery.
A Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT) requires a 5-year look-back and must comply with Louisiana's forced heirship rules.

Heirs' property:

Louisiana adopted the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act in 2018. Heirs' property is a significant issue in rural parishes, particularly in the areas settled by Black freedmen after Reconstruction.
Title curative actions in Louisiana are filed in district court. The Acadiana Legal Service Corporation serves low-income clients in southern Louisiana.

Source notes