Assets that pass by beneficiary designation or operation of law — life insurance proceeds, IRA and retirement account balances, annuities, payable-on-death bank accounts, and living trust property — are excluded from the Detailed Descriptive List filed with the Louisiana succession court because those assets transfer outside the succession. Including them is a common error that can unnecessarily complicate the proceeding and confuse the court about the actual probate estate.
A Detailed Descriptive List of Assets and Liabilities is one of the required pleadings that must be filed to open a succession in Louisiana. It accompanies the Petition for Possession, the Affidavit of Death, Domicile, and Heirship, and the Judgment of Possession.
The Descriptive List must include all assets the decedent owned at the time of death and — at the succession lawyer’s discretion — any debts.
Things to Keep Off the Detailed Descriptive List
Some property passes directly to beneficiaries outside of the succession process. Because this property is not part of the succession case, it does not belong on the Descriptive List filed with the court. Including non-succession assets can cause confusion about what the estate owns and complicate the proceeding unnecessarily.
Examples of property that generally does not need to be on the Descriptive List include:
- Life insurance policies — unless the estate itself is the named beneficiary
- Annuities with a named beneficiary — unless the annuity was acquired during marriage and is part of the couple’s community property
- Retirement or pension plans — unless the estate is the beneficiary
- IRAs and Simplified Employee Pension Plans — unless the non-participant spouse has a community property interest
- United States Savings Bonds
- Bank accounts with co-depositors, if the co-depositor owns the funds
- Property held in a living trust — trust assets pass according to the trust terms, not through the succession
Why Proper Exclusion Matters
Correctly identifying which assets belong on the Descriptive List — and which do not — affects both the succession process and the heirs’ understanding of the estate’s value. Accidentally including a life insurance payout or IRA that passes directly to a named beneficiary may incorrectly inflate the estate’s apparent value and create confusion for creditors and heirs alike.
Conversely, failing to include an asset that does belong on the Descriptive List — such as a brokerage account the decedent owned individually without a named beneficiary — can result in that asset being overlooked, which may require amending the succession documents or opening additional proceedings later.
What Happens With Community Property IRAs?
Louisiana’s community property rules create a specific complication for IRAs. If a married person contributed to an IRA during the marriage using community income, the non-participant spouse may have a community property interest in a portion of the IRA — even though the IRA has a named beneficiary. How this is handled requires careful analysis by a succession attorney familiar with both Louisiana community property law and federal retirement account rules.
You don’t have to guess at what should be included or excluded from the Descriptive List. Contact Scott Law Group — Estate Counsel or call (504) 264-1057 to ensure your succession pleadings are prepared correctly.
This article provides general information about Louisiana succession law and is not legal advice for your specific situation.
Getting the Descriptive List Right the First Time
An incorrectly prepared Detailed Descriptive List causes delays in the succession proceeding and can require amendment proceedings in court. Assets that pass by beneficiary designation outside of succession should stay off the list. Assets the decedent owned individually without a beneficiary designation belong on the list. The distinction matters. Scott Law Group handles succession filings across Louisiana. Call (504) 264-1057 to schedule a consultation and make sure your succession pleadings are accurate from the start.
Assets That Are Not Part of the Louisiana Probate Estate
A Louisiana succession inventory or detailed descriptive list accounts for the decedent’s probate estate — property that passes through the succession proceeding. But a significant portion of most people’s financial assets pass outside the succession entirely and should not appear in the succession inventory. Including non-probate assets in the succession inventory can create confusion, unnecessary creditor exposure, and title complications that are difficult to unwind.
The primary categories of assets that pass outside the succession are: life insurance proceeds paid to a named living beneficiary (not the estate); retirement accounts — IRAs, 401(k), 403(b), and similar plans — with a named living beneficiary; payable-on-death (POD) and transfer-on-death (TOD) bank and brokerage accounts; assets held in trust (revocable or irrevocable trusts); and property where the decedent’s interest terminates at death by contract. All of these pass directly to the designated recipient and are governed by the designation or the trust agreement, not by the will or the succession.
Social Security benefits, pension survivor annuities, and similar government benefits also are not probate assets. They pass to defined beneficiaries or surviving family members by operation of federal or state law and require claims filed with the administering agency, not with the probate court. Similarly, employer-provided group life insurance pays directly to the named beneficiary through the insurer, entirely independent of the succession.
What Must Be Included in the Detailed Descriptive List
The detailed descriptive list — required in Louisiana successions in lieu of a formal inventory in most uncontested proceedings — must identify all assets of the decedent’s probate estate. For a married decedent, this means the decedent’s half of community property (the surviving spouse’s half of community property is separately acknowledged as already belonging to the surviving spouse and is not a succession asset). The decedent’s separate property is included in full, as it belongs entirely to the decedent’s estate.
Real estate titled solely in the decedent’s name, bank accounts with no beneficiary designation, investment accounts held individually, vehicles titled in the decedent’s name alone, and business interests without succession-related ownership agreements (buy-sell agreements, transfer restrictions) are all probate assets that belong in the detailed descriptive list. Receivables — money owed to the decedent — are also estate assets, including refunds, lawsuit settlements, and claims that were pending at the time of death.
Life insurance where the estate is the named beneficiary — rather than a specific person — does pass through the succession and belongs in the detailed descriptive list. The same is true for a retirement account where the estate is named as beneficiary or where no beneficiary was ever designated and the plan documents direct proceeds to the estate by default. This is one reason beneficiary designations on all financial accounts should be reviewed and updated regularly — an account without a designated beneficiary can end up in the succession when the owner intended it to pass directly.
Why Getting the Exclusions Right Protects the Estate
Accuracy in the detailed descriptive list matters for several practical reasons. Louisiana succession creditors can make claims against the probate estate — the assets listed in the succession inventory. If non-probate assets are mistakenly included in the succession inventory, they are potentially exposed to creditors who might otherwise have no access to them. This is particularly true for life insurance and retirement account assets: these funds are generally protected from creditors when they pass directly to a named beneficiary but lose that protection if they are swept into the probate estate.
Title company scrutiny is another reason for precision. When heirs sell inherited property, the title company reviews the Judgment of Possession and the detailed descriptive list. A list that includes assets the decedent did not actually own at death, or that omits assets they did own, raises questions that can delay or derail a real estate closing. Buyers’ attorneys will ask about discrepancies, and resolving them requires additional legal proceedings and expense.
For the executor personally, accurate inventories provide legal protection. An executor who certifies a detailed descriptive list to the court is attesting to the accuracy of the information. Omitting known assets — even inadvertently — exposes the executor to claims from heirs who should have received a share of those assets. Including assets that do not belong in the estate can create liability to the beneficiaries who were entitled to receive them directly. Taking the time to correctly identify and classify every asset before the list is filed with the court is among the most important steps in the succession administration process.