Representation in Louisiana Successions

How Property Is Distributed If All Heirs Are Living

Louisiana law sets out specific rules about what happens to someone's property if they die without a will. Generally, if a person is married and has children, the children and surviving spouse become co-owners of the defendant's share of community property. If the person dies without children, the spouse may inherit all of the community property.

The decedent's separate property usually passes to groups, or classes, of potential heirs in the following order:

• Descendants (children first, or if there are no surviving children, then grandchildren, etc.)
• Parents and siblings
• Surviving spouse
• Ascendants other than parents (such as aunts and uncles)
• More distant relatives

There is often more than one heir in each group, and the heirs at each level share equally in the intestate estate. However, sometimes one of the heirs dies before the person whose estate is being distributed.

When an Heir Predeceases the Person Whose Estate Is Being Settled

Louisiana law creates a "fiction of the law" to put a representative in the place of the heir who died before they could inherit property. This fiction of the law is known as representation.

Representation does not apply to ascendants in a Louisiana succession. For example, Louisiana law allows parents to inherit by intestate succession. However, if the parent predeceases the child whose estate is being settled through intestate succession, the parent's surviving children do not inherit the parent's share as representatives of the parent.

Instead, representation only applies to descendants (children or grandchildren) and collaterals (siblings) of the person who died intestate. If a descendant or collateral dies before the intestate relative, their descendants may inherit through representation.

Here are some examples of how representation works in Louisiana:

• A person had three siblings. When the person died, the person had two living siblings and one predeceased sibling. Louisiana intestate laws allow the person's siblings to inherit property. According to the law of representation, the sibling's share should still be divided into three equal parts. Each surviving sibling inherits one-third of the sibling share. The remaining one-third of the sibling share goes to the deceased sibling's children (or grandchildren). The one-third share that passes through representation should be divided equally among the deceased sibling's children.
• A parent had two children. Child A had two children and child B had two children. Since the parent died without a will, both children have the right to inherit through an intestate succession in equal shares. However, Child A died before the parent, and Child B survived the parent.  In this case, Child B inherits 50% of the children's share, and Child A's children inherit 50% of the children's share in equal amounts. Child B's children do not inherit directly from their grandparent because their parent is still alive at the time of the grandparent's death.

While these rules may seem complicated, they become even more complex in situations where there are half-siblings, children born outside of marriage, or families who disagree on who should be an heir in the Louisiana succession case.

Protect Your Rights During an Intestate Succession

You need to know your rights, so you can ensure that all potential heirs are treated fairly according to Louisiana intestate law. It may be especially difficult to determine who should get what when you are mourning the loss of a loved one and when your relatives disagree about how property should be distributed. 

Our New Orleans succession lawyers are here to help you every step of the way. Each year, we help hundreds of families throughout Louisiana resolve difficult issues cost-efficiently and with as little stress as possible. Learn more about how we may be able to help you by contacting us today.

How Representation Divides Shares When Multiple Heirs Predecease the Decedent

Representation becomes more complex — and more consequential — when several heirs at the same generational level predecease the decedent. Louisiana’s Civil Code (art. 881) requires that the estate be divided by roots (per stirpes), not per capita. Each predeceasing heir’s descendants take collectively what that heir would have taken individually.

A concrete example: Decedent (D) had three children: Alice, Bob, and Carol. Alice is alive. Bob predeceased D and left two children (D’s grandchildren, G1 and G2). Carol predeceased D and left three children (G3, G4, and G5).

• Alice inherits one-third of D’s estate directly.
• G1 and G2 together inherit one-third (Bob’s share), divided equally between them — each inherits one-sixth of D’s estate.
• G3, G4, and G5 together inherit one-third (Carol’s share), divided equally among them — each inherits one-ninth of D’s estate.

Notice the critical point: G3, G4, and G5 do not inherit one-fifth each simply because there are five grandchildren total. They inherit by root — Carol’s branch gets Carol’s one-third, and that one-third is divided among Carol’s descendants. The number of grandchildren in one branch does not affect the inheritance of grandchildren in another branch.

Representation can continue to great-grandchildren: If Bob’s two children (G1 and G2) also predeceased D, their children (D’s great-grandchildren) would inherit Bob’s one-third by representation, continuing the chain. Louisiana law does not limit representation to a fixed number of generations in the direct descendant line.

Representation in the Collateral Line: Nieces, Nephews, and Siblings

Louisiana extends the representation doctrine beyond the direct descendant line to apply in the collateral line as well — specifically, to the children of siblings. This matters when a decedent dies without descendants and the heirs are siblings and siblings’ children.

Example: Decedent died without descendants. Surviving heirs include Sister (alive) and the two children of Brother (who predeceased the decedent). Under representation in the collateral line:

• Sister inherits half of the estate.
• Brother’s two children together inherit the other half (Brother’s share by representation), divided equally between them.

Important limitation: Collateral representation in Louisiana is limited to one degree — only the children of siblings (nieces and nephews) can represent. Grandchildren of a sibling (grandnieces and grandnephews) do NOT represent their predeceased parent in the collateral line. If both Brother and Brother’s child have predeceased the decedent, and Brother’s child left children of their own, those grandnieces and grandnephews would not inherit by representation — that line is excluded.

This limitation distinguishes the collateral line from the direct descendant line, where representation continues indefinitely through the generations.

When Representation Does Not Apply: Common Misconceptions

Representation is an intestate succession doctrine — it governs what happens when someone dies without a will, or when a will is silent on the question. Several important categories fall outside representation’s reach:

• Specific legatees under a will. If a will leaves “my car to my nephew John,” and John dies before the testator, the bequest generally lapses — John’s children do not automatically step in to claim the car by representation. Representation does not apply to testamentary dispositions unless the will specifically provides for substitution or representation. A well-drafted will addresses this explicitly for significant bequests.
• The ascending line. Representation does not operate in the ascending line. Parents do not “represent” deceased grandparents; if a grandparent would have inherited from the decedent but predeceased, the parent does not step into the grandparent’s shoes. The ascending line (parents, grandparents) follows different intestate succession rules.
• Renouncing heirs who choose to renounce. A renouncing heir is treated as having predeceased the decedent for representation purposes — meaning their descendants CAN represent them. However, if the renouncing heir is the only heir in their class and has no descendants, renunciation passes the share to the next class of heirs, not to an imaginary set of descendants.
• Named beneficiaries of non-succession assets. Life insurance policies, retirement accounts, and payable-on-death accounts do not go through succession and are not subject to representation. If a named beneficiary predeceases and there is no contingent beneficiary, these assets typically fall back to the estate — where they become subject to intestate succession rules, which do include representation. The distinction matters: representation applies to what enters the succession, not to what bypasses it.