Louisiana: Inheritance Disclaimer and Renunciation Requirements

Requirements one by one

Governing law and covered interests

Louisiana does not use a Uniform Disclaimer of Property Interests Act for this
task. Civil Code articles 947 through 967 govern acceptance and renunciation of
succession rights. A succession transmits the deceased's estate and is
either testate or intestate; testate successors are legatees and intestate
successors are heirs.

That is narrower than a general property-interest disclaimer act. The surveyed
articles do not create a delivery matrix for interests arising outside the
deceased's estate through living trusts, beneficiary designations, or
survivorship arrangements. This cell therefore reports the Louisiana
succession-renunciation route without extending it to those nonprobate assets.

Whole, partial, and conditional disclaimer

A successor is not required to accept every succession right. Article 947
allows acceptance of some rights and renunciation of others. A person receiving
rights by accretion may also accept or renounce all or part of that accretion,
independently of the person's choice about other succession rights.

A legacy subject to a suspensive condition may be renounced before or after
the condition is fulfilled. But a “donative” renunciation that causes the
rights to pass differently from Louisiana law or the testament is treated as
acceptance to that extent. The successor cannot use renunciation to select a
new recipient.

Writing or record and required contents

Article 963 states the complete specific form rule: renunciation must be
express and in writing. The surveyed articles do not add a property
description, declaration of extent, original, copy, legal description, or tax
statement. They do not define an electronic record.

The current articles also do not expressly require the writing to be signed.

Signature, witnesses, acknowledgment, and notary

The current succession-renunciation articles state no signature, witness,
acknowledgment, oath, notary, attestation, or electronic-authentication
requirement. Those formalities may be used in practice, but they are not part
of Article 963's stated minimum.

State deadline, irrevocability, and federal-tax overlay

Louisiana's current articles state no fixed period for renunciation. They do
set threshold events:

• The decedent must have died; an earlier renunciation is absolutely null.
• The successor must know of the death and know that succession rights exist.
  Knowledge of their extent or of the precise family relationship is not
  required.
• Without a renunciation, the successor is presumed to accept. For good cause,
  the successor may be compelled to accept or renounce.

Current Civil Code art. 935 does not supply a 30-year period. It says that
universal successors acquire estate ownership and particular successors acquire
the things bequeathed immediately at death.

The surveyed articles state no general point at which a renunciation becomes
irrevocable. Federal tax qualification is separate: 26 U.S.C. § 2518(b)
requires a written refusal received within nine months after the later of the
transfer or age 21, no prior acceptance, and passage without the successor's
direction.

Delivery, filing, and recipient

The Civil Code provisions require an express writing but do not prescribe a
recipient, personal or mail delivery method, receipt rule, succession-court
filing office, or deadline event based on filing or delivery.

Filing a renunciation in an opened succession may document it for the court
and other parties. The current articles do not make that filing part of Article
963's stated validity minimum.

Real-property recording and notice

The surveyed articles contain no parish conveyance-record or mortgage-record
procedure for a renunciation involving immovable property. They state no legal-
description, constructive-notice, purchaser, lienholder, or nonrecording
consequence.

Acceptance, transfer, insolvency, and creditor bars

Acceptance can be formal or informal. Express written acceptance or assuming
the role of successor in a judicial proceeding is formal acceptance. Another
act that clearly implies intent to accept can be informal acceptance.

An ownership act that only a successor could perform implies acceptance. A
merely administrative, custodial, or preservative act does not. An act involving
property the person does not know belongs to the estate also does not imply
acceptance. A renunciation that directs the rights away from the destination
provided by law or the testament is itself deemed acceptance to that extent.

Louisiana adds a creditor override rather than a categorical insolvency bar. A
creditor prejudiced by the renunciation may obtain judicial authorization to
accept in the successor's name. The court may annul the renunciation in the
creditor's favor to the extent of the claim, while it remains effective against
the successor.

Effective date and destination

To the extent succession rights are renounced, the successor is considered
never to have had them. In an intestate succession, the rights accrete to the
people who would have taken had the successor predeceased the decedent.

In a testate succession, a governing testamentary disposition controls. If
there is none, the rights accrete as if the legatee had predeceased the
decedent. A recipient of the accretion may separately accept or renounce all or
part of it.

What trips people up

Current Article 935 has no 30-year renunciation clock. It governs immediate
ownership at death. The current acceptance-and-renunciation articles state no
fixed state period.

Court filing and notarization are not in Article 963's minimum. The current
text says express and written. It does not add filing, signature, witnesses, or
a notary.

A directed renunciation is acceptance. If the successor tries to change
who receives the rights instead of allowing the testament or law to control,
Article 960 treats the act as acceptance to that extent.

Common questions

Does Louisiana require two witnesses and a notary?

Not under the current surveyed Civil Code articles. Article 963 requires an
express writing and states no witness, acknowledgment, or notary formality.

Can I renounce before the person dies?

No. Article 949 prohibits it, and Article 951 makes a premature renunciation
absolutely null.

Can a creditor challenge the renunciation?

Yes. With judicial authorization, a prejudiced creditor may accept the
succession rights in the successor's name. The renunciation may be annulled for
that creditor up to the claim amount while remaining effective against the
successor.

Statutes and sources

• La. Civ. Code arts. 871 and 873-876 — succession, testate and intestate
  categories, and heirs and legatees. Official current art. 871
  text, accessed 2026-08-01.
• La. Civ. Code arts. 934 and 935 — succession at death and immediate
  acquisition of ownership. Official current art. 935
  text, accessed 2026-08-01.
• La. Civ. Code arts. 947 and 949-954 — separate rights, death and knowledge
  prerequisites, premature nullity, conditional legacy, later testament
  changes, and never-had effect. Official current art. 947
  text, accessed 2026-08-01.
• La. Civ. Code arts. 957-960 and 962-963 — formal and informal acceptance,
  ownership and preservative acts, directed renunciation, presumption, and
  express-writing requirement. Official current art. 963
  text, accessed 2026-08-01.
• La. Civ. Code arts. 964-967 — intestate and testate accretion, later
  acceptance or renunciation, and creditor override. Official current art.
  967 text, accessed
  2026-08-01.
• 26 U.S.C. § 2518(b) — separate federal qualified-disclaimer conditions.
  Official U.S. Code
  text,
  accessed 2026-08-01.