Louisiana: Living-Trust Trustee Deed Requirements

Requirements one by one

Louisiana starts with the trust instrument, then supplies a sale default

La. R.S. § 9:2061 makes the trust instrument the primary source of duties and
powers. La. R.S. § 9:2111 adds powers conferred by the instrument and those necessary
or appropriate to carry out the trust's purposes when they are not forbidden.

The sale rule is unusually direct. Under § 9:2119, a trustee may sell unless the
instrument forbids the sale “in specific words” or shows that the property must be
retained in kind. For a distribution rather than a sale, § 9:2131 permits full
ownership or undivided interests and pro rata or non-pro-rata allocation after the
trustee accounts for value and tax attributes.

Trustee count changes who must act

Two trustees exercising the same conveyance power must act together under § 9:2113,
unless the instrument or a court order provides otherwise. With three or more,
§ 9:2114 permits majority action unless the trust changes the rule. A dissenting
trustee can use the statute's written-dissent protection but still must try to
prevent a breach.

Louisiana also lets the instrument allocate different powers to different trustees.
Under § 9:2114.1, each trustee acts independently within the powers assigned to that
trustee. That is different from simply letting one of two equal-power trustees sign
alone.

Section 9:2087 permits a narrow closing delegation. A trustee-approved power of
attorney may authorize a mandatary to alienate specifically described property on
specific terms as a ministerial act; it does not transfer the trustee's underlying
decision-making duty.

A sale power does not authorize self-dealing

An ordinary arm's-length sale under § 9:2119 does not carry a universal court-order
requirement. But §§ 9:2082 and 9:2085 keep loyalty and conflict rules separate from
transaction power. A direct or indirect sale between the trust and an individual
trustee, specified related person or business associate, a corporate trustee or
affiliate, or another trust administered by the same trustee needs the authorization
described in § 9:2085: trust-instrument permission or specific court authorization
after a contradictory hearing.

Section 9:2233 also permits the trustee, settlor, or beneficiary to seek instructions.
An ordinary or summary order supplies authority and protection within its terms; an
ex parte order protects a relying third person but does not erase the trustee's
possible liability to a settlor or beneficiary.

The transfer uses Louisiana's two Civil Code forms

Civil Code art. 1839 requires an immovable transfer by authentic act or act under
private signature. An authentic act is signed before a notary or authorized officer
and two witnesses, with each signer’s typed or hand-printed name beneath the
signature under art. 1833.

Article 1836 supplies the proof route for a private act. When a party acknowledges
the signature before a court, notary, or authorized officer in the presence of two
witnesses, the act is prima facie genuine and admissible without further proof. The
two forms should not be collapsed into a claim that every trustee transfer can use
only an authentic act.

Capacity wording identifies the titled fiduciary and the contract

Louisiana places title in the trustee. Section 9:1781 defines a trustee as the person
to whom trust-property title is transferred for fiduciary administration. The
outbound act therefore identifies and is signed by the titled trustee in that
capacity, not by the trust as though it were the record-title person.

La. R.S. § 9:2125 adds a contract-liability reason to identify the capacity precisely.
“Trustee” or “as trustee,” together with language identifying the trust after the
signature, is prima facie evidence of intent to exclude personal contract liability.
The statute does not make the title alone a blanket immunity from every possible
claim.

The extract is a mandatory land-record route, not a general certification

When trust property includes an immovable, § 9:2092 requires the trust instrument,
a compliant extract, or a clerk-certified copy to be recorded in every parish where
the property lies. If the trust instrument itself contains the transfer, the full
instrument must be recorded.

The settlor or trustee may execute an extract. It identifies the trust and whether it
is revocable, every settlor and trustee, the beneficiaries, the execution date, and
every trust limitation on alienating, leasing, or encumbering immovables. The statute
expressly permits the filing without a property description.

Recordation controls effect against third persons

Civil Code arts. 1839 and 3338 make the transfer ineffective against third persons
until the instrument is filed in the appropriate parish records. Section 9:2092 adds
a trust-specific consequence: an immovable-power limit omitted from the recorded
extract is ineffective against third persons, and a substantially compliant recorded
extract can shield them from a claim based on an inter vivos trust's form defect.

Recording is not a validity certificate. Article 3341 says recordation creates no
presumption of validity, genuineness, capacity, or status. Article 3342 separately
prevents a party to the recorded instrument from contradicting it to the prejudice of
a later third person who acquires an interest after recordation.

In each parish a clerk of the district court shall be elected; article V, § 28 makes
that clerk the parish recorder. La. R.S. § 9:2721 also requires the
filed conveyance to name the person responsible for property taxes and give the
mailing address for tax and assessment notices.

What trips people up

• Two trustees are not a majority-of-two rule. Section 9:2113 requires both
  equal-power trustees unless the trust or a court changes the result. The majority
  default begins with three or more trustees under § 9:2114.
• The recorded extract must disclose power limits, not the parcel. Section
  9:2092 requires every restriction on alienation, lease, or encumbrance, while
  expressly allowing an extract without a property description.
• The deed form and trust filing are separate. An authentic act can satisfy the
  transfer form while a missing trust instrument or extract still defeats the
  special recordation route.
• Capacity wording is evidence, not complete immunity. Section 9:2125 makes
  trustee-and-trust identification prima facie evidence about contractual intent;
  it does not promise that fiduciary, title, fraud, or known-authority issues vanish.

Common questions

May one of two trustees sign alone?

Not under the default rule for a shared power. Section 9:2113 requires both, unless
the trust instrument or a proper court order says otherwise. A different result can
also follow when the trust separately allocates the conveyance power to one trustee
under § 9:2114.1.

Is court approval required for an ordinary sale?

Section 9:2119 itself authorizes the sale when the trust does not specifically forbid
it or require retention in kind. Court authorization becomes important for the
self-dealing transactions described in § 9:2085 or when a party seeks instructions
under § 9:2233.

Must the full trust be placed in the land records?

Usually a compliant extract or clerk-certified copy can satisfy § 9:2092. The full
trust instrument is required when that instrument itself contains the transfer of the
immovable.

Does recording prove that the trustee had authority?

No. Article 3341 says recording creates no presumption about validity, genuineness,
capacity, or status. Section 9:2092 does give third-person consequences to a compliant
extract, especially for disclosed or omitted immovable-power restrictions, but it does
not create authority the trust withholds.

Statutes and sources

• La. R.S. §§ 9:1781, 9:2061, 9:2111, 9:2119, and 9:2131 — trustee title,
  trust-instrument control, necessary powers, sale default, and in-kind distribution.
  Louisiana Legislature (accessed
  2026-08-13).
• La. R.S. §§ 9:2087 and 9:2113-2114.1 — specific-property ministerial
  delegation, two-trustee joint action, three-or-more majority, and separately
  allocated powers. Louisiana Legislature
  (accessed 2026-08-13).
• La. R.S. §§ 9:2082, 9:2085, and 9:2233 — beneficiary-interest duty,
  self-dealing restrictions, court authorization, and instructions. Louisiana
  Legislature (accessed 2026-08-13).
• La. Civ. Code arts. 1833, 1836, and 1839 — authentic act, acknowledged private
  act, immovable-transfer form, and registry effect. Louisiana
  Legislature (accessed 2026-08-13).
• La. R.S. §§ 9:2092 and 9:2125 — mandatory trust instrument or extract,
  third-person consequences, and representative-capacity contract wording.
  Louisiana Legislature (accessed
  2026-08-13).
• La. Civ. Code arts. 3338 and 3341-3342; La. R.S. § 9:2721; La. Const. art. V,
  § 28 — parish registry, limits of recordation, tax-notice fields, and recorder.
  Louisiana Legislature (accessed
  2026-08-13).