Transfer-on-Death Deed Requirements in Louisiana
At a glance
| Governing law | No transfer-on-death or beneficiary deed. Louisiana is a civil-law jurisdiction and did not adopt the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act. The controlling rule is La. Civ. Code art. 1570: a 'disposition mortis causa' (a transfer effective at death) 'may be made only in the form of a testament authorized by law.' A deed is not a testament, so it cannot make a death-effective transfer of real property |
|---|---|
| TOD deed available? | Not available. A 'beneficiary deed' or TOD deed signed by a Louisiana owner does not transfer real estate — a death-effective gift must be a testament (art. 1570), and at death the decedent's successors acquire the estate through a court succession (art. 935). To avoid succession on a home, Louisiana owners use a revocable (living) trust or a donation inter vivos with the donor reserving a usufruct (naked-ownership donation) |
| How to sign it | N/A There is no real-property TOD deed to execute. A death-effective transfer of Louisiana real estate must instead be made in a valid will (testament) under art. 1570; a lifetime gift of immovable property is made by notarial act (authentic act), not a recordable TOD deed |
| Recording requirement | N/A No TOD deed. A will is not recorded during life; it operates only through a succession opened after death. A notarial donation or a transfer into a trust is recorded in the parish conveyance records like any act affecting immovable property |
| Revoking it | N/A A will is revocable until death by its own rules, and a trust is revocable by its terms, but a donation inter vivos is generally irrevocable once made. There is no recorded real-property TOD instrument to revoke |
| Eligible property & owner | N/A for real property. Louisiana has no TOD/beneficiary deed for any immovable property or owner. (Louisiana does allow transfer-on-death / payable-on-death designations for securities and bank accounts, which are separate mechanisms outside this survey.) |
| Beneficiary survival & effect | N/A No TOD deed. Real property passes to heirs or legatees through succession: 'Immediately at the death of the decedent, universal successors acquire ownership of the estate' (art. 935), subject to Louisiana's forced-heirship rules. There is no TOD-deed survival or anti-lapse rule for real estate |
| Creditor & Medicaid reach | N/A for a TOD deed. Property passing through succession remains subject to the decedent's debts and to Louisiana's Medicaid estate-recovery claim; a trust or a usufruct donation carries its own creditor and Medicaid treatment outside this survey |
Louisiana does not allow a transfer-on-death deed — sometimes called a "beneficiary deed" — for real estate. Louisiana is a civil-law state (its private law comes from the Civil Code, not the common law most states share), and it did not adopt the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act that gives other states a TOD deed. A "beneficiary deed" signed by a Louisiana owner simply does not transfer a house.
The reason is a bedrock Civil Code rule. A transfer that takes effect at death — a "disposition mortis causa" — "may be made only in the form of a testament authorized by law" (La. Civ. Code art. 1570). A testament is a will. A deed is not a will, so it cannot do the job a TOD deed does elsewhere. When you die, ownership passes to your heirs or legatees through a succession — "Immediately at the death of the decedent, universal successors acquire ownership of the estate" (art. 935) — which is Louisiana's court-supervised version of probate.
How Louisianans keep a home out of succession instead
Because there is no TOD deed, the practical options are:
- A revocable living trust. You create a Louisiana trust and transfer your home into it during life. You keep control, and at death the successor trustee handles the property under the trust's terms, outside succession. This is the closest functional substitute for a TOD deed.
- A donation inter vivos with a reserved usufruct. You donate the "naked ownership" of the home to your intended heir now (by notarial act) while keeping the usufruct — the right to live in and use the property for life. At your death the usufruct ends and the donee owns the property outright. The trade-off: it is a present, generally irrevocable gift, not something you can freely undo like a TOD deed.
- A will (testament). A will controls who inherits, but it does not avoid succession — the estate still passes through the court process, subject to Louisiana's forced-heirship rules that can guarantee a share to certain children.
For accounts, Louisiana does allow payable-on-death and transfer-on-death designations on bank accounts and securities — but those are separate mechanisms and do not reach real estate.
What trips people up
- A "beneficiary deed" is legally empty here. Under art. 1570, only a testament can transfer property at death. Recording a TOD or beneficiary deed does nothing to pass your house.
- A donation with reserved usufruct is not revocable like a TOD deed. It gets the home out of succession, but you are making a real gift now — you cannot simply tear it up later the way you could revoke a TOD deed in another state.
- Forced heirship can override your plan. Even with a will or trust, Louisiana law may reserve a portion of your estate for forced heirs (generally children under 24 or with a qualifying disability). This is unique to Louisiana and worth planning around with a lawyer.
Common questions
I found a "Louisiana transfer-on-death deed" form online. Will it work? No. Those forms are sold nationwide, but Louisiana's Civil Code requires a death transfer to be made by testament (art. 1570). Recording a beneficiary deed will not pass your house; it will still go through succession or by your will.
Louisiana lets me name a beneficiary on my brokerage account — why not my house? Because those account designations are contract- and securities-based mechanisms the legislature allowed separately. Real estate is governed by the Civil Code's rule that death transfers happen only by testament.
What is the simplest way to avoid succession on my home in Louisiana? For many people it is a revocable living trust with the home transferred into it, or a donation with a reserved usufruct if a permanent lifetime gift fits the plan. A Louisiana attorney can weigh these against forced heirship, Medicaid, and your goals.
Statutes and sources
- La. Civ. Code art. 1570 (a disposition mortis causa may be made only by testament) — https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=108895 (accessed 2026-07-11)
- La. Civ. Code art. 935 (ownership passes to successors immediately at death, through succession) — https://law.justia.com/codes/louisiana/civil-code/article-935/ (accessed 2026-07-11)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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