How to Sell an Inherited House in Louisiana (Succession)

The lawyer’s letter came in the mail, or a family member called with the news, and now the house is yours. Or partly yours. Or you’re not entirely sure yet. If you’ve inherited a house in Louisiana, or you’re one of several heirs to a property, you’re stepping into something the rest of the country does differently. Louisiana is the only state that runs on succession instead of probate, and the rules are their own animal.

Take a breath. You have more options than the process makes it feel like, and you can sell an inherited Louisiana house even while the succession is still open. This is a guide to how that actually works, written for the person who never planned to be dealing with any of this.

At Bertucci Investment Group, we’ve bought inherited houses across Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida from heirs who lived in the state, heirs who lived across the country, and heirs who barely knew each other. We buy in any condition, on your timeline, and we know how to work with succession attorneys to close cleanly.

What Louisiana Succession Actually Is

Every other state calls it probate. Louisiana calls it succession, and the difference is not just the name. Louisiana’s inheritance law is rooted in the French and Spanish civil law tradition, which is why the rules read differently from anything you might have seen in Texas or Mississippi or Georgia. The core framework lives in the Louisiana Civil Code, Book III, Title I, articles 871 through 1466, and it governs everything from who inherits to how the property changes hands.

Succession is the legal process of transferring a deceased person’s assets, including any real estate, to their heirs or legatees. In Louisiana it opens at the moment of death and continues through court until the property is formally distributed and the succession is closed. Depending on the estate, that can take a few months or well over a year.

Here’s the thing most heirs don’t realize: the house is legally yours (or partly yours) from the day the person died. Succession is the paperwork that makes it official and clears the title so the property can be sold or transferred cleanly. Until the succession is opened and worked through the parish court, you can’t put the house on the MLS with a title company willing to insure the deal. But you can start the process, you can talk to buyers, and in many cases you can sell during succession, not just after.

Testate vs. Intestate: Did They Leave a Will?

The first split is whether the person who died left a valid will.

Testate succession means there is a will. The will names heirs and legatees, and the succession court works from that document to distribute assets. Louisiana has strict rules about what makes a will valid, especially for the notarial and olographic forms, so the first job of the succession attorney is usually to confirm the will meets Louisiana requirements.

Intestate succession means there is no will, or the will was found invalid. In that case, Louisiana Civil Code sets the order of who inherits. Descendants come first, then parents and siblings, then more distant relatives. A surviving spouse has usufruct rights over community property under specific rules, and separate property follows its own path. If you inherited a house without a will, an attorney can map exactly who the heirs are and in what shares.

Either way, the succession has to be opened in the parish where the deceased was domiciled. That’s usually the parish they lived in, not the parish where the property is located, unless those happen to be the same.

Forced Heirship: The Louisiana Wrinkle

Louisiana is the only state in the country with forced heirship. Under Civil Code articles 1493 through 1495, certain children of the deceased cannot be disinherited except for specific legally-recognized reasons. Forced heirs are children who were 23 or younger at the time of death, or children of any age who are permanently incapable of caring for themselves due to mental or physical disability.

Even a valid will can’t cut a forced heir out entirely. They’re entitled to a legitime, a reserved portion of the estate, calculated as a percentage of the total assets depending on how many forced heirs exist.

Practically, this means that if your late parent left the house to you and you have a younger sibling who was 22 when the parent died, that sibling is a forced heir with a legal claim on part of the estate. The succession attorney handles the math, but the outcome affects who has to sign off on a sale.

Can You Sell an Inherited Louisiana House Before Succession Closes?

Yes, more often than heirs realize. It depends on how the succession is structured and how far along the process is, but selling during an open succession is a normal part of Louisiana real estate.

Here are the common scenarios.

Independent Administration

If the will authorizes it, or if all heirs agree and the court approves, the succession can be handled under independent administration. This is faster and cheaper than the fully court-supervised version. An independent administrator has broad authority to manage estate assets, including selling real estate, without asking the court for permission on each individual transaction.

Under independent administration, an inherited house can be listed and sold on a relatively normal timeline. The administrator signs the act of sale on behalf of the estate, the sale proceeds go into the estate, and the money is distributed to heirs at the end of the succession.

All Heirs Agreed

When all heirs are known, identified, and in agreement about selling, the succession attorney can put the parties in a position to sign a valid act of sale even mid-succession. In Louisiana this often takes the form of a judgment of possession being pushed through faster, or all heirs signing the sale together as owners once the succession has been formally opened and the parties recognized.

This works especially well for a cash buyer who can close in a couple of weeks with the title company handling the succession-specific paperwork. Traditional buyers with bank financing often can’t wait for the succession timing to line up.

The Judgment of Possession

The cleanest path is a judgment of possession, which is the court order that formally recognizes the heirs and vests the property in them. Once the judgment of possession is entered, the heirs own the property directly and can sell it like any other real estate. For simple successions with no debts, no forced heirs contesting, and all heirs cooperating, a judgment of possession can be entered relatively quickly.

Selling after the judgment of possession is the smoothest version of an inherited-house sale in Louisiana. If your succession is close to that point, waiting a few weeks may be worth it for the cleaner transaction.

What If You’re One of Several Heirs?

Most inherited Louisiana houses aren’t inherited by one person. They’re inherited by two, three, or four siblings, or by a mix of children and grandchildren of a deceased sibling. That’s when things get complicated.

Under Louisiana law, each heir owns their share in indivision, which means everyone owns an undivided interest in the whole house rather than a specific room or portion. Nobody can force the others to sell without going to court under a partition action, but every heir’s signature is required to sell voluntarily.

Here’s how it usually plays out when we buy an inherited house from multiple heirs:

One heir contacts us, usually the one who’s been handling the paperwork.
We ask who the other heirs are and confirm everyone is on the same page.
We make an offer that reflects the property’s condition and the closing timeline.
The succession attorney and title company work together to prepare the act of sale for all heirs to sign.
At closing, the sale proceeds are distributed according to each heir’s share, either directly to each person or through the estate depending on where the succession is in its process.

When one heir wants to sell and others don’t, we don’t get involved. That’s a family decision that needs to be worked out privately or, if it can’t be, through a partition action in court. But when the heirs agree, we’re a straightforward buyer who understands the mechanics.

Out-of-State Heirs Selling a Louisiana House

This is one of the most common calls we get. A parent died in Metairie, Kenner, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, or a small town somewhere in the state. The kids all moved away years ago. Now someone has to deal with the house from Dallas, Atlanta, Los Angeles, or across the country.

Out-of-state heirs face a few extra layers of friction:

You still have to open succession in Louisiana. The state where you live doesn’t have jurisdiction over Louisiana real estate. You’ll need a Louisiana succession attorney, and the succession runs in the parish where the deceased was domiciled.

You may not be able to travel for the closing. Louisiana requires that acts of sale be signed in front of a notary. If you can’t come to Louisiana, most title companies can arrange for a remote closing where you sign in front of a notary in your own state and the documents are shipped back.

The house is often vacant and accumulating problems. Yard maintenance, utility bills, insurance, potential code enforcement, and the general risk of a vacant Louisiana house sitting through storm season all pile up. Every month the property sits empty is money out and risk in.

You may not know the house’s real condition. If you haven’t been in the property in years, you don’t know what the last decade did to the roof, the plumbing, or the foundation. That’s fine when you’re selling to a cash buyer who’s going to do the diligence and buy as-is. It’s a much bigger problem when you’re trying to list retail from another state.

For out-of-state heirs, selling to a cash buyer is often the cleanest exit. We handle the property visits, work directly with the succession attorney and title company, and coordinate a remote closing so you never have to fly in. We’ve closed with heirs in almost every state, and we know the paperwork.

Curators, Tutors, and Special Situations

A few less-common situations come up in Louisiana successions that can complicate a house sale.

Curatorship applies when an heir is legally interdicted, meaning a court has ruled the person cannot manage their own affairs. A curator is appointed to act on their behalf. If a curator is involved in the succession, the curator has to sign the sale documents for the interdicted person, and the sale usually needs court approval.

Tutorship applies when an heir is a minor. Louisiana law protects minor heirs strictly. A tutor, usually the surviving parent or a court-appointed guardian, manages the minor’s interest, and sales of real estate belonging to minors typically require court approval and sometimes a bond.

Absent heirs are heirs who cannot be located. The succession attorney will follow specific procedures to notify them by publication, and if they can’t be found, the court may appoint an attorney to represent their interest for the duration of the succession.

Any of these can slow a sale down, but none of them stops it. They’re all manageable with the right attorney and the right buyer.

What About Debts, Liens, and Back Taxes on the Property?

Inherited houses often come with baggage. Mortgage balances, unpaid property taxes, code enforcement liens, contractor liens, judgments against the deceased, or even tax sale certificates that were issued during the last months of the person’s life.

All of this gets sorted at closing. The title company runs a title search, identifies every claim on the property, and the sale proceeds are used to pay them off in order of legal priority. Property taxes come first, then mortgages, then most other liens. Whatever’s left after the debts get paid goes to the estate for distribution to the heirs.

You do not have to pay off any of these debts before selling. That’s a common misconception among heirs. If the house is worth more than the total debt, the sale settles everything and puts money in your pocket. If the house is worth less than the debt, that’s a harder conversation, but there are still paths (short sale, deed in lieu, or letting the lender proceed with foreclosure) that can protect the heirs from personal liability.

Louisiana also has an important protection: heirs are generally not personally liable for the deceased’s debts unless they specifically accept the succession with obligations. A properly-structured succession keeps the debts with the estate, not with you.

Do I Need a Lawyer?

For selling an inherited Louisiana house, effectively yes. Louisiana is one of the few states where real estate closings normally happen in front of a notary attorney rather than a title agent, and the succession side of the transaction requires an attorney to open the case, file the pleadings, and get to a judgment of possession.

The good news: a straightforward Louisiana succession attorney’s fee for a simple estate typically runs a few thousand dollars, and it’s paid from the sale proceeds at closing. You don’t need to write a check upfront. If you don’t already have a succession attorney, we can point you to attorneys we’ve worked with who handle these efficiently. More on Louisiana closing attorneys is in our post on whether you need a lawyer to sell a house in Louisiana.

Inherited Houses That Need Real Work

Inherited Louisiana houses often haven’t been touched in years, sometimes decades. Roofs that were fine a decade ago aren’t fine now. HVAC systems that ran through Hurricane Ida haven’t run since. There may be water damage from a leak nobody knew about, code violations from a shed built without a permit, or an interior full of a lifetime’s worth of belongings.

None of this stops a cash sale. We buy in any condition, keep the furniture and belongings you don’t want to take, and handle everything from the moment we close. If the house is a hoarder situation or a house that took storm damage the year before, that’s the kind of property we buy every month.

The alternative, trying to clear it out, fix it up, and list it retail from another state, is expensive and slow. Most out-of-state heirs who go that route regret it. A cash sale trades some upside for certainty and speed, and it’s usually the right trade when nobody in the family wants to become a project manager for a Louisiana renovation from a thousand miles away.

How Bertucci Investment Group Handles Inherited Houses

We’re a Louisiana cash home buyer, and inherited houses are a big part of what we do. Here’s how it usually goes when heirs contact us.

Step 1. Tell us about the situation. Call (504) 920-4747 or fill out the form on our site. We’ll ask about the house, where the succession stands, and who the heirs are. No commitment, no listing agreement.

Step 2. We coordinate with the succession attorney. If the succession is open, we get in touch with the attorney handling it. If the succession hasn’t been opened yet, we can suggest attorneys who handle these efficiently. Either way, we handle the coordination so heirs don’t have to become experts in Louisiana Civil Code.

Step 3. We make a fair cash offer. We buy the house as-is, in whatever condition it’s in, and we account for the succession stage in the offer. You know what you’ll receive at closing before you commit to anything.

Step 4. We close on your timeline. If the succession is far enough along, we can close in a couple of weeks. If the succession still has work to do, we time our closing to when the estate can convey clear title. Either way, we work around your reality, not the other way around.

At closing, the title company pays off any mortgage, tax debt, or liens directly out of the sale proceeds. Heirs receive their share according to the succession, either directly or through the estate. No repairs required, no commissions, no listing hassle, no drawn-out process.

The 325 N Bengal Story

One of our recent purchases in Metairie was Tony Bertucci’s childhood home on 325 North Bengal. His father rented it for about ten years while Tony was growing up. Over the decades, the house deteriorated. Code violations piled up. Tax debt accumulated. The parish wanted it torn down.

BIG bought it in cash, as-is. We did a full top-to-bottom renovation: new roof, new AC, new electrical. We added a bedroom and a bathroom to make it a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom home. We’re keeping it forever. Full circle from a rental Tony’s dad paid for to a house BIG owns permanently.

We’re telling you this because we’re not flippers passing through. We buy Louisiana houses, we renovate them, and we hold them or resell them thoughtfully. If you’re the heir to a house with a story, that story matters to us.

Frequently Asked Questions About Selling an Inherited House in Louisiana

Can I sell an inherited house in Louisiana before succession closes?

Often yes. If the succession is being handled under independent administration, the administrator can sign the sale on behalf of the estate. If the succession has reached a judgment of possession, the heirs own the property directly and can sell it like any other real estate. If the succession is somewhere in the middle and all heirs agree, the succession attorney can usually structure the transaction so that a valid act of sale can be signed mid-succession, especially when the buyer is paying cash and can wait for the paperwork. We work with succession attorneys every month on exactly this timing.

What if I’m one of multiple heirs to a Louisiana house?

Louisiana law treats each heir as an owner in indivision, which means everyone owns an undivided share of the whole property. To sell voluntarily, every heir has to sign. If all heirs are on board, the succession attorney and title company coordinate the paperwork and the sale proceeds are distributed at closing according to each heir’s share. When heirs disagree, we don’t buy into that dispute. That’s a decision the family has to work out, sometimes through a partition action in court. When you’re aligned, we’re a straightforward buyer.

What if the heirs live out of state?

Very common, and completely workable. The Louisiana succession still has to be opened in Louisiana, but you don’t need to fly in to close. Louisiana title companies routinely arrange remote closings where out-of-state heirs sign the act of sale in front of a notary in their own state and the documents are couriered back for filing. We’ve closed with heirs in almost every state, and we coordinate directly with the succession attorney and title company so out-of-state family members can handle the sale from their kitchen table.

Do I need a lawyer to sell an inherited Louisiana house?

Effectively yes. Louisiana real estate closings normally happen in front of a notary attorney, and the succession itself requires an attorney to open the case and file the pleadings needed to convey the property. The good news is that a simple Louisiana succession attorney’s fee is typically a few thousand dollars and is paid from the sale proceeds at closing, not out of pocket. If you don’t already have a succession attorney, we can recommend attorneys we’ve worked with who handle inherited-house sales efficiently.

What if the house has liens or back property taxes?

All of it gets sorted at closing. The title company runs a title search, identifies the mortgage balance, property tax debt, code enforcement liens, and any judgments recorded against the deceased or the property. The sale proceeds pay them off in legal priority order (usually property taxes first, then mortgage, then other liens). Whatever remains goes to the estate for distribution to the heirs. You do not have to pay off any of these debts before selling. Louisiana also generally protects heirs from personal liability for the deceased’s debts when the succession is structured properly.

Ready to Talk?

If you’ve inherited a Louisiana house and don’t know what to do next, we’re here. Whether the succession has already been opened, whether you’re one heir or one of many, whether you live in Metairie or a thousand miles away, we’ve probably handled a version of your situation before.

Call or text (504) 920-4747.

No pressure, no listing agreement, no obligation. Just a real conversation with someone who understands how Louisiana succession works and what your actual options are.

We buy houses across Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida. Any house, any situation, on your timeline. No repairs, no commissions, no listing hassle. Just a straight cash offer for the house you inherited, and a closing that works around your family and your paperwork.