I talk a lot about avoiding Louisiana probate (or succession as we call it) with a Revocable Living Trust. Typically the primary reasons stated for avoiding succession are avoiding high costs and time delays, but there is one major reason to avoid a Louisiana succession that seems to be lost amongst the others. That reason is PRIVACY.
Louisiana Successions are court proceedings, and like all other court proceedings they are a matter of public record. This means that the information contained in a succession proceeding is available to anyone who seeks it. With the internet age, public records are available worldwide to anyone with internet access.
This is troublesome because a required part of any Louisiana probate succession is a detailed and descriptive list of all of the assets and debts of the deceased and the approximate values of said assets at the time of death. The succession records also include the names and addresses of those inheriting from the estate of the deceased. With the ease of access to such records, it its not hard to imagine an unscrupulous salesman or creditor contacting your heirs to prey upon them after your death.
This public nature of successions can be escaped by avoiding probate with a revocable living trust. To find out more about this probate avoidance procedure, call me at (504) 274-1980 or (985) 246-3020.