Louisiana timeline
Louisiana probate timeline and creditor deadlines
The waiting-period requirement has not been verified, so no number is published below.
Louisiana creditor deadlines are set out below against the event each one runs from.
Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch October 3, 2026.
The one date this page can source
No waiting-period number is published for the small succession affidavit route. No universal death-based waiting period appears in arts. 3421, 3431, or 3432. Article 3432 instead requires 30 days’ mailed notice to a nonsigning heir who can be located; encoding 30 as a universal wait would be wrong. Read: La. C.C.P. arts. 3421 and 3431-3432.
Art. 3421. Small successions defined A small succession, within the meaning of this Title, is any of the following: (1) The succession of a person who died domiciled in Louisiana and who died leaving property with a gross value of two hundred thousand dollars or less valued as of the date of death. (2) The ancillary succession of a person who died domiciled outside of Louisiana and who died leaving property in Louisiana with a gross value of one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars or less valued as of the date of death. (3) The succession of a person whose date of death occurred at least twenty years prior to the execution of a small succession affidavit and who died leaving property in Louisiana of any value. Amended by Acts 1976, No. 187, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1977; Acts 1979, No. 71, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1980; Acts 1980, No. 582, §1; Acts 2009, No. 81, §1, eff.La. C.C.P. art. 3421 — Louisiana State Legislature; Acts 2026, No. 293, §1..
Louisiana also provides a route that does not depend on value once the decedent has been dead for more than 20 years.
Creditor deadlines
- From appointment of the representative
- A written claim may be submitted to the succession representative; the representative has 30 days to acknowledge or reject, but that is a response period, not the creditor’s filing deadline.
- Outer limit, running from death
- No single outer nonclaim limit was established. Formal proof can suspend prescription under art. 3245 for periods dependent on whether a succession is under administration or a judgment of possession has been signed.
How these combine. Louisiana uses ordinary prescription plus succession claim-presentation and suspension rules rather than a single common-law probate nonclaim period. Articles 3241, 3242, and 3245 do not establish one publication/appointment/outer deadline that can be reduced to days.
Art. 3242. Acknowledgment or rejection of claim by representative The succession representative to whom a claim against the succession has been submitted, within thirty days thereof, shall either acknowledge or reject the claim, in whole or in part. This acknowledgment or express rejection shall be in writing, dated, and signed by the succession representative, who shall notify the claimant of his action. Failure of the succession representative either to acknowledge or reject a claim within thirty days of the date it was submitted to him shall be considered a rejection thereof.La. C.C.P. art. 3242 — Louisiana State Legislature; verified October 3, 2026.
General sequence: first week, how long probate takes.
Louisiana record: 10/10 verified, 32 matched checks, latest source re-fetch October 3, 2026. Source record · method · report a correction