Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Louisiana

You will have to open succession in order to transfer possession of the vehicle, as well as the home and any other property owned by your father. If your parents owned a home, you will eventually have to open his succession even if your mother never sells the home and never refinances it. You certainly can never transfer title to the car without opening the succession. And, if the bank discovers he has passed away, they may freeze all bank accounts with his name on them until a judgment of possession is obtained from a court.

It is much easier (and cheaper) to handle the succession sooner rather than later. You should open succession within 9 months of the date of death. It gets more complicated and more expensive after that.

While you don't legally have to have a lawyer to open a succession, you will simply not be able to do it yourself. The law and the rules of civil procedure are far too complicated to negotiate without an experienced attorney doing the work.

For a simple judgment of possession like this appears to be the costs for an attorney are not great. I charge $1,000, plus court costs, which range anywhere from about $300-$700 depending on the jurisdiction and the value of the estate. It can be walked through and processed in one day once all the documents are drafted, signed, and prepared for filing. You don't even have to go to court. I can handle the court appearance without you or your mother having to appear.

Since you only asked about the vehicle, I will answer that question. Go to the department of motor vehicles and tell them your dad died and all the heirs want to give or sell the vehicle to someone. They will give you a form, or more if there are a bunch of heirs, and you all sign it before notaries and the grantee then takes it to DMV and the title will be transferred to their name. No succession is necessary for that vehicle as long as ALL HEIRS agree on who gets it and for what price. I totally disagree with Mr. Lambert about transferring the title to the vehicle.