Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Louisiana

Re: Surviving Spouse Selling Home in Louisiana after death of Wife

Based on the facts as you have provided in your question, I do not believe that you father will be able to sell a house owned jointly with your late mother unless and until her succession has been opened and completed. "Owned together in Louisiana", to me, equates with community property and/or joint ownership. If both of their names are actually listed and named on the title to the property and your mother left no will, I do not know any way that any attorney or notary in Louisiana can validly transfer title to a new purchaser without first obtaining a Judgment of Possession from your mother's succession or, alternatively, a court-ordered sale of the property under the auspices of an estate administration (within the succession).

As to your question about your brother and sister "stopping your father", if your mother died without a will and all of the property in question is the community property of your parents, your father should have a "legal usufruct" as the surviving spouse over all of the community property. "Legal usufruct" is a concept by which the surviving spouse is allowed, by law, to maintain control, possession and use of the community property until his death or remarriage, whichever comes first (unless your mother had a will in which she specifically extended the usufruct regardless of remarriage).

All of your mother's children, given the scant facts in your question, should inherit, under the laws of intestacy, your mother's portion of the community property (i.e., 1/2 of everything community), SUBJECT TO the legal usufruct in favor of your father as surviving spouse. Realistically, this means that your father can use and continue to occupy the property as long as he lives, unless he remarries. If he wants to sell the house but your siblings are unwilling to cooperate and sign the sale documents, he will probably need to try to get a court order allowing him, as usufructuary, to dispose of the property for some pretty good reason (i.e., for the benefit of all concerned). This would be subject to your siblings' possible opposition of same in court. Should he be able to sell the house either with their cooperation or by court order, you and your siblings should still probably be entitled to be remibursed from the proceeds for the value of your respective inherited portion of the house.

I strongly suggest that you and/or your siblings make an appointment for a paid consultation with a lawyer convenient to you who handles successions so that you can get a complete and accurate picture of your rights, claims and options. PLEASE DO NOT RELY ON MY REMARKS (ABOVE) ALONE--they are intended as general remarks about Louisiana law and are NOT intended to be taken or used as legal advice for your specific situation, many of the facts of which I do not and cannot possibly know. My actual legal advice to you is to consult with a Louisiana lawyer who handles successions.

Good Luck....