Make your own Louisiana will.
Yours in about 20 minutes. Legally valid in Louisiana. Free to create, or add secure online document storage with the $29/year subscription.
Is a self-written will legal in Louisiana?
Yes. Louisiana recognizes wills you write yourself, as long as they meet the state's signing requirements. The governing statute is La. Civ. Code Arts. 1570-1611 (notarial testament Art. 1576; olographic testament Art. 1575).
Your will needs to be in writing, signed by you, and witnessed by 2 adults. Louisiana also requires notarization at signing. Louisiana also recognizes handwritten ("holographic") wills, where the key terms and signature are in your own handwriting.
You must be at least 16 years old and of sound mind. Witnesses cannot be people who inherit under your will (or in some states, the spouse of a person who inherits). This tool walks you through the rules so you don't trip over them.
A will you write yourself has the same legal force as one drafted by an attorney, provided you follow the signing rules. Courts admit self-written wills to probate every day. An attorney's value is in advising on complex estates, not in drafting the document itself.
What it costs to make a will in Louisiana
A Louisiana estate-planning attorney typically charges $300 to $600 for a simple will, and $1,000 to $1,500 for a will-plus-revocable-trust package. Rates run higher in dense metros and lower in rural areas. Most attorneys bill at $250 to $400 per hour and need one or two meetings to draft a basic will.
You can also write a will entirely from scratch with a sheet of paper and a pen, with no software at all. Louisiana requires the same 2-witness signing process regardless of who drafts the document. The risk with a from-scratch will is technical: a missing self-proving affidavit, a witness who's also a beneficiary, or wording that creates ambiguity for the probate court. That's what this tool prevents.
Will.com is free at the document level. The $29/year subscription adds cloud-stored, zero-knowledge-encrypted access so you can edit and update your plan as life changes.
Louisiana will requirements at a glance
How it works
- 1
Answer a few questions
About you, your family, and what you own.
- 2
Download your will
A complete, personalized document, formatted for Louisiana courts.
- 3
Sign with witnesses
Print and sign in front of 2 adult witnesses and a notary. Keep the signed copy somewhere safe.
When you might want an attorney instead
An online will works for most people. It's the right tool when your situation is straightforward: you want to leave your assets to family or friends, you don't have complex tax issues, and you're not anticipating a fight over your estate.
Consider hiring an attorney if any of these apply:
- Your estate is large enough to trigger federal estate tax (over $13.99 million in 2025) or Louisiana estate or inheritance tax.
- You own a business, complex investments, or assets in multiple states or countries.
- You're in a blended family, especially if you want to leave assets to a current spouse while protecting children from a prior relationship.
- You have a child or beneficiary with special needs and want a supplemental-needs trust that won't disqualify them from public benefits.
- You expect someone to contest the will, or you're disinheriting a close family member.
- You have substantial retirement accounts and want sophisticated beneficiary planning.
If none of these apply, an online will is genuinely fine. The legal validity of your will doesn't depend on who drafted it, only on whether Louisiana's signing rules were followed.
Self-proving affidavit in Louisiana
Louisiana recognizes self-proving affidavits, a notarized statement attached to the will in which the witnesses swear to the signing in front of a notary.
A self-proven will skips the requirement to track down witnesses years later for the probate court. It's optional, but adding the affidavit at signing time saves your executor work. Will.com generates the affidavit alongside the will.
Who can witness your will in Louisiana
Witness incompetence: La. Civ. Code art. 1581 (as amended by Acts 2025, No. 30) bars persons who are insane, blind, under the age of 16, or unable to sign their name. The pre-Act-30 bar on witnesses who are deaf or unable to read was eliminated. Interested-witness rule: La. Civ. Code art. 1582 — a legacy to a witness, or to a witness's spouse, may be void as to that witness but does not invalidate the testament itself.
Family changes after you sign
A child born or adopted after the will. Louisiana has a default rule under Louisiana does not have a UPC-style pretermitted-heir statute. The forced-heirship regime in La. Civ. Code arts. 1493 through 1495 directly addresses both intentional disinheritance (which is permitted only on the limited grounds enumerated in art. 1621) and unintentional omission of a forced heir. Forced heirs are descendants 23 years old or younger, or descendants of any age who are permanently incapable of caring for their person or administering their estate at the time of the decedent's death. The legitime under art. 1495 is one-fourth of the estate for a single forced heir and one-half for two or more. for an after-born child who isn't named or accounted for in the will. The safest practice is to update your will when family changes.
A spouse you married after signing. Louisiana's default rule for an omitted spouse is at Louisiana has no separate omitted-spouse statute analogous to UPC §2-301 or California Probate Code §21610. A surviving spouse who is omitted from the deceased spouse's pre-marriage testament has no automatic statutory share of the testate succession by virtue of the omission alone. Spousal economic protection is instead delivered through three independent civil-law institutions: (1) the community-property regime (La. Civ. Code arts. 2334 et seq.) gives each spouse a one-half interest in property acquired during the community regardless of testamentary disposition; (2) the legal usufruct of the surviving spouse over the deceased spouse's share of community property bequeathed to descendants (art. 890); and (3) the marital portion for a 'necessitous' surviving spouse under arts. 2432 through 2437. Forced-heir descendants of the deceased remain entitled to the legitime (art. 1493) regardless of marital status. A spouse who wishes to ensure a share by testament must update the will after marriage.. Updating the will after marriage avoids relying on the default.
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