Baton Rouge Estate Planning Lawyer

Are you looking for an estate planning lawyer in Baton Rouge, LA?

At Richard J. Tomeny Jr. Attorney at Law, we provide trusted estate planning counsel for families and business owners throughout Baton Rouge, LA.

If you are preparing a will, setting up a trust, or choosing someone to manage your affairs, Louisiana’s civil law system governs how each document must be written and signed. Our Baton Rouge, LA estate planning lawyer prepares testaments, trusts, and powers of attorney for families and business owners.

At Richard J. Tomeny Jr. Attorney at Law, our founder has practiced Louisiana law since 1978, much of it in banking and business law, which informs how we plan for real estate, company interests, and debt. Schedule a consultation to begin your plan.

Estate Planning Lawyer Baton Rouge, LA

An estate planning lawyer in Baton Rouge, LA prepares the documents that control what happens to your property, your finances, and your medical care if you die or can no longer act for yourself. Louisiana follows a civil law tradition. Usufruct and forced heirship have no exact counterpart in other states, so a plan drafted elsewhere should be reviewed after a move here.

According to U.S. Census Bureau data, 17.4% of East Baton Rouge Parish residents are 65 or older. Many hold homes, retirement accounts, and business interests. Without a plan, Louisiana’s default inheritance rules decide who receives them. A Baton Rouge estate planning attorney drafts the documents that replace those defaults with your own instructions.

Types of Estate Planning Cases We Handle in Baton Rouge

Our practice covers the documents prepared during your lifetime and the court proceedings that follow a death. Some clients need a single power of attorney. Others need a coordinated plan for a family business, rental property, and a spouse’s long-term care.

• Wills and powers of attorney. Louisiana calls a will a testament, and it is valid only if it follows a form the law recognizes. We prepare testaments along with financial and medical powers of attorney, so someone you select can act if you are incapacitated.
• Trusts. A trust can hold property for a spouse, minor children, or a beneficiary who receives public benefits. We draft revocable and irrevocable trusts and coordinate their terms with your testament.
• Business and LLC succession planning. For owners of closely held companies, the plan must address who controls the business after a death or disability. We review operating agreements and buy-sell provisions and plan the transfer of membership interests.
• Successions. A succession is Louisiana’s court process for settling an estate: identifying assets, paying debts, and transferring property to heirs or legatees. We represent executors, heirs, and surviving spouses from the opening of the succession through the judgment of possession, including independent administration when it is available.
• Probate. Before a testament can be carried out, a court must order it filed and executed. We handle the probate of notarial and olographic testaments, including the handwriting proof an olographic testament requires.
• Succession litigation. Heirs sometimes disagree about valuation, division, or an executor’s management of the estate. These disputes include challenges to accountings, requests to remove a succession representative, and partition of inherited property.
• Probate litigation. A testament may be challenged for lack of capacity, undue influence, or defects in form. We defend testaments against these challenges and bring them when the evidence supports it.
• Elder law. Planning for later life covers decision-making as well as property. A properly drafted mandate and health care directive can make an interdiction proceeding unnecessary.
• Elder care planning. When a parent needs in-home help or assisted living, someone must have legal authority to arrange and pay for that care. We prepare those documents for spouses and adult children.
• Medicaid planning. Nursing home care is often paid through Medicaid, which applies income and resource limits. We plan the structure and timing of asset transfers with those limits in mind.

Why Choose Richard J. Tomeny Jr. Attorney at Law as My Estate Planning Lawyer in Baton Rouge, LA?

A Banking and Business Background Applied to Estate Plans

Richard J. Tomeny, Jr. established and managed the Legal and Special Assets Department at Jefferson Guaranty Bank. He has served as a bank’s Senior Vice President and General Counsel and, from 1986 to 1988, as special counsel to several Louisiana banks.

Mortgaged property, business debt, and LLC ownership all affect how an estate can be divided and what heirs receive. We address those issues while the plan is being drafted rather than leaving them for the succession. For owners, business succession planning sets out who will manage the company and how ownership passes.

Louisiana Practice Since 1978

Our founder earned a B.S. from the University of New Orleans in 1974 and his J.D. from Loyola University in 1978, the year he was admitted to the Louisiana bar. He is also admitted to the federal district courts for the Eastern and Middle Districts of Louisiana and to the Fifth Circuit.

Martindale-Hubbell gave him its AV Preeminent rating in 2018, and New Orleans Magazine named him one of the city’s top business lawyers in 2009. He is a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association and the Turnaround Management Association. From 1970 to 1976, he served in the Louisiana Air National Guard and was honorably discharged as a Staff Sergeant.

Understanding Estate Planning Cases

Key Estate Planning Documents and What They Do

• Notarial testament. This testament is signed before a notary and two witnesses. Most Louisiana plans use it.
• Olographic testament. The testator writes, dates, and signs the entire document by hand. It is valid but harder to prove in court.
• Revocable living trust. The trust holds assets during your lifetime and transfers its property without a succession proceeding.
• Mandate. Louisiana uses this term for a power of attorney, which authorizes an agent to handle banking, property, and taxes.
• Health care directives. A health care power of attorney names a medical decision-maker, and a living will states your wishes on life-sustaining procedures.
• Tutor designation. A parent may name a tutor, Louisiana’s term for a minor child’s guardian, in a testament.

What Are Important Aspects of an Estate Planning Case?

Several features of Louisiana inheritance law affect how a Baton Rouge, LA estate planning lawyer drafts a testament or trust.

• Forced heirship. Certain children are entitled to a reserved portion of the estate: younger children, and children of any age who are permanently unable to care for themselves. Gifts that leave a forced heir less than that portion can be reduced.
• Community property and usufruct. Each spouse generally owns half of the property acquired during the marriage and may leave only that half. A surviving spouse often receives a usufruct, the right to use property and its income while the children hold ownership. In blended families, those terms need particular attention.
• Assets outside the testament. Life insurance and retirement accounts pass under beneficiary designations, not under the testament.
• Long-term care. Under Medicaid eligibility rules, transfers made before an application can result in a period of ineligibility for nursing home coverage.

What Is the Estate Planning Case Timeline?

Working with an estate planning lawyer in Baton Rouge generally follows five stages. Trusts and business agreements lengthen the process.

1. Consultation. We discuss your family, property, and goals.
2. Gathering records. We examine deeds, prior testaments, operating agreements, and beneficiary forms for conflicts.
3. Drafting. You receive drafts and request revisions before signing.
4. Execution. A notarial testament is signed before a notary and two witnesses.
5. Funding and maintenance. Assets are retitled into any trust, and beneficiary forms are aligned with the plan. Marriage, divorce, a birth, or the sale of a business is a reason to update the plan.

What Should You Bring to Your Estate Planning Consultation?

These documents allow our Baton Rouge estate planning attorney to give specific advice at the first meeting.

• A list of assets with approximate values, including real estate and financial accounts
• Any existing testament, trust, or power of attorney, and deeds to property
• Operating, partnership, or buy-sell agreements for a business you own
• Life insurance and retirement beneficiary forms
• Names of the people you intend to serve as executor, agent, or tutor

At the consultation, we review these documents and explain how Louisiana law applies to your family. Not every client needs a trust. If a notarial testament and powers of attorney meet your goals, we will tell you so.

East Baton Rouge Parish Probate Court and Local Resources

Louisiana has no separate probate court. Successions in East Baton Rouge Parish are filed in the 19th Judicial District Court, which has original jurisdiction over civil matters in the parish. The court’s elected judges preside over divisions that hear both civil and criminal cases.

• Civil suit records and the parish conveyance records, where judgments of possession are recorded, are kept by the EBR Clerk of Court.
• The Parish Assessor’s Office values real estate for property taxes and updates its ownership records after a transfer is recorded.

Reach Out to Richard J. Tomeny Jr. Attorney at Law to Schedule a Consultation

Contact us to schedule a consultation with a Baton Rouge estate planning lawyer. We will discuss your family and property, examine your current documents, and recommend the steps your plan requires. Richard J. Tomeny Jr. Attorney at Law represents individuals, families, and business owners throughout East Baton Rouge Parish.