5.1 Capacity to Inherit

To inherit property, a successor must exist at the decedent’s death.1 An unborn child conceived before the decedent’s death and born alive is considered to have existed at the decedent’s death and therefore can inherit from the decedent.2 Age and mental capacity are irrelevant to capacity to inherit.3

A child conceived after the decedent’s death by means of artificial reproductive technology is deemed the decedent’s child with the capacity to inherit from the decedent if (1) the decedent specifically and in writing authorized his surviving spouse to use his gametes; and (2) the child was born to the surviving spouse, using the decedent’s gametes, within three years of the decedent’s death.4

• 1La. C.C. art. 939.
• 2La. C.C. art. 940.
• 3La. C.C. art. 939.
• 4La. R.S. 9:391.1.