3.5.2 Parents and Siblings

If the deceased leaves no descendants but is survived by a father, mother, or both, and by a brother or sister, or both, or descendants from them, the siblings (or their descendants) succeed to the deceased’s separate property subject to a usufruct in favor of the surviving parent(s).1

If both parents survive the deceased, the usufruct is joint and successive, which means that when one parent subsequently dies, the entire usufruct accrues to the survivor-parent and the siblings (or their descendants) remain naked owners with shares as identified below.2

If no parent survives the deceased, then the entire estate goes to the siblings (or their descendants) to the exclusion of all others.3

If there is more than one sibling, all siblings share equally.4  If a sibling predeceases the decedent, that sibling’s share goes to that sibling’s descendants by representation.5  Special rules apply to siblings related to the decedent by half-blood. In that case, the estate is equally divided between the deceased’s paternal and maternal lines. Siblings fully related by blood take in both lines, and those related by half-blood take only in the line shared with the deceased.

If the deceased had no full siblings and the deceased’s half siblings were in one line only, they take the entirety to the exclusion of all relations in the other line.6

If there are no siblings (or their descendants), the deceased’s parents inherit the separate property.7

• 1La. C.C. art. 891.
• 2Id.
• 3La. C.C. art. 892.
• 4La. C.C. art. 893.
• 5La. C.C. art. 882. For further discussion of representation, see Section 5.2.
• 6La. C.C. art. 893.
• 7La. C.C. art. 892.