A succession should be opened as soon as practicable after the decedent’s death. Sometimes, a succession must be immediately opened to use the decedent’s bank accounts or assets to pay funeral or medical bills. Adding a family member to a bank account prior to death would allow access to the account before opening the succession, thereby reducing the need to rush to the courthouse during an already difficult time.
A delay in opening a succession may cause problems such as lost testaments or other documents or a foreclosure sale of the deceased’s home for unpaid mortgages or taxes. Longer delays, particularly if a succession is not opened for years, can add to the complexity and expense of a succession because co-heirs may lose contact with one other or die and the heirs-next-in-line may become more difficult to identify and locate.
An action for the recognition of a right of inheritance is subject to liberative prescription of 30 years, which runs from the decedent’s date of death.1 Nevertheless, heirs should act quickly to protect their inheritance rights. A Judgment of Possession and an Affidavit for Small Succession are both considered prima facie evidence of the recognized heirs’ rights to the decedent’s property.2 If the property is transferred to a third party, an unrecognized heir’s rights may be lost