Art. 3172.Duties

Article 3171 creates the office; Article 3172 defines what the person appointed to it must do. The duties fall into three groups, and each pushes the appointed attorney toward looking after the absent heir or legatee, not toward standing by as a formality.

The first duty is investigative: make all necessary efforts to determine the absent heir's or legatee's identity and address, and inform them of the decedent's death and their interest in the succession. The attorney's first job is to try to end the absence itself, or at minimum give the missing person a chance to step in and take over their own interest.

The second and third duties apply whether or not that search succeeds. The attorney represents the absent heir or legatee in the succession and defends their interests in any contradictory proceeding brought against them there, an opposition to a petition for possession, for example, or a dispute over what share of the estate they are due. And the attorney must take any conservatory action needed to protect those interests, including filing suit where necessary, so a claim belonging to the absent person does not lapse or go unprotected while they remain unreachable.