Art. 3401.Jurisdiction; Procedure

Article 3401 opens Title IV by naming the situation that calls for ancillary probate procedure: a person who was not domiciled in Louisiana dies owning property located in the state. Ancillary means secondary or subordinate to a main proceeding, and that relationship is exactly what this article describes. The decedent's primary succession, if one is needed at all, unfolds wherever the decedent lived, whether another state or another country, while Louisiana opens its own proceeding limited to the property found within its borders.

That Louisiana proceeding gets underway in a court of competent jurisdiction under Article 2811, the same venue framework used to determine where any succession opens. Once opened, Article 3401 does not create a separate procedural universe for ancillary matters. Except where the rest of Title IV says otherwise, the ancillary succession runs on the same procedure Louisiana uses for the succession of one of its own domiciliaries, including the inventory rules, the representative-appointment process, and the administration and possession articles found throughout Book VI's earlier titles.

The remaining four articles of Title IV supply the exceptions this article's closing clause anticipates. Article 3402 requires a representative already appointed elsewhere to qualify locally before touching Louisiana property. Article 3403 withholds that foreign representative's capacity to appear in a Louisiana court until qualification happens. Article 3404 sets a priority rule favoring the foreign-appointed representative in the Louisiana appointment. Article 3405 addresses how a testament already probated outside the state gets recognized here. Together, they adapt the ordinary succession framework to the reality that another court may already be involved.