Art. 3402.Foreign Representative; Qualification

A succession representative is someone the law recognizes as the estate's administrator or executor. Article 3402 addresses what happens when that representative was appointed by a court outside Louisiana, perhaps at the decedent's actual domicile, but the succession also includes property situated here. Authority granted by another jurisdiction's court does not automatically extend to Louisiana property; the foreign representative can act with respect to that property only after qualifying in a Louisiana court of competent jurisdiction.

Qualification carries a bond consequence worth noting. Even where the testament dispenses with bond, a common provision meant to spare a trusted executor the expense and hassle, any interested person can still apply to require the foreign representative to furnish bond upon a showing of good cause, in the same amount required of an administrator. Louisiana protects local creditors and heirs on its own terms, regardless of what the will provided at the decedent's domicile.

Once qualification is complete, the foreign representative stands on equal footing with any representative originally appointed in Louisiana, holding the same rights, privileges, and obligations. That parity is what makes Article 3404's priority rule and Article 3403's capacity limitation work together: qualification is the gate, and passing through it opens full authority on the Louisiana side of the succession.