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Elder law attorneys in Louisiana focus on the legal issues facing aging adults and their families: Medicaid planning for long-term care, drafting and updating durable powers of attorney and healthcare directives, guardianship and conservatorship proceedings, special needs trusts, and asset protection. Many also handle probate and estate planning, but elder law is the specific subset focused on care planning and benefits eligibility. See the Louisiana healthcare proxy and financial power of attorney forms.
Federal law (and Louisiana's implementation) imposes a 5-year lookback period for Medicaid long-term care eligibility. Any uncompensated transfers (gifts, transfers to family members, transfers to a non-Medicaid-qualified trust) within the 5 years before applying for Medicaid can trigger a penalty period during which Medicaid won't pay for nursing home care. This is the main reason Medicaid planning needs to start years before care is actually needed — and the main reason elder law attorneys exist as a distinct practice area.
Estate planning attorneys in Louisiana average $337 per hourClio Legal Trends Report 2025Verified Jan 1, 2025 for wills and estates work. Flat-fee packages run roughly $1,011–$2,022 for a simple individual will and $2,470–$3,705 for a basic revocable trust. Online and DIY services cost $30–$300 for the same documents — see the will cost calculator for a side-by-side comparison.
Louisiana has a generous small-estate threshold of $125,000. Estates under that line can use the Small Succession procedure, which is a form rather than a court case — most families can handle it without an attorney. For estates above the threshold, formal probate generally benefits from counsel because of the procedural overhead, even when nothing is contested. The Louisiana probate calculator estimates total costs based on estate value.
In Louisiana, the situations where retaining counsel is typically worth the cost are: blended families with children from prior relationships (community property rules can produce surprising outcomes); ownership of a business, rental property, or significant investment assets; special-needs dependents who need a special-needs trust to preserve benefits; substantial property held in multiple states. If none of these describe your situation, the simpler online and DIY tools are often enough.
Search 3,941 estate law firms across 51 states.
Firm listings are for informational purposes only. SimplyTrust does not endorse or recommend any specific firm or attorney. Contact firms directly to discuss your situation and verify their current practice areas and availability.
14 firms
Handles successions, estates, and probate matters throughout Orleans Parish and surrounding Louisiana parishes including Jefferson, St. Tammany, St. John the Baptist, Lafourche, and Terrebonne parishes.
Location
2121 N Causeway Blvd., Suite 200Metairie, LA 70001
Phone
(504) 561-8700
Service Area
6 counties
Metairie firm serving Jefferson, Orleans, St. Tammany, and Tangipahoa parishes from offices in Metairie, New Orleans, and Hammond. Handles testate and intestate succession administration, estate and trust administration, and estate and trust litigation involving will validity and contested distributions. The succession practice dates to the firm's founding in 1989.
Location
1 Galleria Blvd., Suite 1100Metairie, LA 70001
Phone
(504) 833-5600
Established
1989
Service Area
4 counties
Attorney Carl H. Franklin has been guiding Louisiana families through successions, probate, wills, and estate planning for over 39 years. A member of Elder Counsel and Wealth Counsel, he serves Shreveport, Bossier City, Monroe, and parishes throughout Northwest Louisiana.
Location
910 Pierremont Road, Suite 417Shreveport, LA 71106
Phone
(318) 639-6152
Service Area
6 counties
Christie Tournet is a St. Tammany Parish attorney and Certified Dementia Practitioner focused on estate planning, elder law, estate administration, and long-term care planning. The firm serves Mandeville, Covington, all of St. Tammany Parish, and the Greater New Orleans area.
Location
4042 Desoto StMandeville, LA 70471
Phone
(985) 951-2177
Service Area
1 county
Founded by brothers Andy and Bjay Durrett, natives of Lincoln Parish, the firm combines nearly two decades of legal experience serving clients in North Louisiana with business transactions, probate, successions, and estate planning.
Location
202 N Vienna StRuston, LA 71270
Phone
(318) 255-6189
Service Area
7 counties
Baton Rouge firm serving clients across Louisiana, including out-of-state heirs with Louisiana estate matters. Limits its practice to estate planning and successions — testate, intestate, small-estate, and ancillary successions, plus succession litigation such as contested wills and petitions to remove an executor. Offers free consultations and flat-fee representation.
Location
6161 Perkins Rd., Suite 1BBaton Rouge, LA 70808
Phone
(225) 341-5270
Service Area
3 counties
Attorney Brian Harkins specializes in successions, wills, trusts, and long-term care planning, serving the Monroe and West Monroe area. With over 30 years of legal experience including approximately 24 years as an Assistant District Attorney, the firm focuses on life planning services.
Location
1315 Cypress StreetWest Monroe, LA 71291
Phone
(318) 348-1208
Service Area
4 counties
John E. Sirois, JD, MBA, CFP, has served Louisiana families since 1996 with estate planning, successions and probate, wills, trusts, special needs planning, Medicaid and long-term care planning. He has been quoted in the Times Picayune, New Orleans City Business, and the Houma Courier.
Location
220 Progressive Blvd, Suite AHouma, LA 70360
Phone
(985) 580-2520
Service Area
6 counties
Based in Prairieville, Kallio Law Firm serves Ascension Parish and the Greater Baton Rouge area. The practice handles Louisiana succession proceedings, wills and trusts, mandates (powers of attorney), and interdiction, alongside Medicaid and elder-care planning. Attorney Eric Kallio leads the firm.
Location
16094 Hwy 73, Suite 202Prairieville, LA 70769
Phone
(225) 210-3653
Service Area
4 counties
Baton Rouge estate and elder law firm, with New Orleans and Lake Charles offices, handling Louisiana successions across the Capital Region courts. Work covers simple and administered successions, small-succession affidavits, estate settlement, and contested successions involving intestacy and capacity or undue-influence claims. Led by board-certified specialist Linda S. Melancon.
Location
3956 Government StreetBaton Rouge, LA 70806
Phone
(225) 744-0027
Service Area
Statewide