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36 Tul. L. Rev. 1 (1961-1962)
Testate Succession

handle is hein.journals/tulr36 and id is 23 raw text is: TULANE LAW REVIEW Vol. XXXVI DECEMBER 1961 No. 1 THE TESTATE SUCCESSION LEONARD OPPENHEIM* I. FORMAL REQUIREMENTS OF A WILL According to Article 1570 of the Civil Code, no disposition mortis cause may be made except by last will or testament. This testament must be clothed with certain formal requirements and, unless these requirements are strictly complied with, the testament will fall.' No matter how well the substantive provisions of the testament effectuate his client's wishes, if the attorney does not draft his testament carefully and execute it correctly, his work will be in vain. There are now five types of wills which the attorney in Louisi- ana may use: the nuncupative will by public act, the nuncupative will by private act, the mystic will, the olographic will and the new statutory form of will. Since all formalities in connection with these wills must be carefully observed, an examination of the re- quirements for each type of will is necessary. A. The Nuncupctive Will by Public Act The first type of will which the attorney may use is nuncupa- tive will by public act. This is the most formal of all wills and is really a notarial act. While it has certain advantages in that it is self-proving and need only be dictated by the testator to the notary, all the required formalities must be carried out to the letter. Con- sequently, there has been a considerable amount of litigation re- garding the observance of the formalities with the result that many such wills expressing the exact intent of the testator have been de- *Professor of Law, Tulane University. 1La. Civil Code art. 1595 (1870); see Fakouri v. Cadais, 147 F.2d 667 (5th Cir. 1945); Succession of Hernandez, 188 La. 134, 70 So. 63 (1915).

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