Succession of Barbara Benton Williams

Summary

The Louisiana First Circuit vacated a judgment admitting Barbara Benton Williams's 2020 notarial testament to probate and remanded the succession proceeding. The court held that 2025 Louisiana Act No. 30, which revised the formal requirements for notarial testaments and provided for retroactive application, applied to the pending appeal, but declined to decide whether that retroactive application unconstitutionally impaired the decedent's successor's vested rights. The court directed the trial court to permit the constitutional challenge to be specially pleaded, notify the Louisiana Attorney General, decide the constitutional issue, and reconsider the merits.

Holdings

1. Under Section 4 of Act 30, the Act applies retroactively to claims existing and pending on its effective date when no final and definitive judgment on the merits existed before that date. Because the appeal was pending and the trial court judgment had been timely appealed, Act 30 was applicable to the case, subject to resolution of its constitutionality.
2. The appellate court declined to decide the constitutional challenge because the parties had not fully developed the constitutional issue in the trial court and the trial court was the proper forum to address the constitutionality of the statute in the first instance.

Questions Presented

1. Whether 2025 La. Acts No. 30, which revised the formal requirements for notarial testaments and provided for retroactive application, applies to the pending appeal.
2. Whether the appellate court should decide Williams's constitutional challenge to the retroactive application of Act 30 when the issue was not fully developed in the trial court.
3. Whether the judgment admitting the 2020 testament to probate should be vacated and the matter remanded for constitutional proceedings and reconsideration of the merits.

Disposition

vacated