Seals

In Louisiana. A method of taking the effects of a deceased person into public custody. On the death of a person, according to the laws of Louisiana, if the heir wishes to obtain the benefit of inventory and the delays for deliberating, he is bound, as soon as he knows of the death of the deceased to whose succession he is called, and before committing any act of heirship, to cause the seals to be afi^ed on the effects of the succession by any judge or justice of the peace. Civ. Code La. art.

1027.

In ten days after this affixing of the seals, the heir is bound to present a petition to the judge of the place in which the succession is opened, praying for the removal of the seals, and that a true and faithful inventory of the effects of the succession be made. Civ. Code La. art.

1028.

In case of vacant estates, and estates of which the heirs are absent and not represented, the seals, after the decease, must be affixed by a judge or justice of the peace within the limits of his jurisdiction, and may be fixed by him either ex officio or at the request of the parties. Civ. Code La. art.

1070.

The seals are affixed at the request of the parties when a widow, a testaor community of property, requires it. Id. art.

1071.

They are affiled ex offlcio when the presumptive heirs of the deceased do not all reside in the place where he died, or if any of them happen to be absent. Id. art.

1072.

The object of placing.the seals on the effects of a succession is for the purpose of preserving them, and for the interest of third persons. Code Civ. La. art.

1068.

The seals must be placed on the bureaus, coffers, armoires, and other things which contain the effects and papers of the deceased, and on the doors of the apartments which contain these things, so that they cannot be opened without tearing off, breaking, or altering the seals. Code Civ. La. art.

1069.

The judge or justice of the peace who affixes the seals is bound to appoint a guardian, at the expense of the succession, to take care of the seals and of the effects, of which an account is taken at the end of the proces verbal of the affixing of the seals. The guardian must be domiciliated in the place where the inventory is taken. Code Civ. La. art.

1079.

And the judge, when he retires, must take with him the keys of all things and apartments upon which the seals have been affixed. Id. The raising of the seals is done by the judge of the place, or justice of the peace appointed by him to that effect, in the presence of the witnesses of the vicinage, in the same manner as for the affixing of the seals. Code Civ. La. art.

1084.