In Louisiana the signing of a land transfer is a ceremony with rules, and the rules decide whether the transfer is valid at all. The Civil Code recognizes two ways to make a written act: the authentic act, signed before a notary and two witnesses, and the act under private signature, which the parties sign themselves and may later acknowledge before a notary. A sale of land can be either. A donation of land must be an authentic act, or it is absolutely null.
This page explains the two forms, which one a quitclaim needs, how the signing goes, what has to be printed on the act, what the notary's number is for, and why online signing works for a sale but not for a gift.
The Authentic Act
The Civil Code defines it in one sentence. An authentic act is a writing executed before a notary public or other officer authorized to perform that function, in the presence of two witnesses, and signed by each party who executed it, by each witness, and by each notary before whom it was executed. The typed or hand-printed name of each person is placed in legible form immediately beneath that person's signature.
Four signatures, then, at least: the party's, two witnesses' and the notary's. The notary does not count as a witness. The act is signed in the presence of all of them at once, so the witnesses see the party sign and the notary sees everyone sign. If a party is unable to sign or does not know how, the notary has the party affix a mark instead.
The Code also says what happens when a name is left off: the failure to include the typed or printed name beneath a signature does not affect the validity or authenticity of the act. The clerk of court, though, is allowed by a separate statute to refuse to record an act that lacks the printed names of the notary and witnesses, so the names go on.
The Act Under Private Signature
An act under private signature is a writing the parties sign without a notary. It becomes an acknowledged act when a party recognizes the signature as their own before a court, or before a notary in the presence of two witnesses, or in another manner a statute allows, and the Code then treats it, until the contrary is shown, as the true and genuine act of that party. The notary statutes give the forms of acknowledgment and accept one taken in another state under that state's law. For a sale that is enough, and the Code says a transfer of land may be made by authentic act or by act under private signature.
The limit is in the next sentence of the same article: an act under private signature, though acknowledged, cannot substitute for an authentic act when the law prescribes such an act. So the question for any transfer is whether some rule prescribes the authentic form.
Which One a Quitclaim Needs
It turns on whether anything is paid, because that is how the Code classifies the transfer.
- A transfer for a price is a sale. A sale of land must be made by authentic act or by act under private signature. Either form works; the acknowledged private act is enough to record and to transfer.
- A transfer for nothing is a donation inter vivos, a contract by which a person gives a thing away, now and for good, to another who accepts it. A donation inter vivos shall be made by authentic act under the penalty of absolute nullity, unless a law expressly permits otherwise. No law permits otherwise for land.
A quitclaim between relatives, for love and affection, for one dollar, or for nothing stated, is a donation whatever the caption says, and it needs the notary and two witnesses. An absolutely null act transfers nothing, cannot be confirmed later, and leaves the property where it was. That is the risk in using a form from another state.
How the Signing Goes
The notary passes the act: reads or presents it, sees the party sign, has the two witnesses sign, and signs last. The party's name, each witness's name and the notary's name are typed or printed beneath the signatures. The date and the parish where the act is passed appear in the act. The notary is the officer responsible for the act; ask the notary about the witnesses before the signing.
The parties need not all be in one place. The Code says the act need not be executed at one time or place, or before the same notary or in the presence of the same witnesses, provided that each party signs before a notary and in the presence of two witnesses, and each party, each witness and each notary signs. A donor in one parish and a donee in another each appear before their own notary with two witnesses, and the completed act is authentic.
What no party can do is sign at home and have the signature notarized later; that makes an acknowledged act, not an authentic one, and for a donation it makes nothing.
What Else Goes on the Act
Two notary statutes and the Civil Code's recording article add the details the clerk looks for.
- Full names, not initials. Notaries insert the parties' names in full, which the statute defines as at least one given name with the surname, and the parties' permanent mailing addresses.
- Marital status. Each individual party is described as single, married or widowed, with the full name of the present spouse; a transferor also declares whether that status has changed since acquiring the property, and how.
- The notary's number. Every document notarized in Louisiana bears the notary ID number assigned by the Secretary of State, or the bar roll number of an attorney-notary, typed or printed beside the notary's printed name. The notary prints the name as it appears on the commission.
- The clerk's power to refuse. A clerk of court, or the Orleans Parish Land Records Division, may refuse to record a document that lacks the notary's number or the typed, printed or stamped names of the notary and the witnesses.
A notary who is an attorney prints the bar roll number instead; a notary has authority in the parish or parishes of the commission, and the act is passed where the notary has jurisdiction. Those are the notary's responsibilities, not the parties'.
Online Notarization: a Sale, Yes; a Gift, No
Louisiana's online notarization law lets a Louisiana notary who is physically in a parish where the notary has authority notarize over live video for a party located anywhere, in or outside the state. The notary checks identity by personal knowledge or by a government ID card shown on camera and run through credential analysis and identity proofing, states in the act that it was notarized online, signs it digitally, and keeps the video for at least ten years. A witness to a remote act has to be in the physical presence of the party, not the notary.
The law then draws two lines. Online notarization may not be used to execute an authentic act; an act notarized online that would otherwise be authentic is instead valid as an act under private signature or an acknowledged act. And donations shall not be executed by online notarization at all. Put together: a sale of land can be signed online and recorded as an acknowledged act; a gift of land is signed in person, before the notary and two witnesses.
Louisiana Notarial Act and Witness Requirements — Common Questions
What is a Louisiana authentic act?
A writing executed before a notary public, or another officer authorized to perform that function, in the presence of two witnesses, and signed by each party, each witness and the notary, with the typed or hand-printed name of every signer placed legibly beneath the signature. The Civil Code treats it as the strongest proof a private writing can be, and it requires the authentic act for some acts, including any donation of land.
How many witnesses does a Louisiana deed need?
Two, for an authentic act, and the notary is not one of them; the notary is a third signer with a separate role. A transfer of land for a price can instead be made by an act under private signature that the parties acknowledge afterward; the Code's acknowledgment is also before a notary and two witnesses, though an acknowledgment taken in another state under that state's law is accepted. A donation of land cannot be made that way; it must be an authentic act, or it is absolutely null.
Do all the signers have to be in the same room?
No. The Civil Code says an authentic act need not be executed at one time or place, or before the same notary or the same witnesses, provided that each party signs before a notary and in the presence of two witnesses, and each party, each witness and each notary signs. A seller in Shreveport and a buyer in Houma can each sign before their own notary and witnesses. What no party can do is sign alone.
Can a Louisiana authentic act be notarized online?
No. Louisiana's online notarization law says it may not be used to execute an authentic act, and separately that donations may not be executed that way. A sale of land can be signed as an act under private signature before a Louisiana online notary, and it will be valid as an acknowledged act, but not an authentic one. A gift of land is signed in person.
What has to be printed on the act besides the signatures?
Beneath every signature, the signer's typed or hand-printed name. Beside the notary's printed name, the notary's ID number issued by the Secretary of State, or the bar roll number of an attorney who notarizes. A clerk of court may refuse to record an act that lacks the notary's number or the printed names of the notary and witnesses. In the body of the act, the parties' full names, not initials alone, and their permanent mailing addresses, and each individual's marital status with the spouse's full name.
Official Sources
Louisiana's private law is in its Civil Code, cited by article, and its other statutes in the Revised Statutes, cited by title and section. Each links to the text on the Louisiana Legislature's website, which opens in a new tab.
- Civil Code art. 1833 — the authentic act: notary, two witnesses, every signer's name beneath the signature, signing at different times and places, the mark of a party who cannot sign.
- Civil Code art. 1836 — the act under private signature duly acknowledged, and the rule that it cannot substitute for an authentic act where the law prescribes one.
- Civil Code art. 1839 and art. 2440 — a transfer or sale of immovable property is made by authentic act or by act under private signature.
- Civil Code art. 1468 and art. 1541 — the definition of a donation inter vivos, and the rule that it must be made by authentic act under penalty of absolute nullity.
- Civil Code art. 2030 — an absolutely null contract may not be confirmed.
- Civil Code art. 3352 — what a recorded act contains, including the notary's number and the printed names of notary and witnesses.
- R.S. 35:511 and R.S. 35:513 — the forms of acknowledgment, and acknowledgments taken in other states.
- R.S. 35:11 and R.S. 35:12 — marital status in notarial acts; full names and mailing addresses; the notary identification number; the clerk's power to refuse.
- R.S. 35:623, R.S. 35:626, R.S. 35:627 and R.S. 35:629 — the Remote Online Notarization Act: what may not be notarized remotely, where the notary and the witnesses must be, the identity procedure, and the ten-year recording.
Checked against the Louisiana Civil Code and Revised Statutes on September 3, 2026.