CL and the Charente Bar Association are continuing their partnership, which allows readers to question the lawyers by sending their questions to [email protected]. A Charentais is faced with a situation that affects quite a few families when the grandfather dies and the children are not all on the same wavelength when it comes to inheritance: “My last parent has died and my brothers and sisters do not want to sign the inheritance, what can I do?”
M’s responsee Marianne Boussiron, lawyer at the Charente bar. Upon the death of the parents, the children and, if one of the children has predeceased them, the grandchildren, are considered to be reserved heirs, that is to say, they cannot be disinherited and are entitled to a minimum share in the estate. The proportion of said share depends on the number of heirs.
Upon death, all heirs are now joint owners (1) assets falling into the estate. The latter is opened by death at the last domicile of the deceased and it is advisable to contact a notary close to the domicile of your deceased relative. The notary has one year to draw up a declaration of succession, namely a document listing the identity of the deceased, the heirs, the active and passive mass of the estate. To this end, he gathers together all the elements of the assets handed over by the heirs and questions the banking establishments. He then summons the heirs.
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If one of the heirs does not respond, the others can refer the matter to the judicial court through a lawyer so that it orders the judicial opening of the account operations, liquidation and division of the estate, which means that it will appoint a notary who has not yet intervened in the case in order to resume the succession operations from the beginning.
“If one of the heirs does not respond, the others can refer the matter to the judicial court.”
If the estate includes assets to be valued, the Court may appoint an expert, unless it leaves it to the notary to retain the services of the professional of his choice. Each heir will present his claims to the new notary. If the disagreement persists, a report of difficulties is drawn up, listing all the points of disagreement between the heirs.
It will then be appropriate to refer the matter to the court again, which will decide each point of dispute and whose decision will be binding on all. If, despite this, an heir continues to refuse to sign the estate, the lawyer for the other heirs can request the judge to approve the draft division drawn up by the notary, which will definitively close the estate.
(1) Refers to property over which several people have a right and which is not materially divided between them.
