UCan an adulterous child claim a share of her late father’s inheritance? This is the question posed by the following case. When Mr.“there is no other right holder” than them.
However, in 1982, Mr.She Y, whom he recognized, and with whom he maintained relations, until 2009. She has the right to inheritance, in the same way as her half-brothers and half-sister: a law of December 3, 2001 has in fact removed the discrimination which previously existed between adulterous children and legitimate children, and which had caused France to be condemned by the European Court of Human Rights. As a reminder, this discrimination was intended to protect the spouse and legitimate children from adultery; the Court, by its judgment Mazurek from 1er February 2000, ruled that the children could not be blamed for acts which were not attributable to them.
In 2019, MShe Y takes legal action to have her status as heir recognized and to obtain the conviction of X for concealment of inheritance. She invokes the article 778 of the civil code which, since a law of June 23, 2006makes it possible to sanction heirs who have fraudulently concealed the existence of a counterpart (and not just misappropriated assets).
Emails and photos
She produces documents proving that her existence was known to her father’s family: emails from the half-sister calling her “sister”photos of them together, letter from the father to the three children he says “love strictly identically”and whose rapprochement he demands, to which his son opposes.
The X, in their defense, explain that they knew of its existence, but that they were not informed of its recognition. The Grenoble judicial court recognizes MShe Y the status of reserved heir, but he rejects her request for sanction of inheritance concealment. As a result, he orders that the estate, instead of being divided into three, be simply divided into four.
MShe Appealed to him, and won his case, the September 26, 2023 : the X “had to” to report its existence to the notary, who would then have proceeded to a “genealogical research”. By failing to do so, they were guilty of concealment of inheritance. The article 778 of the civil code saying that “the rights accruing to the concealed heir and which have or could have increased those of the author of the concealment are deemed to have been concealed by the latter”the Grenoble Court of Appeal judges that the X must receive a lower share of inheritance than theirs.
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