“He’s not my son anymore.” This phrase was uttered by the mother of Matthias T., suspected of beating Louis to death in Narbonne. Letizia testified on BFMTV, insisting that she had “completely expelled” her son, who had been in a children’s home for a long time. However, in France it is impossible to “disown” your child. “It’s symbolic, but it’s not legal,” Caroline Mekari, a lawyer who specializes in family law, assures me. It is impossible to refuse participation in the program”
In short: Once you have recognized a child or have been recognized as a parent of a child, you can never be that child’s father or mother again. Having rummaged through the Internet archives, the question arises regularly. “I want to disown my daughter,” who is “part of a generation of spoiled, ‘rotten’ children,” Shusuti wrote on a legal forum.
Despite anger, frustration, alienation, and even abuse, a parent cannot administratively sever ties with their child. Having reached the age of majority, he will always owe him a “maintenance obligation” if the latter finds himself in great financial difficulties, and vice versa. “The reverse is just as difficult: your parent will always be your parent, even if you don’t want to see them anymore,” the black dress clarifies.
Those who are not worthy to inherit
Since filiation cannot be legally violated, can we then disinherit our child, as asked in a legal forum by an anonymous mother who “no longer wanted this child (53 years old) who became odious”? In France, unlike countries such as the US or UK, it is prohibited to disinherit your children. The only possibility is to “use the existing quota,” the lawyer explains. According to Article 913 of the Civil Code, a parent may decide to transfer part of his property to a third party. However, this share is very regulated and is limited to half of his assets if he has only one child, a third if he has two children, and a quarter if he has three or more.
“The only real way to exclude your child from your inheritance is to make him hereditarily unworthy,” Caroline Mercury analyzes Mi. Article 726 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation states that persons convicted as the author or accomplice of the attempted murder or murder of their parent do not deserve inheritance. In this case, the young suspect “made an attempt not on his mother, but on a third party. Even if she wanted, she could not deprive him of his inheritance,” the lawyer continues.
Other cases, such as rape, torture, or false testimony against a deceased parent, may result in loss of inheritance rights. But only if the loved one challenges it in court within six months of the death and the judge rules in their favor. So it’s not automatic.
Make my will great again
Although French law protects copyright holders, this does not apply everywhere. This is also one possible workaround, notes Caroline Mekari. “If a mother really wants to disinherit her child, she can move to the United States and sell all her French assets. Since the law of the deceased’s last place of residence applies to inheritances, if you live in the United States, you can disinherit your child.”
In 2018, Johnny Halliday’s children, Laura Smet and David Halliday, discovered that their father had disinherited them. After numerous trials and more than two years of confrontation, the daughter received 2.5 million euros from her stepmother Letitia Halliday, and the son refused the inheritance.
Place your bets (and lose it all)
Having the surviving spouse have joint property (rather than the default acquisition mode) also allows for a deferral of inheritance since the spouse then inherits everything. Finally, for the most determined, there is the opportunity to squander all their fortune before death. This is exactly what the Count of Paris did, who reportedly declared that “my children will have nothing, they will have to work” and who, after his death in 1999, effectively left them an empty will.
A radical method that is not guaranteed to work. Fifteen years after his death, justice decided to return to the heirs “the historical assets of the treasury of the kings of France,” estimated at several tens of millions of euros. A legal defeat that the one “who thought he could circumvent the laws of the Republic,” according to the lawyer of Jacques and Hélène of Orléans, can no longer challenge.