This page has been automatically translated. Please refer to the page in French if needed.
Family
Can you “disinherit” a parent?
Publié le 04 septembre 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
Vanessa hasn't spoken to her father in years. His brother Leo tells him that this parent is in a difficult financial situation. He is unable to cope with the many debts he has accumulated over his life. Married and mother of two, and with a good standard of living, Vanessa is afraid of having to repay instead of her father. She wishes she were no longer considered her daughter. She would also like to know whether she could now "disinherit" her father.
Service-Public.fr replies:
No, Vanessa may not ask to break the legal parent-child relationship who unites her with her father to be discharged of her debts. The relationship of parentage between a child and its parent cannot be called into question for purely financial or emotional reasons.
No, Vanessa must not repay his father's debts.
The debts incurred by Vanessa's father are strictly personal. She therefore does not have to take the place of this failing father, as she is not responsible for her debts while he is alive. No creditor can come to ask Vanessa to participate in their repayment.
If, however, the over-indebted man can no longer cover his daily needs (food expenses, housing expenses, clothes...), Vanessa has to help him as a child. She and her brother could be forced by the judge to pay him a pension until he can support himself daily.
No, Vanessa cannot deny inheritance in advance. There is no such preventive action. Only the death of the father, who opens his estate, allows the child to refuse the inheritance with debts.
On the opening of the succession of a deceased by his death, the heir must choose:
- or to accept the succession outright;
- or to renounce it completely;
- or to accept it up to the amount of net assets.
So Vanessa cannot now step forward to refuse to take over her father’s future succession. She'll have to wait for her death.
Additional topics
Service-Public.fr
Service-Public.fr
Agenda
Transition écologique
À partir du 18 sept. 2024
Publié le 10 septembre 2024
Aide à la scolarité
À partir du 2 sept. 2024
Publié le 30 août 2024
Deux et trois-roues
Jusqu'au 15 sept. 2024
Publié le 15 juillet 2024