Make a will-share
Verified 28 March 2023 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
You want to choose how your estate's assets will be distributed among your heirs upon your death?
You can do it in writing in a shared will. You then impose your will: the beneficiaries must accept the sharing, otherwise they give up the succession.
Writing, content, choice of beneficiaries: here are the rules to know to make a will-sharing.
To make a will-share, you must meet the following 3 conditions:
- To be sane, that is to say to have mental capacities allowing a discernment and a sufficiently enlightened will
- Being an adult or minor over the age of 16 (between 16 and 18 years, you can bequeath only half of your property unless you are emancipated minor)
- Have the legal capacity to manage your property.
Please note
to be valid, your will must not be written under duress
If you are guardianship majorHowever, you can make a will-share only with the authorization of the guardianship judge or the family council.
If you are adult under family authorization, in the interests of justice or under curatorshipNo, you can do your will-share alone.
FYI
you can't make a will-share with several. For example, it is forbidden to write a single will-share for you and the person you live with as a couple. Each member of the couple must express their last wishes in their own will-sharing.
Your will-share must be written. You can do it alone or in front of a notary.
Write your will-share alone
This will is said holograph.
For the will-share to be valid, the following 3 conditions must be met:
- Be written in full by hand (it should never be typed, even in part)
- Be precisely dated (the day, month and year are essential)
- Be signed.
Please note
you can write your will-share in a foreign language.
In order to avoid any risk of cancelation of your will-share or misinterpretation (ambiguity, etc.), you can ask a legal professional for advice to draft it.
You can entrust it to a notary to ensure its preservation. In this case, the notary must register it with the Central Willingness Arrangements File (CWDF) within 3 months of the death of the testator.
Have your will-share drawn up by a notary
This will is said genuine. You dictate it to a notary who will be assisted by 2 witnesses or another notary. Once written, your will-share is read by the notary. You sign the document, like the notary and his assistants.
The notary keeps your will-share and is in charge of registering it at the Central Willingness Arrangements File (CWDF) within 3 months of the death of the testator.
Please note
witnesses who assist the notary may not be chosen from among the beneficiaries of the will-share.
The will-share must include only your personal property. It can not concern common property (if you are in a couple) or property undivided.
You can choose to share only part of your property. In this case, the property not mentioned in your will-share is allocated according to the rules of legal devolution.
The designation of the beneficiaries of your will-share is not free. There are certain rules that must be followed.
The property will be shared upon the death of the deceased in accordance with the provisions of the will-share.
Designation of beneficiaries
You can make a will-share for the benefit of heirs presumptive.
You can also make a will-share for the benefit of descendants to different degrees, whether or not they are your heirs. For example, a grandmother may make a shared will for children (who are her heirs) and grandchildren (who are not, as long as their parents are alive).
However, the sharing must not affect the hereditary reserve. For example, the testator who has a child must provide, in his or her will-share, for the allocation of half of his or her property to that child.
An heir who has not received a lot equal to his reserve share may exercise a reduction action.
Effects on beneficiaries
Your heirs will receive the property designated in your will-share upon your death according to the provisions you have specified.
These provisions are binding on the beneficiaries. They can accept them or they can forego them. But if they refuse, they can't claim a new division of your estate.
The will-share is free if you write it alone (will says holograph).
However, if you deposit the document with a notary, you will have to pay a custody fee.
If you have your will-share drawn up before a notary, you will have to pay him a fee for this service.
Since January 2021
Type of will | Drafting costs | Opening and description fees | Pre-Death Care Expenses |
|---|---|---|---|
Holographic Will | No fees | €26.41 HT either €31.69 TTC | €26.41 HT either €31.69 TTC |
Authentic or mystical will | €113.19 HT either €135.83 TTC | No fees | No fees |
Between 1 May 2016 and 31 December 2020
These rates apply to the following services:
- Service performed prior to January 2021 that has not yet been paid
- Service that resulted in the payment by the client of a deposit or provision before March 2020
- Service that resulted in costs incurred by a notary before March 2020
Type of will | Drafting costs | Opening and description fees | Pre-Death Care Expenses |
|---|---|---|---|
Holographic Will | No fees | €26.92 HT either €32.30 TTC | €26.92 HT either €32.30 TTC |
Authentic or mystical will | €115.39 HT either €138.47 TTC | No fees | No fees |
FYI
the notary may also charge you a fee for the registration of your holographic will in the central file of the provisions of last will (FCDDV).
You may, until your death, modify or cancel your will-share.
After your death, your heirs can, in some cases, seek the annulment of your will-share.
At your initiative
You may, until your death, revisit your will-share.
Depending on the importance of the changes to be made, you can:
- Make a declaration of change of will before a notary
- Make a new will-share canceling the previous one
- Destroy your will holograph (by tearing it, for example).
At the initiative of your heirs
After your death, your heirs can seek the annulment of your will-share in court. This request must be made by subpoena. Cancelation may be requested in the following cases:
Répondez aux questions successives et les réponses s’afficheront automatiquement
Non-performance of the obligations under the will-share
A shared will may require the beneficiary to perform certain duties (for example, to pay an annuity to a specified person).
If the beneficiary does not fulfill his obligations, your heirs can request the cancelation of the will-sharing in court.
Who shall I contact
Your heirs must request cancelation within a period of 5 years from the day on which the payee ceases to perform his duties.
The judges determine whether the alleged facts are sufficiently serious to allow the will-sharing to be annulled.
Non-compliance with the formalism of the will-share
Your heirs can request the cancelation of your will-share if it was not written correctly.
For example, a holographic will Undated can be canceled.
If you have not signed your will-share, cancelation may also be requested.
Your heirs must apply to the judge for annulment.
Who shall I contact
Your heirs must request cancelation within a period of 5 years from the date of your death or from the day on which they become aware of the will-share.
Failure to respect the mandatory character of the will-share
The will-share is an act of authority that requires sharing. If you provide only optional assignments for your heirs, the mandatory character of the will-share is not respected.
Your heirs can then challenge it in court.
Who shall I contact
They may do so within a period of 5 years from the date of your death or from the day on which they become aware of the will-share.
Testor's Insanity of Spirit
Your heirs can request the cancelation of the will-share if you were not sane at the time of writing. This means that you did not have the mental capacities to be able to discern and have the will to do so.
Your heirs must apply to the judge for annulment.
Who shall I contact
Your heirs must request cancelation within a period of 5 years from the date of your death or from the day on which they become aware of the will-share.
Incapacity of the sharing beneficiary
You can't pass your goods on to certain people.
For example, you cannot pass on part of your inheritance in your will to the doctor who treated you during the illness you died of.
Nor can you pass on your property to your guardian or curator.
Your heirs must apply to the judge for annulment.
Who shall I contact
Your heirs must request cancelation within a period of 5 years from the date of your death or from the day on which they become aware of the will-share.
Conditions for making a will-share (article 1075-1), property left on death but not mentioned in the will-share (article 1075-5)
Effects of the will-share (article 1079), action for reduction (article 1080)
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