Who are the forced heirs?
As a general rule, a testator has the authority to dispose of their assets as they wish; however, the law protects a portion of the inheritance share of descendants, parents, and the spouse. A reserved portion is a part of the inheritance share granted to a legal heir, over which the testator cannot dispose. The testator may only dispose of the portion remaining outside of the reserved portions.
Heirs whose reserved portions have been violated have the right to claim their reserved portion by filing an abatement action. With the legislative amendment made in 2007, the reserved portion for siblings was abolished.
Reserved portion rates are regulated in the law as follows:
- For descendants, half of the legal inheritance share,
- For each of the mother and father, 1/4 of their legal inheritance share,
- For the surviving spouse, the entirety of their legal inheritance share if they are an heir along with descendants or the parent group, and 3/4 of their legal inheritance share in other cases.