The law provides that the children of a deceased receive all of his property if the latter has not expressed contrary wishes in a will and subject to the rights of the surviving spouse if this is the case. A child, like any heir, has three options:purely and simply accepting a succession, accepting it but without having to pay debts greater than the value of the assets transmitted (what is called acceptance of the succession up to net assets) or renounce the estate. In what cases is this waiver used and what are the consequences?
A child, like any heir, has 4 months from the day of the death of one of his parents to exercise his succession option, that is to say whether or not to accept the succession. After this period, and without a decision on his part, the other heirs, any creditors of the deceased and the State have the possibility of obliging him to make a decision within a period of 2 months. Without a choice expressed beyond this second period, the child is considered to have purely and simply accepted the inheritance. If no one asks the heir who has not exercised his inheritance option within the allotted time to make a choice, the time limit for communicating his decision is extended to 10 years. After this period, and without a response from him, he is considered to have renounced the succession.
Held as a de facto heir by law following the death of one of his parents, a child who renounces the succession receives no property or money from the deceased. He also does not have to pay any debts. He is considered never to have been an heir. This renunciation is the subject of a writing which can be addressed in particular to the creditors of the deceased parent. On the other hand, as a descendant, he may have to contribute to funeral expenses according to his financial means.
A child who renounces his inheritance sees his share transmitted to his own descendants (children or grandchildren) or, failing that, to his co-heirs (brothers and sisters for example).
Renouncing an estate is not a final choice. A child who has expressed this wish can reconsider his decision provided that it intervenes within 10 years following the opening of the succession and that no other heir, or the State, has accepted this succession.
An adult child who decides to renounce an inheritance following the death of one of his parents must send a specific form (Cerfa n° 15828*01) to the registry of the High Court of the last domicile of the deceased (to the Court of instance if he resided in the departments of Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin and Moselle), accompanied by a full copy of the death certificate of the deceased, his birth certificate dating less than 3 months, as well as than a copy of proof of identity. This declaration of renunciation of a succession, completely free of charge, is then the subject of a receipt by mail.
For successions opened since 1 st November 2017, the declaration of renunciation of inheritance can also be addressed or deposited with a notary who then forwards it to the court.
Aside from moral considerations, one of the motivations for renouncing a share of inheritance may be the desire to transfer this inheritance directly to its representatives, i.e. one's own children, who share this share of inheritance. This solution has the advantage of reducing the cost of transmitting the estate because the tax authorities authorize in this case that only the grandchildren of the deceased person pay inheritance tax. This prevents the inherited estate from being taxed twice, on the death of the grandparents and that of the parents. The representative heirs also share the personal tax allowance of their parent who has renounced the inheritance and benefit from the tax rate that would have been applied to him if he had accepted it.
The renunciation of an inheritance can also, for a child, have the objective of not supporting the debts contracted by the deceased parent.
To know: the reasons for renouncing an inheritance do not have to be motivated by the child who makes this decision, neither with the tax authorities, nor with the other heirs.
