Court of Cassation ruling on compensation between personal claims and succession debts under the benefit of inventory.
Extract
[...] Article 802 of the Civil Code sets the fundamental principle of separation of assets. This means that the heir who accepts a succession under the benefit of inventoryface of'inventory cannot see its personal assets confused with those of the succession, which thus limits its responsibility. In de'Other terms, creditors of the succession cannot turn against the heir's own estate, and conversely, the latter cannot invoke personal claims to compensate for succession debts. However, the Court of Appeal has authorized a compensation between the amounts paid in excess to the deceased child and the compensation for the damage to his motherisHowever, although she had accepted the succession under a usufructunder the'inventory. [...]
[...] The mother of the child accepts the inheritance under the benefit of inventory. By a ruling dated 25 September 1998, the Versailles Court of Appeal ordered compensation between the amounts improperly paid to the child and those owed to his mother.isre. This lastisre a then formed an appeal in cassation. The child's mother relies on Article 802 of the Civil Code, which states that the personal property of an heir who has accepted the inheritance under the benefit of inventory is separated from the property of the inheritance. [...]
[...] - She did not differentiate the claim of the child which falls under the succession from the indemnification of the mother which is personal. - The Court violated the principle of separation of assets, in accordance with Article 802 The reaffirmation of the principle by the Court of Cassation - The Court of Cassation overturned the ruling by stating that by accepting the inheritance under the benefit of inventory, there can be no compensation, and distinguishes the estate of the inheritance from the personal estate = goes in the direction of Article 802 - Reaffirmation of this principle ? [...]
[...] It will thus be a question of determining whether a compensation is possible between the personal claims of a beneficiary heir and the debts of the succession in case of acceptance under the benefit of an inventory.to determine if a creditorcan an heir compensate an amount paid to the deceased with a claim he holds on the heirheir in his own name. In this case, a child was seriously injured in a traffic accident and was compensated by Axa insurance company for an amount of 700,000 francs. However, this child subsequently died as a result of his injuries. His final damage is estimated at 340,000 francs, and that suffered personally by his mother is valued at 169,095 francs. [...]
[...] Ultimately, the Court of Cassation quashes this ruling by reaffirming the strict application of Article 802 of the Civil Code. Thus, to understand the stakes of this decision, it will be necessary to examine in the first instance the application of Article 802 of the Civil Code, which is related to the separation of assets, and which, in addition, prohibits compensation between personal claims and the debts of the succession Next, it will be a matter of analyzing the solution adopted by the Court of Cassation, which first rejects the ruling made by the Court of Appeal, and then reaffirms the principle of separation of assets and therefore the impossibility of compensation (II). [...]
