Disinheritance

Disinheritance is the deceased's exclusion of a reserved heir through a testamentary disposition. The statute allows two grounds: the heir's commission of a grave offence against the deceased or their close relations, and substantial failure to perform family-law duties owed to the deceased or their family.

Exclusion may only be made by will or inheritance contract, and the ground must be expressly stated; where no ground is stated or it cannot be proven, the exclusion operates only beyond the reserved share. The burden of proving the ground lies on those who benefit from the exclusion.

The disinherited heir takes no share and cannot bring an abatement action; their share passes to their descendants, if any. The statute also permits a protective form of disinheritance covering half the reserved share of an insolvent descendant, made in favour of that descendant's children. Because the grounds are narrow, a large share of disinheritances fail under judicial scrutiny.