Forced heirship

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Forced heirship is a form of testate partible inheritance which mandates how the deceased's estate is to be disposed and which tends to guarantee an inheritance for family of the deceased.

In forced heirship, the estate of a deceased (de cujus) is separated into two portions.

1. An indefeasible portion, the forced estate,^[a] passing to the deceased's next-of-kin^[b] (conjunctissimi).
2. A discretionary portion, or free estate,^[c] to be freely disposed of by will.

Forced heirship is generally a feature of civil-law legal systems which do not recognize total freedom of testation, in contrast with common law jurisdictions.

Normally in forced heirship, the deceased's estate is in-gathered and wound up without discharging liabilities, which means accepting inheritance includes accepting the liabilities attached to inherited property. The forced estate is divided into shares which include the share of issue (legitime or child's share) and the spousal share. This provides a minimum protection that cannot be defeated by will. The free estate, on the other hand, is at the discretion of a testator to be distributed by will on death to whomever he or she chooses.^[2] Takers in the forced estate are known as forced heirs.^[d]

The expression comes from Louisianan legal language and is ultimately a calque of Spanish sucesión forzosa.

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