The legal right of return of siblings in the event of inheritance

If a person dies without leaving a child but only a spouse, the law allows siblings to request, for half, the return of property that had been given to the deceased by the parents. This is therefore an exception to the inheritance rule whereby, in the absence of descendants, the surviving spouse takes precedence over parents and siblings.

The underlying idea of this mechanism lies in the fact that the assets given by the parents must remain within the family.

What about any work carried out on the received property?

When the legal right of return in favor of siblings is implemented, the question of valuing the work carried out by the deceased on property they had received from their parents may arise. For example, an heir Jean receives a house in which he carries out €100,000 worth of work and then dies, leaving as his sole heir his surviving spouse.

The question was therefore whether the estate of Jean could claim a debt against the siblings who were requesting the application of the legal right of return for half of the property given by the parents. One might have thought, in fairness, that the siblings should indeed compensate the estate of Jean for the value contributed to the property, insofar as the siblings were going to receive a property enhanced compared to that which had been allocated to their brother Jean.

The Court of Cassation, however, adopted the opposite solution in a ruling of February 28, 2018 (n°17-12.040): siblings must therefore receive the property in the condition it is in on the day of death, without any financial compensation being required from them. This solution is legally justified by the fact that siblings are heirs of the deceased.

The advice of the inheritance lawyer

This solution, though rigorous, is legally sound. However, its effects can be mitigated if the heir who received property from their parents drafts a will in favor of their spouse. In this case, the right of return of siblings cannot be exercised, and the spouse is therefore protected.