Forced heirship

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Forced heirship is a reference to the testamentary laws which limit the discretion of the testator to distribute assets under a will or codicil on death. Forced heirship laws are most prevalent amongst civil law jurisdictions and in muslim countries, but also occurs in other major countries such as France, the U.S.A. (in Louisiana) and Japan.

Advocates of forced heirship contend that it is perfectly proper for testators to be required to make adequate provision for their dependants, and that most countries in the world permit wills to be varied where they would leave dependants destitute. Critics suggest that there is a great difference between varying wills to the minimum degree to provide sufficient financial support for dependants and prohibiting the testator from distributing the estate or a proportion of the estate to any female children, or younger male children, and that it cannot be any less repugnant to force a deceased person's assets to be distributed in a certain way than it would be to tell them how they may do so during their lifetime.

Wealthy individuals sometimes seek to circumvent forced heirship laws by transferring assets into an offshore company and seeking to settle the shares in the offshore company in a trust governed by the laws of a jurisdiction outside their domicile.

• See also: Legitime