Forced heirship
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.[1] Forced heirship laws are most prevalent amongst civil law jurisdictions and in Islamic countries; these include major countries such as France, Saudi Arabia, the U.S.A. (in Louisiana)[2], and Japan.
Black's Law Dictionary defines a forced heir as:
| “ | Those persons whom the testator or donor cannot deprive of the portion of his estate reserved for them by law, except in cases where he has just cause to disinherit them. | ” |
Advocates of forced heirship contend that it is perfectly proper for testators to be required to make adequate provision for their dependents, and that most countries in the world permit wills to be varied where they would leave dependents destitute. Critics suggest that there is a great difference between varying wills to the minimum degree to provide sufficient financial support for dependents 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 distribute their assets in a certain manner on their death 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.
