What if you were the beneficiary of an inheritance... without knowing it?

The settlement of an estate is far from being a long calm river.

If the steps are generally simple in the presence of a known spouse or children, the situation becomes more complicated when the heirs cannot be found or they refuse this inheritance.

The succession is then declared vacant.

It is then up to the State to take care of temporarily administering the heritage concerned while waiting for someone to come and claim it.

Now, precisely, asserting your rights is now easier.

barriers to transmission

In France, it is primarily the children who inherit, as well as the surviving spouse if the deceased was married.

Failing this, it is then his parents or his brothers and sisters who will follow on the list, or even his grandparents.

In the absence of close family, it will ultimately be the uncles, aunts, cousins ​​and cousins ​​who will be able to claim the inheritance.

Sometimes, however, the transmission of heritage is hindered.

By family conflict or to avoid recovering the debts of the deceased, it is first of all possible to renounce the succession.

The person is then no longer considered an heir and it is up to the next on the list to decide whether to accept or refuse the inheritance, and so on.

Similarly, in broken families and in the absence of children, it can be difficult to find the heirs of the deceased... To deal with these delicate situations, the legislator has therefore put in place a specific procedure.

The state as manager

Thus, according to article 809 of the Civil Code, a succession can be declared as vacant when it is not accepted or claimed by any known heir at the end of a period of six months from its opening.

For this, it is necessary to go through the referral to the judicial court on which the domicile of the deceased depends in order to have the declaration of vacancy pronounced by order.

It is generally the notary, the public prosecutor or the persons ensuring the management of the deceased person's assets but also, if he had left debts, creditors, who initiate this process.

If the conditions are met, the judge will designate the State, represented by the National Directorate of State Interventions, as curator of the estate.

This specialized service will first of all draw up an inventory of all the assets and identify the debts, then possibly sell the valuables in order to be able to proceed to the payment of the existing debts.

Assert your rights

The Domaine's mission is to preserve the interests of the estate while waiting for an heir to appear.

The law allows you to claim an inheritance for ten years, from the date of death, even if you initially renounced it.

Similarly, the creditors of the deceased can declare their claim as soon as the curator is appointed, in order to recover their due.

But still it is necessary to be aware of the existence of this vacant succession!

Previously, only a publication in a newspaper of legal announcements made it possible to be informed.

However, a new online search service was set up on the official Impots.gouv.fr portal in March 2022. All you have to do is enter the surname and first name of the deceased, as well as the date and place of death to find out if their succession has been declared vacant and have access to the progress of the file.

OUR “ESTATE” FILE

This site will also inform you about all the steps to assert your rights as heir or creditor, knowing that it will soon be possible to carry them out online.

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The numbers to remember

- 6 to 9 months

 : this is the average processing time for a vacant estate, from the appointment of the Estate as curator.

But beware, as soon as the heritage includes real estate, it is rather between

, knowing that the most complex files can take several years. -

 : this is the amount deducted from the assets of the estate to pay the administration, management and sales costs incurred by the services of the Estate . -

 : the new online search service is open for deaths occurring after

.

If the death occurred before this date, the regional services of the Estate must be contacted.-

: this is the number of files for which the services of the Estate are appointed curators of the succession each year.-

 : the assets of vacant successions exceed

.

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