A gift: it may come back into the calculation of the reserve

A gift made during life does not always leave the estate for the purpose of the heirs' rights. The Civil Code provides for hotchpot of gifts between statutory heirs, so that an advance is taken into account on division, and for adding lifetime dispositions to the mass used to calculate the reserve. A gift that encroaches on the reserve may be reduced. The donor may dispense with hotchpot in the forms and within the limits of the statute, not beyond the reserve. A transfer called a « present » in the family does not set these rules aside. The text is the inheritance law of the Civil Code on Fedlex.