Hotchpot of gifts (rapport des donations)

The rapport des donations (hotchpot, the bringing of gifts back into account) rests on an idea of equality between heirs: what a child received during the parents’ lifetime is presumed to be an advance on that child’s share, not a permanent advantage. On death, the child must “bring back” the gift, that is, enter it in the partition account, so that everyone ends up with an equal share. The donor may exempt the donee by stipulating that the gift is made “outside the inheritance share” (hors part successorale); it is then charged against the disposable portion and is brought into account only if it exceeds it.

Hotchpot is no longer made in kind, save for exceptions: the donee keeps the property and receives a share reduced accordingly, which is hotchpot “by taking less”. The whole difficulty lies in the value to adopt, because the property may have changed in value, been altered or been sold since the gift.

Where the rule comes from

Article 843 of the French Civil Code lays down the obligation to bring gifts into hotchpot; article 858 provides that it is done by taking less. Article 860 sets the valuation rule: hotchpot is owed at the value of the property given at the time of partition, according to its condition at the time of the gift; if the property was sold before partition, its value at the time of the sale is adopted; if a new property was bought with the proceeds, the value of that new property is adopted. Article 860-1 applies the same logic to a sum of money used to acquire a property. The Charte de l’expertise en évaluation immobilière (the French property valuation charter), in Title III, § 1.2, points out that a property is valued in its condition at the valuation date, which here combines two dates.

In a valuation report

I must reason on a property as it was on the day of the gift, at the prices of the day of partition. If the donee has built, extended or renovated, those improvements are set aside: land given bare is valued as bare land, even if a house has since been built on it. If the property has deteriorated through the donee’s fault, the deterioration is likewise set aside. The report describes the condition at the date of the gift from the deed, photographs, plans and surveys of the time, then applies the comparables of the day of partition. It presents the value adopted and, if the parties need it, the value of the property in its current condition, explaining that this second figure is not used for hotchpot.

Example

In 2009, a mother gives her son a 900 m² building plot, then valued at €45,000. The son builds a house on it. At her death in 2025, the house is worth €310,000. The hotchpot owed is neither €45,000 nor €310,000, but the 2025 value of a bare 900 m² building plot in that area: €95,000 according to recent land sales. If the land had been reclassified as unbuildable in the meantime, through no fault of the donee, the value to bring into account would be that of unbuildable land in 2025.

Not to be confused with

The abatement of gifts (réduction des libéralités) protects the heirs’ forced heirship share against excessive gifts; it applies to all gifts, whether subject to hotchpot or not, with its own dates (article 922). The hotchpot of debts is a separate mechanism concerning sums owed by an heir to the deceased.