A husband gives plots of land to his wife in 1979. He dies in 1993. She sells some of them, then gives the rest to one of their two sons in 2004, before dying in 2006. At the partition of both estates, the notary values the plots given on again at their value on the day of partition, 201,200 €, to compute the rapport owed by the mother’s estate to the father’s (the sum a gift recipient must bring back into the estate so that heirs share equally). The son argues for 91,500 €, the value on the day of the 2004 gift. The Court of Appeal disagrees: the property still exists. On 14 January 2026 the Cour de cassation (the French supreme court for civil matters) sided with him: a gift is an alienation within the meaning of article 860 of the Civil Code, and the rapport is computed on the value at the date of that alienation. The difference, more than 100,000 €, hangs on a single date.
The facts
The father dies on 8 February 1993, leaving his wife and two sons. By deed of 29 December 1979 he had given his wife various plots. After his death she sells some of them and, by deed of 26 February 2004, gives the rest to one of the sons. She dies on 16 May 2006. A judgment orders the accounts, liquidation and partition of both estates; the notary draws up a statement of difficulties.
To fix the rapport owed by the mother’s estate to the father’s for the 1979 gift, 266,463.42 €, the notary values the plots given on in 2004 at their value on the day of partition, 201,200 €, rather than at their value on the day of the 2004 gift, 91,500 €. The Bourges Court of Appeal, on 7 September 2023, approves that computation: the 2004 gift is not an alienation “since the property still exists on the day of partition”. It also refuses to hold the action to reduce the 1979 gift time-barred and keeps a reduction indemnity of 121,827.44 € among the liabilities of the mother’s estate.
The decision
The first civil chamber quashed the judgment (Cass. 1re civ., 14 January 2026, no. 23-22.130), under article 860, paragraphs 1 and 2, of the Civil Code in its wording prior to the law of 23 June 2006: “The rapport is due of the value of the property given at the time of partition, according to its condition at the time of the gift. If the property has been alienated before partition, account is taken of the value it had at the time of the alienation and, if a new property has been substituted for the property alienated, of the value of that new property at the time of partition.”
The rule fits in one sentence: “A gift is an alienation within the meaning of this provision.” By holding that the 2004 gift was not one because the property still existed, the Court of Appeal breached article 860.
On limitation, the Court also quashed: for an estate opened before 1 January 2007, the time limit for the action in reduction, cut from thirty to five years by the law of 17 June 2008, “expired at the latest on 18 June 2013 at midnight”. The reduction indemnity of 121,827.44 € could therefore no longer be claimed. The case is remitted.
What this changes for valuation
Three possible dates, only one right. The rapport of a gift is computed in principle on the value of the property at the day of partition, according to its condition at the day of the gift. If the recipient sold the property, it is the value at the day of sale; if the recipient replaced it with another property, it is the value of the substituted property at partition. The decision adds that giving the property to a third party, here one’s own son, is an alienation like any other: the value is frozen at the date of the second gift. The current wording of article 860, from the 2006 law, keeps the same rules.
Why the date changes everything. Between 2004 and the partition the plots went from 91,500 € to 201,200 €, more than double, no doubt through the market and the evolution of the land and its buildability. Picking the wrong date makes an estate bear an enrichment that never came to it, or the reverse. The liquidating notary needs, for each property given, a chronology: date of the gift, condition of the property at that date, any alienations and their dates, substituted property, date of partition.
Valuing at an old date. A value as at 26 February 2004 is not established with today’s references. The valuer rebuilds the market of the time: sales of land and plots in the area recorded in that period, notarial databases, price indices, planning documents then in force for buildability, condition of the plots from the deeds and aerial photographs. The value is given at that date, in the condition of the property at the date of the original gift, which means setting aside improvements or deterioration caused by the recipient in the meantime.
Condition at the time of the gift. The principle, value at partition according to condition at the gift, requires separating what comes from the market, which benefits or burdens the estate, from what comes from the recipient, works, subdivision, a planning permit, which stays with the recipient. A valuation report for a partition therefore presents two values at the retained date: the property as it was, and the property as it is, with an explanation of the gap.
Limitation of the action in reduction. The second point of the decision is a useful reminder: the action to reduce excessive gifts is time-barred, and for old estates the period expired in June 2013. A reduction indemnity computed in a liquidation statement is only valid if the action is still open; before quantifying the reserved portion and the disposable portion, the notary and the valuer check the dates.
What the valuer takes from it
- A property given then given on again is an alienated property: the rapport is computed on its value at the date of the second gift, not at partition.
- The rapport requires a full chronology for each property: gift, condition at that date, alienations, substitutions, partition.
- A value at an old date is rebuilt with the references of the time, not with today’s market.
- Condition at the gift remains the reference: gains and losses due to the recipient stay with the recipient.
- The action in reduction is time-barred; estates opened before 2007 have been affected since June 2013.
Further reading
The Market value page describes the assignment, its timescale and its fee. The guide Lifetime gift partition: valuing the lots between children and the glossary entries rapport des donations and réduction des libéralités complement this article. On the same theme: Gift of money invested in a company: the rapport is owed in value and Inheritance: gifted land valued as bare land. The decision is available on Légifrance.
What next
A gift to bring back to the estate, a property sold or given on since, and dates that do not match?
I establish the value of the property at each date the law requires, gift, alienation, partition, with references from the time, in a report the liquidating notary can use.
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