An heir bought the bare ownership of a flat with money provided by her father, and said nothing about it when the estate was settled. Concealment (recel successoral, the deliberate hiding of estate assets by an heir) is established in 2008: she loses all rights over the property. What remains is to know what she owes: the property itself, or its value, at what date, and with interest from when. The Cour de cassation (the French supreme court for civil matters), on 15 December 2021, in a reported decision, ruled: “the heir guilty of concealment by hiding a gift of money used to acquire a property owes a sum representing the value of that property at the date of partition. As this is a debt of value, interest is owed only from the day it is determined.” The court of appeal had made interest run from the 1998 summons; it was quashed. For the valuer, the ruling fixes the object and the date of the valuation: the property acquired, at its current value.
The facts
Two spouses die in 1976 and 1978, leaving seven children. In 1998 a grandson sues one of the heirs for the rapport of gifts (rapport, the adding back of lifetime gifts to the estate) and for concealment. A ruling of 25 April 2008 holds that she is deprived of all rights over a flat whose bare ownership was acquired with money provided by her father and which she did not disclose during the settlement and partition of the estate; it orders the property to be returned in kind. The Cour de cassation quashed in 2009, but only in so far as the return was ordered in kind rather than in value.
On remittal, the Fort-de-France court of appeal, on 5 November 2019, holds that the notary handling the estate must determine “the current value” of the flat, and that statutory interest on that value runs from the summons of 20 April 1998. The heir having died, her daughters appealed to the Cour de cassation.
The decision
The first civil chamber quashed, under article 792 of the Civil Code in its wording prior to the Act of 23 June 2006 (Cass. 1re civ., 15 December 2021, no. 20-15.345, reported). “It follows from that provision that the heir guilty of concealment by hiding a gift of money used to acquire a property owes a sum representing the value of that property at the date of partition. As this is a debt of value, interest is owed only from the day it is determined.”
By making interest run from the 1998 summons, when it had just said that the current value of the flat remained to be determined by the notary, “the court of appeal breached the above provision”. The quashing is limited to that point; the case is sent back to the Basse-Terre court of appeal.
What this changes for valuation
The object valued is the property bought, not the sum given. Where a gift of money was used to acquire a property, the rapport, and the sanction for concealment, bear on the value of that property. That is the rule of article 860-1 of the Civil Code for the rapport of a sum of money used to acquire an asset, which the ruling applies to concealment under former article 792, now 778. The valuer therefore does not index a sum; they value the flat. The article on the gift of money invested in a company applies the same logic to shares, and the one on joint shares sold alone after divorce to concealment between spouses.
The date is that of the partition. A debt of value is fixed at the date of partition, or at the date closest to it when the judge rules before it. Here the summons dates from 1998 and the value was still to be established in 2019: the property is valued at the date closest to settlement, not at the date of concealment, nor at that of the summons, nor at that of purchase. The report gives that value, with its date, and provides the material to update it up to the actual partition, indices and recent evidence. The glossary describes the rapport des donations and its dates.
The condition of the property, however, is taken at the date of purchase. As for any rapport in value, the property is valued according to its condition at the time of the gift, that is, here, of the purchase financed with the money. Works carried out since by the heir do not enter into the value owed; deterioration she allowed to happen is not deducted. The valuer therefore reconstructs the original condition from the deed, plans, photographs and surveys of the time, and values that property at current prices.
No interest before the value is fixed. A debt of value is liquidated only on the day its amount is determined; default interest cannot run before then. This is the opposite of a debt of a sum of money, which bears interest from the demand. A report that computes interest from the summons on a value it has itself just established makes the error censured here; it presents the value, then interest from the judgment or deed that fixes it. The article on the reduction indemnity without partition applies the same rule to interest on the reduction indemnity.
A split ownership valued for what it is. The money financed a bare ownership, not full ownership. The value owed is that of the right acquired, valued at the date of partition according to its state then: if the usufruct has ended in the meantime, the right has become full ownership by operation of law, without the heir paying anything, and it is that full ownership which is brought back. The report explains that reasoning rather than applying a tax scale. The guide on the standard court mission for a partition describes these assignments.
What the valuer takes from it
- The heir who hid a gift of money used to buy a property owes a sum representing the value of that property at the date of partition.
- The property is valued at the date closest to the partition, according to its condition at the date of the purchase financed with the money.
- It is a debt of value: interest runs only from the day its amount is determined.
- A split ownership acquired with the money is valued for what it has become at the date of partition.
- The report gives the value, its date and the material to update it up to the partition.
Further reading
The Market value page describes the assignment, its timescale and its fee. The guide Standard court mission: market value for a partition and the glossary entries rapport des donations, nue-propriété and indivision complement this article. On the same theme: Gift of money invested in a company: rapport at share value and Partition fees: gross assets include the concealment claim. The decision is available on Légifrance.
What next
A concealed gift of money, a property bought with it, and a value to establish at the date of partition?
I value the property at the date closest to the partition, in its condition at the date of purchase, and document how the market has moved since, for the notary handling the estate or the court.
Free quote, by email or by phone. No commitment before the quote is accepted. Fees are never linked to the value of the property (Charte de l’expertise, Title I, §2.1).
