Two reported rulings of 2016 settle the value to use in the partition of an estate (partage, the division of jointly owned assets between the heirs). In the first, co-heirs asked for a discount on buildings held in joint ownership (indivision) and burdened by the widow’s usufruct (usufruit, the right to use the property and take its income); on 22 June 2016 the Cour de cassation (the French supreme court for civil matters) approved the court of appeal for holding that “neither their state of joint ownership nor the splitting of their ownership between bare owners and usufructuary affects, in the relations between the co-partitioners, the market value of the buildings belonging to the estate”. In the second, heirs argued that the lots of a gift partition (donation-partage, a lifetime gift by which parents distribute their assets between their heirs) had been undervalued; on 25 May 2016 the Court quashed: “for the computation of the reserve, the gifted assets must be assessed at their real value at the date of the gift partition, whatever the values stated in the deed may have been”. Two rules distinct from tax discounts, and a precise assignment for the valuer.
The facts
In the first case, a man dies on 5 April 1989, leaving his wife, married under the community regime, and their three children. The widow opts for the usufruct of the whole estate; one of the daughters sues her co-heirs for partition. The Paris court of appeal, on 25 February 2015, holds that the funds from a company’s distributed reserves benefit the bare owners alone, that the jointly owned buildings must be valued in full ownership without any discount, and that this value must be increased by that of three lots in a building; it also dismisses that daughter’s request to end the usufruct of her mother, whom she accused of drawing on the undivided funds. The co-heirs appeal, relying on the loss of market value resulting from joint and split ownership; that daughter appeals as well.
In the second, a mother, married under the community regime, had made various gifts, including a gift partition, to each of her three children, two daughters and a son. After her death, on 12 July 2006, her son died in turn, leaving three children. One of the daughters and the son’s children seek the reduction of the gift partition (réduction, the cutting back of gifts that encroach on the heirs’ reserved share), arguing that the buildings had been undervalued. The court of appeal refuses: the deed reserved no usufruct, the valuations and allotments had been accepted by each reserved heir, each had received a third, and nobody can call accepted valuations into question.
The decision
First ruling (Cass. 1re civ., 22 June 2016, no. 15-19.471 and 15-19.516, reported): on the discount, dismissed, the court of appeal having held “rightly that neither their state of joint ownership nor the splitting of their ownership between bare owners and usufructuary affects, in the relations between the co-partitioners, the market value of the buildings belonging to the estate”. On the reserves, dismissed as well: it had “correctly stated that while the usufructuary is entitled to the distributed profits, he has no right to the profits that have been placed in reserve, which constitute the increase of the company’s assets and as such belong to the bare owner”. Partial quashing, under article 455 of the Code of Civil Procedure, on two points: the increase for the three lots, ordered “without giving any reason for its decision”; and, on the daughter’s appeal, the dismissal of her request to end her mother’s usufruct for abuse of enjoyment (article 618 of the Civil Code), for want of the inquiry she requested and of any answer to her submissions. Remitted to the Versailles court of appeal.
Second ruling (Cass. 1re civ., 25 May 2016, no. 15-16.160, reported): under article 1078 of the Civil Code, together with articles 913, 920 and 922, the Court recalls that “it follows from the first of these provisions that, where its conditions are met, the gifted assets shall, unless otherwise agreed, be valued at the date of the gift partition for imputation and for the computation of the reserve”, and partially quashes, on the reduction claim: “for the computation of the reserve, the gifted assets must be assessed at their real value at the date of the gift partition, whatever the values stated in the deed may have been”. Remitted to the Agen court of appeal.
What this changes for valuation
Between co-partitioners, full ownership, no discount. Everything rests on the words “in the relations between the co-partitioners”. Joint ownership (indivision) is what the partition brings to an end: nobody sells a share to a third party, each receives their part of a common value. The split of ownership (démembrement) gives the spouse a right over that value; it is shared out, it does not depreciate the property. The buildings are therefore valued in full ownership, at the date closest to the partition and in their condition at that date, as in the article on the home valued as close as possible to the partition.
The difference with tax discounts. For tax, the question is the price a third party would pay for what the taxpayer holds, and the Commercial Chamber examines the actual possibilities of sale. On 27 March 2019 it upheld the refusal of a joint-ownership discount for the hôtel particulier (town house) jointly owned by two spouses who live in it, for want of a real constraint on the sale, as explained in the article on the property jointly owned by spouses and wealth tax; on 9 July 2025 it dismissed the appeal of a taxpayer who, after two 10 % illiquidity discounts allowed by the departmental conciliation commission on his shares in an SCI (société civile immobilière, a French property-holding company), claimed further ones, including one for joint ownership, a partner in an SCI not being a joint owner, as shown in the article on SCI shares and wealth tax. In a partition, for a building held directly, one does not simulate the sale of an undivided share or a split right to a third party: the whole property is valued in full ownership at market value, then that value is shared out between the co-partitioners. A décote (discount) for joint or split ownership has no place there, and the report says so; real burdens on the property, such as a current lease, are still taken into account. The ruling does not cover company shares in the estate, which are valued as securities with their own justified discounts.
The split of ownership is computed afterwards, where needed. Where the joint ownership exists only in bare ownership (nue-propriété), the preferential allocation (attribution préférentielle) bears only on it, the Court held on 30 April 2025; the equalising payment (soulte) is therefore computed on the value of that right, as set out in the article on the farm held in bare ownership. The 2016 and 2025 rulings fit together: the value of the building is set in full ownership, without discount for joint or split ownership, but taking account of its real burdens, such as the long-term rural lease of that farm, let property being valued as let, as the article on the farm let to the heir’s company recalls. The allocated right’s value then follows, by deducting the usufruct computed on the usufructuary’s life expectancy. That is a split between rights, not a discount on the property.
Distributed reserves are capital. The 2016 ruling also approves that reserves distributed by a company belong to the bare owners and enter the assets of the joint ownership. The Third Civil Chamber followed the same line on 19 September 2024 for the sale price of all an SCI’s buildings, distributed as a dividend, which goes to the bare owner, the usufructuary holding only a quasi-usufruct over the sum, subject to returning it, as described in the article on the SCI selling all its property.
For the reserve, the gift partition freezes a date, not the figures in the deed. Article 1078 of the Civil Code allows the gifted assets to be valued at the date of the gift partition for imputation and for the computation of the reserve (réserve, the share of the estate the law guarantees to the children), provided in particular that each reserved heir received a lot and expressly accepted it. The ruling of 25 May 2016 specifies what is frozen: the date, not the values stated. If they did not match the market on that day, an heir may prove it, and the computation of the reserve is redone on the real values. The valuer then receives a retrospective assignment: reconstructing the market value of each lot at the date of the deed, from the assets’ condition at the time and sales of the same period in the same area. The article on the gift partition requalified as a simple gift covers the case where the deed loses the benefit of article 1078 and the assets are valued at the partition date; even where valid, the deed’s figures do not bind the computation of the réserve héréditaire. The guide Lifetime gift partition: valuing the lots between children describes how those values are prepared.
What the report delivers. The market value of each building in full ownership at the date closest to the partition, as a range and a point figure, taking account of its real burdens, without discount for joint or split ownership; where relevant, the value of the bare ownership or the usufruct; for the reserve after a gift partition, the real value of each lot at the date of the deed; lastly the table for the notaire (French civil-law notary), mass, reserve, imputation, equalising payments.
What the valuer takes from it
- In a partition, buildings are valued in full ownership, without discount for joint or split ownership between co-partitioners.
- A discount for joint or split ownership, debated in tax matters, does not carry over to the partition accounts, where the whole building is valued; company shares in the estate keep their own justified discounts.
- Where the partition bears only on the bare ownership, the value of that right is computed from the value in full ownership, taking account of the property’s real burdens such as a lease, without a discount for joint ownership.
- Profits placed in reserve by a company whose shares are held in split ownership belong to the bare owner and count among the assets to be shared; if an SCI distributes the sale price of all its buildings, the usufructuary holds only a quasi-usufruct over the sum, under the 2024 ruling.
- For the reserve computation, a gift partition freezes the valuation date, not the figures in the deed: the valuer reconstructs the real value of each lot at the date of the deed.
Further reading
The Market value page describes the assignment, its timescale and its fee. The guide Drafting a market value expert remit for a partition in France and the glossary entries indivision, démembrement and réserve héréditaire complement this article. On the same theme: Gift partition with undivided shares: it is a simple gift and Divorce in France: home valued at partition, even if run down. The decisions are available on Légifrance: no. 15-19.471 and no. 15-16.160.
What next
Jointly owned property to share between the usufructuary spouse and the children, or a gift partition whose values are disputed?
I establish the market value of each asset in full ownership at the date closest to the partition, or its real value at the date of the gift partition, with dated comparables, for the notary, the heirs or the court.
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