A farmer dies in 2002, leaving his widow, who holds the usufruct of the whole estate under a gift between spouses, and three children. The farm, the deceased’s separate property, is let under a long-term farm lease to one of the daughters and her husband. That daughter applies for preferential allocation (attribution préférentielle, the right of an heir who works a business to be allotted it in the partition against an equalising payment). The Angers court of appeal allots her the farm in full ownership, for 235,266 euros, subject to an equalising payment, holding that allocation compatible with the mother’s usufruct. On 30 April 2025 the Cour de cassation (the French supreme court for civil matters), in a reported decision, quashed: preferential allocation is a method of partition and “can only cover the rights comprised in the joint estate to be divided”; “where the joint ownership exists only in bare ownership, the co-owner in bare ownership can only be allowed to seek an allocation in bare ownership”. For the valuer, the object to value changes: no longer the farm, but the bare ownership of the farm, burdened by a life usufruct and by a lease.
The facts
A farmer dies on 6 February 2002. He leaves his wife, married under a contractual community of acquisitions regime and holder, under a gift of 22 June 1971, of the usufruct of his estate, together with three children, one of whom has since died leaving two children. The estate includes agricultural separate property forming a farm, which the deceased had let under a long-term farm lease to one of his daughters and her husband.
Difficulties arise in the settlement of the estate. The farming daughter sues her mother and her brothers for the opening of the accounts, liquidation and partition, and applies for preferential allocation of the rural property forming the farm. The Angers court of appeal, on 14 March 2024, allots it to her in full ownership, for a value of 235,266 euros, subject to an equalising payment if due: in its view, that allocation is compatible with the mother’s usufruct over all the assets of the estate, since the private transfer of ownership takes effect only at the end of the partition entrusted to the notary. The widow and one of the sons appealed.
The decision
The first civil chamber quashed, under articles 831 and 833 of the Civil Code (Cass. 1re civ., 30 April 2025, no. 24-15.624, reported). Article 831 opens to the surviving spouse or to any co-owning heir the preferential allocation, “by way of partition, subject to an equalising payment if due”, of any agricultural business in whose operation he participates or has actually participated; article 833 extends it to the heir “whether he is co-owner in full ownership or in bare ownership”.
“While it follows from the combination of those provisions that any heir who is co-owner in bare ownership may apply for the preferential allocation by way of partition, subject to an equalising payment if due, of any agricultural business in whose operation he participates or has actually participated, such an allocation, as a method of partition, can only cover the rights comprised in the joint estate to be divided. Accordingly, where the joint ownership exists only in bare ownership, the co-owner in bare ownership can only be allowed to seek an allocation in bare ownership.” The quashing of the allocation in full ownership entails that of the head setting the allocated value at 235,266 euros, and the case is sent back to the Rennes court of appeal.
What this changes for valuation
The object of the partition drives the object of the valuation. The widow holds the usufruct of the whole estate; the children are joint owners only of the bare ownership. The partition can only divide that bare ownership, and preferential allocation can only cover it. The value of 235,266 euros adopted by the court of appeal was, in all likelihood, that of the farm in full ownership; it falls with the allocation. The valuer’s assignment is therefore worded as follows: value of the bare ownership of the property forming the farm, at the date closest to the partition, taking into account the mother’s usufruct and the current farm lease.
Two charges to deduct, not one. Bare ownership is computed from the full ownership value, from which the value of the usufruct is deducted. But the full ownership here is that of a farm let under a long-term lease, and it is valued as let, as recalled by the ruling on the farm let to the allottee’s company. The order of operations matters: first the vacant value, then the discount for the lease, then the usufruct’s share of that result. Applying the usufruct to the vacant value, or forgetting one of the two charges, distorts the equalising payment by tens of per cent.
Tax scale or economic computation. For inheritance tax, the scale in article 669 of the General Tax Code sets bare ownership by the usufructuary’s age. For a partition, nothing imposes that scale, and the article on the surviving spouse’s usufruct over assets held in bare ownership explains why the economic value departs from it: it discounts, over the usufructuary’s life expectancy, the income she keeps, here the farm rents, at a rate reflecting the investment. Where the usufructuary is very old, as in an estate opened in 2002 and still pending, the bare ownership tends towards the full ownership as let, and the report shows it with figures.
The equalising payment is set at partition. The allottee becomes owner only at the final partition and the equalising payment is computed at that date, as recalled by the ruling on the equalising payment due at partition. In an estate open for more than twenty years, the 2024 value is already no longer that of the remittal, the usufructuary has aged and the bare ownership has gained value. The valuation report dates its value, states the parameters that move with time, age, farm rent, land market, and can be updated without being redone.
What the allottee actually receives. The farming heir will obtain the bare ownership of the farm she rents. She will remain her mother’s tenant until the latter’s death, then reunite the usufruct with her bare ownership and the lease will end by merger. The equalising payment she owes pays for a deferred right, not immediate enjoyment; that is what justifies the discount, and it is also what her co-heirs must understand to accept a figure below that of the farm “for sale”. The guide on leaving a family joint ownership describes those discussions.
Full ownership without a discount for joint ownership or split ownership. The starting value of the calculation bears only the real charges on the property, such as the farm lease. In a reported ruling of 22 June 2016 (Cass. 1re civ., no. 15-19.471), the Cour de cassation approved a court of appeal for refusing any discount on jointly owned estate buildings burdened by the widow’s usufruct. Neither joint ownership nor the split of ownership affects their market value “in the relations between the co-partitioners”. The usufruct is therefore not handled by a discount on the farm: its value is deducted once the value as let has been established. The article on jointly owned property valued in full ownership describes how the two fit together.
What the valuer takes from it
- Preferential allocation covers only the jointly owned rights: where the joint ownership exists only in bare ownership, only the bare ownership is allocated.
- The value behind the equalising payment is that of the bare ownership, not of the full ownership of the farm.
- The computation starts from the vacant value, applies the discount for the current lease, then deducts the usufruct; the order matters.
- For a partition, the economic value of the usufruct, discounted over life expectancy and the income retained, prevails over the tax scale.
- The equalising payment is set at the date closest to the partition; the report dates its parameters so it can be updated.
Further reading
The Market value page describes the assignment, its timescale and its fee. The guide Leaving a family joint ownership in France and the glossary entries attribution préférentielle, nue-propriété and démembrement complement this article. On the same theme: Preferential allocation: the farm let to one’s company stays let and Preferential allocation: the soulte is due only at partition. The decision is available on Légifrance.
What next
A farm to allocate in an estate where the surviving spouse keeps the usufruct, and an equalising payment to compute on the bare ownership?
I value the farm as a whole, then the bare ownership at the date closest to the partition, with the current lease, the usufructuary's age and a reasoned economic method, for an equalising payment the notary and the judge can rely on.
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).
