Glossary
The words you will hear at the notary's office, translated into everyday language.
- Acte de notoriété (deed of inheritance)
- Document drawn up by the notary formally establishing who the heirs are and in what proportions. The cornerstone of the file.
- Rights holder (ayant droit)
- A person who can assert a right in the estate, by law or by will.
- De cujus
- The legal term for the deceased person whose estate is being settled.
- Legal devolution
- The way the law distributes the estate between heirs in the absence of a will.
- Indivision (joint ownership)
- The situation where several people hold the same asset together, each for a share, with no physical division.
- Occupancy indemnity
- A sum that may be owed by the heir who occupies a jointly owned property alone, compensating the others for loss of use.
- Licitation
- The auction of a jointly owned asset, ordered where the heirs cannot reach agreement.
- Bare ownership
- Ownership stripped of use and income, which belong to the usufructuary. Full ownership returns when the usufruct ends.
- Disposable portion
- The part of the estate that can be freely disposed of by will or gift once the children's reserved share is respected.
- Bringing gifts into account
- The mechanism that reintegrates lifetime gifts into the division calculation, restoring equality between heirs.
- Usufruct
- The right to use an asset and receive its income without holding full ownership. It ends on the usufructuary's death.
- Division (partage)
- The operation ending joint ownership by allocating each person their share, in kind or in value.
- European Certificate of Succession
- A document allowing an heir to prove their status in another EU member state.
- Mainlevée (mortgage discharge)
- The deed removing a registered mortgage from the property, required to sell free of charges.