Walk It Through: The Son Who Is Twenty
A will that leaves everything to a new spouse, a son still twenty three or younger, and the share the law reserves.
A mother's will leaves everything to her second husband. Her only son is twenty.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
Forced heirship and a simple intestate estate. Disinheriting for just cause, a grandchild representing a parent, and trusts that satisfy the legitime are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Community propertyProperty acquired during the marriage by either spouse's effort, of which each spouse owns a present undivided half.
- Separate propertyWhat a spouse owned before the community began, and what one spouse receives alone by inheritance or gift.
- SuccessionThe transmission of a deceased person's property to the heirs or legatees, by testament or by law.
- UsufructThe right to use property and take its fruits while someone else owns it, as a surviving spouse has over the deceased's community share when there are children.
- Forced heirA child 23 or younger at the parent's death, or of any age if permanently incapable of self care, who cannot be left out of a will without just cause.
- LegitimeThe share of an estate the law reserves to forced heirs: one fourth with one forced heir, one half with two or more.