Succession and transformation of a natural bond into a civil obligation

 A man died in Canada, leaving his two daughters to succeed him, and a son he later admitted to writing his will.

The son having been omitted from the will, the two sisters agreed to sign an act in which they undertook to have the father's assets divided equally between them and their brother.

Following the death, difficulties arose during the liquidation and division of the estate.

PROCEDURE AND PRETENTIONS OF THE PARTIES: The Court of Appeal sentenced the daughters of the deceased to hand over to their brother, in the execution of an obligation to which they had subscribed in an act, a third of the assets they had collected in the succession.

The daughters of the deceased then appeal to the Court of Cassation, arguing that the performance of a natural obligation presupposed a debtor's action based on an overriding duty of conscience by which the debtor considered himself bound and of which he wished to free himself.

In the case at bar this was not the case, since the deceased's son had not been unfairly left out of his father's vesting because of late recognition, but the latter had deliberately departed from it.

The sisters criticize the Court of Appeal for having found that the act they signed reflected their recognition of a duty of justice to their brother, who had been omitted from their father's will.

The daughters of the deceased also add that the transformation of a natural obligation into a civil obligation presupposed either the voluntary performance of the obligation by the person who held it, or a promise of performance expressly expressing the will of the debtor. fulfill this obligation, which is not enough to characterize the only recognition of the existence of a moral duty.

Having considered that the act signed by the deceased's daughters reflected their recognition of a natural obligation and a duty of justice towards their brother, the Court of Appeal would have violated articles 1134 and 1235 of the Civil Code.

PROBLEM OF LAW : Does the private deed in which the daughters of the deceased undertake to share the assets of the estate with their brother omitted from the will, generate a legal obligation?

SOLUTION : The Court of Cassation answers in the affirmative, and rejects the appeal appealed.

The Court of Cassation considers that the private deed signed by the daughters of the deceased, which tended to an equal distribution of assets with their brother had turned a natural obligation into a civil obligation.

Credit: Fiche d'arrêt