Table of Contents

SECTION III - OF TESTAMENTARY DISPOSITIONS

Art. 110. Testamentary dispositions are generally made in form of institution of heir, or in form of legacy.

Art. 111. The institution of heir is a disposition by which the testator names one or more persons to succeed him, either in the whole of his estate or only in a certain quantum of the estate, or in some particular thing.

Art. 112. A legacy is a direct disposition which the testator makes for the benefit of one or more persons, either of the whole or a portion of his estate, or of some particular thing.

Art. 113. Testamentary dispositions, whether they be made in form of insitution of heir, or in form of legacy, are either universal or on a universal title, or on a particular title.

Art. 114. Testamentary dispositions universal are those by which the testator gives to one or more persons the whole of the property he leaves at his death, or of which the law permits him to dispose.

Art. 115. Testamentary dispositions on a universal title, are those by which the testator gives to one or more persons a quantum of the property of which the law permits him to dispose, as the half, the third part, the twentieth part, or the whole of a certain kind of property, as all his real estate, all his moveable property; or a quantum of the whole, as the third part of his real estate or three fourths of his moveable property.

Art. 116. Testamentary dispositions on a particular title, are those by which the testator gives to one or several persons certain substances, as such a house, such a horse, his library, his ward robe; or indeterminate things as a horse, a silver bason weighing so much; or a certain sum of money, as a sum of ten thousand dollars; or a certain quantity, as ten puncheons of rum or a hundred barrels of flour.

Art. 117. By testament may be made all kinds of dispositions, whether universal or on a universal title, or on a particular title.
But by codicil may be made only dispositions on a particular title and for things purely moveable, otherwise they are null and void.

Art. 118. Testamentary dispositions may be made either purely or simply or conditionally.

Art. 119. Although testamentary dispositions whether universal or on a universal title, or on a particular title, may be made indifferently, either by form of institution of heir, or by form of legacy, we will treat more particularly of universal dispositions under the title of institution of heirs, and of particular dispositions under the title of legacy.

 

SECTION IV - OF THE INSTITUTION OF HEIR AND OF DISINHERISON

Art. 120. A testator who has forced heirs, that is to say legitimate descendants or ascendants, is not, in order to the validity of his testament obliged to institute them heirs; they will nevertheless have a right to the legitimate part reserved to them by law; but if the testator desires to deprive them of that legitimate part, he can do it only by disinheriting them by testament, in the manner and form hereafter prescribed.

Art. 121. If the testator has instituted his forced heirs by his will, or has there bequeathed them legacies and other advantages of less value than the legitimate part reserved to them by law, those heirs have an action for their supplement of their legitimate part, the effect of which is to cause the reduction of the other dispositions made by the testator to the prejudice of the legitimate part in the manner prescribed in section second of chapter third of this title.

Art. 122. Whether the forced heirs have or have not been instituted by the testator, they are by his death, of full right, seized of all the property of the succession, and the heir instituted universally, is bound to demand of them the delivery of the property contained in the testament, saving the reduction in case of their exceeding the disposable portion.

Art. 123. Nevertheless in the same cases, the heir instituted universally shall have the enjoyment of the property comprised in the testament, from the day of the decease, if the demand of delivery was made within a year from that day, otherwise that enjoyment shall commence only from the day on which an action is brought, or from the day on which the delivery is voluntary consented to.

Art. 124. When on the death of a testator there are no forced heirs, the heir instituted universally shall be of full right, seized by the death of the testator, without being obliged to demand the delivery.
And in that case the heir instituted universally shall be subject to the same rules as the legal heir, as to the acceptance or rejection of the succession, to the benefit of an inventory, to the partition and collation of goods and payment of the debts, conformably to what is prescribed in the title of successions.

Art. 125. An heir universally instituted being in concurrence with forced heirs, shall be liable for the debts and charges of the succession of the testator personally for his part and portion, and by mortgage for the whole, he shall be bound to pay off all the legacies, except in the case of reduction, as explained in articles 33 and 34 of the present title.

Art. 126. Forced heirs may be deprived of their legitime or legal portion, and of the seisin granted them by law, by the effect of disinherison by the testator, for just cause and in the manner hereafter prescribed.

Art. 127. A disinherison to be valid, must be made by testament; were it only by codicil it would be null and void.

Art. 128. The disinherison must be made by name and expressly, and for a just cause, otherwise it is null.

Art. 129. There are no just causes of disinherison but those expressly recognized by law in the following articles.

Art. 130. The just causes for which parents may disinherit their children, are twelve in number, to wit:
1st. If the child has raised his or her hand to strike the parent, or if he or she has really struck the parent; but a mere threat is not sufficient.
2dly. If the child has been guilty towards a parent, of cruelty, a crime or grievous injury.
3dly. If the child has attempted to take the life of either parent.
4thly. If the child has accused a parent of any capital crime, except however that of high treason.
5. If the child has refused sustenance to a parent, having the means to afford it.
6. If the child has neglected to take care of a parent become insane.
7. If the child refused to ransom them when detained in captivity.
8. If the child used any act of violence or coercion to hinder a parent from making a will.
9. If the son has had an incestuous commerce with his father's wife.
10. If the child has refused to go bail for a parent, having the means, to take him out of prison.
11. If the son or daughter being a minor marries without the consent of their parents.
12. If the daughter being a minor whom her parents have proposed to marry with a portion according to their means, has rejected their proposal in order to lead a debauched life: but if the father or mother has neglected to marry a daughter until the age of majority, she cannot be disinherited though after that age she leads not a regular life or fall into a fault contrary to her honor.

Art. 131. The ascendants may disinherit their legitimate descendants, coming to their succession, for the ten former causes expressed in the preceding article, when the acts of ingratitude there mentioned have been committed towards them, instead of towards the parents; but they cannot disinherit their descendants for the two latter causes.

Art. 132. Legitimate children dying without issue and leaving a parent or other ascendants, in the direct line, cannot disinherit them unless for the eight following causes, to wit:
1st, If the parent has accused the child of a capital crime, except however the crime of high treason.
2d, If the parent has attempted to take the child's life;
3d, If the parent has by any violence or force hindered the child from making a will;
4th, If the parent has refused sustenance to the child in necessity, having the means of affording it.
5th, If the parent has neglected to take care of the child while in a state of insanity;
6th, If the parent has neglected to ransom the child when in captivity;
7th, If the father or mother or other ascendants have attempted the life the one of the other, in which case the child or descendant making a will, may disinherit the one who has attempted the life of the other;
8th, If the father or other male ascendant has had an incestuous commerce with the wife of his son or descendant.

Art. 133. The testator must express in the will for what reasons he disinherited his forced heirs or any of them, and the other heirs of the testator are moreover obliged to prove the facts on which the disinherison is founded, otherwise it is null.

Art. 134. When all the forced heirs have been validly disinherited, the heir instituted universally, is seized in full right, of the succession, without being bound to demand the delivery of it, in the same manner as if there were no forced heirs, conformably to what is prescribed in article 124 above.

Art. 135. An heir who is instituted only on a universal title, shall be bound to demand delivery from the forced heirs not disinherited for just cause; and if there be no forced heirs, from the heir instituted universally; and if there be no such heir, from the legitimate heirs and other persons succeeding, called in the order established in the title of successions.

Art. 136. The heir instituted on an universal title, shall like the heir instituted universally, be liable to the debts and charges of the succession, personally for his part and portion, and by mortgage for the whole.

Art. 137. When the testator has disposed of only a quantum of the disposable portion, and that by a universal title, the heir thus instituted shall be bound to pay off the particular legacies by contribution with the legitimate heirs and other persons succeeding to the testator.

Art. 138. In no case can the heir instituted on any title whatever, pretend to the falcidian portion, that is to say the fourth part which the civil law empowers the testamentary heir to retain of the succession, in case it be absorbed above three fourths by the legacies, that right being and remaining abolished.




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