French Civil Code

The creditors of the estate declare their claims by notifying their title to the elected domicile of the estate. They are paid under the conditions provided for in Article 796. Claims whose amount has not yet been definitively determined are declared provisionally on the basis of an assessment. Failure to declare within fifteen months of the publication provided for in Article 788, unsecured claims on the estate’s assets are extinguished…

From its publication and during the period provided for in article 792, the declaration stops or prohibits any enforcement proceedings and any new registration of security by the creditors of the estate, relating to both movable and immovable property. However, for the application of the provisions of this section and subject to the service provided for in Article 877, seizing creditors are deemed to have security interests in the property…

Where the succession has been accepted by one or more heirs purely and simply and by one or more others to the extent of the net assets, the rules applicable to the latter option are binding on all the heirs until the day of partition. The creditors of an estate accepted by one or more heirs purely and simply and by others up to the amount of the net assets…

Within the period provided for in article 792, the heir may declare that he is retaining in kind one or more assets of the succession. In this case, he owes the value of the property set out in the inventory. He may sell the property he does not intend to keep. In this case, he owes the price of their disposal.

The declaration of the alienation or conservation of one or more assets shall be made within fifteen days to the court, which shall ensure its publication. Without prejudice to the rights reserved to secured creditors, any successor creditor may contest before the judge, within three months of the publicity referred to in the first paragraph, the value of the property retained or, where the sale was made out of court,…

A declaration to retain an asset is not enforceable against creditors until it has been published. Failure to declare the alienation of an asset within the period provided for in Article 794 engages the heir on his personal property up to the price of the alienation.

The heir settles the liabilities of the estate. He pays the registered creditors according to the rank of the security attaching to their claim. Other creditors who have declared their claim are paid in the order of the declarations. Legacies of sums of money are delivered after payment of the creditors.

The heir must pay the creditors within two months of either the declaration to retain the property or the day on which the proceeds of the disposal become available. Where he is unable to dispose of it to the creditors within this period, in particular because of a dispute concerning the order or nature of the claims, he shall record the sums available for as long as the dispute remains.

Without prejudice to the rights of creditors with securities, the creditors of the succession and the legatees of sums of money may only pursue recovery from the assets collected from the succession which have not been retained or disposed of under the conditions provided for in Article 793. The heir’s personal creditors may not pursue recovery of their claims against these assets until the end of the period provided for…

Inheritance creditors who, within the period provided for in Article 792, declare their claims after the exhaustion of the assets have recourse only against the legatees who have been fulfilled of their rights.