DISINHERIT - The act of a person,
perhaps through creating a will, that has the effect
of depriving another person (an heir) of property
that would have been distributed to that person under
the laws of intestacy.
The act of depriving a forced heir of the inheritance
which the law gives him.
The just causes for which parents may disinherit
their children, are ten in number. 1. If the child
has raised his or her hand to strike the parent, or
if he or she has actually struck the parent; but a
mere threat is not sufficient. 2. If the child has
been guilty towards a parent, of cruelty, of a crime,
or grievous injury. 3. If the child has attempted
to take away the life of either parent. 4. If the
child has accused either parent of any capital crime,
except 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 that became insane. 7. If a child has 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 child has refused
to become security for a parent, having the means,
in order to take him out of prison. 10. If the son
or daughter, being a minor, marries without the consent
of his or her parents.
The ascendants may disinherit their legitimate decendants
coming to their succession for the first nine causes
above expressed, when the, acts of ingratitude there
mentioned have been committed towards them, instead
of towards their parents; but they cannot disinherit
their descendants for the last cause.
Legitimate children, dying without issue, and leaving
a parent, cannot disinherit him or her, unless for
the seven following causes: 1. If the parent has accused
the child of a capital crime except, however, the
crime of high treason. 2. If the parent has attempted
to take the child's life. 3. If the parent has, by
any violence or force, hindered the child from making
a will. 4. If the parent has refused sustenance to
the child in necessity, having the means of affording
it. 5. If the parent has neglected to take care of
the child when in a state of insanity. 6. If the parent
has neglected to ransom the child when in captivity.
7. If the father or mother 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.
The testator must express in the will for what reason
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.
DISINHERITANCE - The act by which
a person deprives his heir of an inheritance, who,
without such act, would inherit.
By the common law, any one may give his estate to
a stranger, and thereby disinherit his heir apparent.
