Following their divorce, my father paid his ex-wife a compensatory allowance, in the form of an annuity. He has passed away. I learned that she was going to receive a survivor's pension. Are these two services cumulative?

No. When the compensatory allowance was paid in the form of an annuity, at the time of the death of the debtor spouse, in principle it is immediately payable in the form of a lump sum. Reversion pensions are deducted from the amount of this compensatory allowance (art. 280-1 and…
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Following the death of our parents, we signed an act of sharing with my sisters. Two days later, one of them came to the family home to claim a property that had been assigned to me. Does she have the right to do so?

No. Following the partition, each co-heir is deemed to have succeeded alone and immediately to all the effects included in his lot and cannot take ownership of the other assets of the succession (art. 883 C. civ.). Consequently, it is not possible for a co-partitioner to appropriate property attributed to…
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My father owned and operated a farm. My brother participated in this activity without being paid but received the profits from the exploitation. Can he claim a deferred salary as part of our father's estate?

No. To be able to benefit from a deferred salary claim, the descendants of the deceased farmer must be over the age of 18 and participate directly and effectively in the operation. However, they must not have been associated with profits and losses, nor received salaries in cash (L.321-13 C…
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