Source date: 2026-05-12
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Inheritance: Changes to rules for assets held by multiple heirs Published on May 13, 2026 - Service Public / Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister's Office)
After a death, if there are multiple heirs, the deceased's assets are held in co-ownership before the estate is divided. This means they belong collectively to all heirs, who hold rights of the same nature over the assets in question. A law enacted on April 7 has amended several rules regarding co-ownership; the objective is to facilitate the resolution of inheritance disputes and allow the closure of estates that have been blocked for a long time. Service Public explains.
Image 1 Credits: Andrii Yalanskyi - stock.adobe.com
Co-ownership is a transitional period occurring before the division of an estate. During this period, the estate's assets belong undividedly to all heirs; none of them has exclusive rights over this patrimony. Co-ownership may concern a specific asset or several assets. These may be movable property (works of art, furniture, jewelry, vehicles, bank accounts, shares, etc.) or immovable property (house, apartment, building land, agricultural land, etc.).
Co-ownership exists only if the heirs hold rights of the same nature over the same asset. For example, this is the case when a deceased person had several children who inherit the bare ownership of their house (bare ownership is a property right that allows one to dispose of an asset, and thus, for example, to sell or give it away).
Within the framework of co-ownership, decision-making rules differ depending on the types of decisions to be made.
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Acts of conservation, such as replacing a faulty boiler or carrying out roof repair work, can be decided by a single co-owner (a co-owner is a member of the co-ownership).
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Administrative acts (concluding or renewing a residential lease, selling movable assets to pay off debts and charges of the co-ownership) require a majority of two-thirds of the undivided shares (undivided shares are the rights held by co-owners over an asset within the co-ownership). The majority of 2/3 of the undivided shares and the majority of 2/3 of the heirs are sometimes different. Indeed, a co-owner may hold more undivided shares than others in a given asset.
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Dispositive acts (sale or donation of real estate, etc.) are subject to the principle of unanimity. However, unanimity is not required in certain cases (for example, when a co-owner is unable to express their will).
Certain aspects related to co-ownership were modified by a law dated April 7, 2026. In the explanatory memorandum of the bill, it is recalled that the situation of co-ownership "is likely to last for a long time, very long, and some contentious inheritance co-ownerships have lasted for 20, 30, or 40 years". It is further specified that "we are witnessing a proliferation of real estate properties left abandoned, whether as a consequence of conflicting co-ownerships or vacant successions, where no heir could be found".
Henceforth, following the enactment of this law, the Civil Code provides that a co-owner may obtain judicial authorization to conclude alone the sale deed of an asset forming part of a co-ownership; this is possible when such a sale is justified by an urgent situation and the common interest. This provision enshrines case law from the Court of Cassation on the subject.
Certain territories benefit from derogatory regimes. This is notably the case in Corsica, where the derogatory regime was established "to combat an ancient land disorder," as noted in the report on the bill. Thus, in Corsica, a two-thirds majority may suffice to perform dispositive acts (the sale or donation of real estate, etc.) on certain assets. The law of April 7, 2026, clarifies the modalities of this Corsican specificity. It indicates, in particular, that co-owners holding at least two-thirds of the shares may decide, before a notary, to proceed with the sale or division of the asset.
The notary is then responsible for notifying this intention to the other co-owners within one month and simultaneously ensuring the publicity of this project in a legal notices newspaper, via posting and on a website.
The co-owners then have a period of three months to object. If one or more co-owners object, the notary records this by minutes, and the judicial court may authorize the sale or division, provided that it does not excessively impair the rights of the other co-owners.
New rules concerning the judicial division of co-ownership
A co-ownership situation ends with the division of assets. Each heir then receives their share of the inheritance and becomes the individual owner.
When the division of assets cannot be settled amicably (for example, in case of opposition from one of the co-owners), some of the heirs may refer the matter to the court of the place where the succession opened to request division. The division is then settled judicially; if necessary, the court appoints a notary to carry out the division operations and a supervising judge to oversee these operations.
The law of April 7, 2026, expands the scope of judicial division. Henceforth, judicial proceedings can be initiated for the division of assets, even in the absence of co-ownership between the parties, when the complexity of the liquidation operations justifies it, or when this absence of co-ownership appears during the proceedings. Furthermore, you can now request that the judicial division procedure of the co-ownership be implemented for the liquidation, division, and settlement of patrimonial interests you hold with your ex-spouse, PACS partner, or cohabiting partner.
Another development concerns the representation of co-owners during judicial division proceedings. In such proceedings, a notary is specifically tasked with drawing up an inventory of assets and calculating the rights of each co-owner. Until now, if faced with the inertia of a co-owner, this notary could formally require them to appoint representation. In the absence of a response, the notary could ask the judge to appoint a representative to represent the defaulting co-owner. These two provisions allowing for the handling of a co-owner's failure have been removed by the law of April 7, 2026.
The presentation report of the bill specifies that this removal was decided in view of implementing a new provision: mandatory representation by a lawyer at all stages of the procedure to address the failure of a co-owner. The implementation of this new provision is subject to a decree, which will also specify the modalities of this mandatory representation.
The law of April 7, 2026, also includes a measure aimed at facilitating the acquisition of unused or abandoned real estate by a municipality or an intercommunal public cooperation establishment (EPCI).
Henceforth, when an asset belongs to a succession opened for more than 30 years and no heir has come forward, the tax administration must transmit to a mayor (or to the president of an intercommunal public cooperation establishment) the information necessary to implement a procedure for acquiring this asset; a request from the mayor or the EPCI president is required for the tax administration to take this step.
For the transmission of information to occur, there must be legitimate doubt regarding the identity or possible death of the owner. Until now, the tax administration could only transmit limited information to municipalities or intercommunal public cooperation establishments.
Legal texts and references
See also
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Inheritance: Co-ownership among heirs Service Public
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Division of estate assets Service Public
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Source: Service-Public particuliers