“The Court sees (...) no reason to depart from the reasoning of the (French) courts to the extent”
in particular, where the ECHR
“has never recognized the existence of a general and unconditional right of children to inherit part of their parents' property
,” indicates the Court in its judgment, rendered unanimously by the seven judges.
This decision follows the challenge by Jean-Michel Jarre and his sister concerning the decisions of the French courts depriving them of the inheritance of their father, the composer Maurice Jarre.
According to the ECHR, the French courts
“verified that the applicants were not in a situation of economic precarity or need”
, continues the court based in Strasbourg, which agrees with French justice.
This had estimated that Maurice Jarre had the right to disinherit Jean-Michel Jarre, 75 years old, and his sister Stéphanie, 58 years old.
Fui Fong Khong, sole heir
Installed in the United States in the mid-1960s, winner of three Oscars for composing the scores for the films
Lawrence of Arabia
,
Doctor Zhivago
and
The Road to India
and died in 2009, Maurice Jarre left all his property to his last wife , Fui Fong Khong, via a “family trust”, a legal structure provided for by Californian law, which the two applicants had, in vain, contested before the French courts.
In French law, you cannot theoretically disinherit one of your children, under the principle of
“hereditary reserve”
which does not exist in Californian law.
But in the Jarre case, the Court of Cassation ruled in 2017 that ignoring this
“hereditary reserve”
was
“not in itself contrary to French international public order”
.
In short: this is not necessarily an essential principle according to the highest French court.
In fact, the latter had considered that the French law did not have to be imposed on that of California.
The ECHR considers that the French courts
“respected the testamentary freedom of the deceased”
whose wishes reflected a
“continuous and well-defined approach to benefit their surviving spouse from all of their property”
, without
“fraudulent intention”
.
Read alsoSuccession of Johnny: Laeticia Hallyday announces a “definitive agreement” with Laura Smet
“The ECHR validates the testamentary freedom of the deceased who has removed his estate from French law. The contentious saga of the international succession of Maurice Jarre is thus closed (echoing other famous successions, including
that of Johnny Hallyday
...)"
, commented on the social network .
The contested succession of Maurice Jarre came to light at the start of the legal battle over Johnny Hallyday's inheritance, between his widow and the rock star's two eldest children who are contesting their father's American will having disinherited them under of California law.
In a case similar to that of the Jarre estate, the ECHR also dismissed on Thursday three children of Michel Colombier, arranger of Serge Gainsbourg and Madonna, who died in 2004 and who had also organized his estate via an American “family trust”, the excluding him from his inheritance.
The two requests, introduced in 2018, constituted an “unprecedented” theme for the ECHR, a spokesperson then specified.