The Concept of Commorientes in French and Russian Inheritance Law
Abstract
The article is devoted to the consideration of the concept of commorientes in French and Russian inheritance law. The commorientes are individuals, entitled to inherit, reciprocally, to each other and considered to have died at the same moment, from the inheritance’s point of view. The commorientes do not inherit reciprocally. The work focuses on how French and Russian law determine the notion of commorientes. Inheritance rules, regarding the commorientes in France and Russian Federation from the beginning of the 19th century are analysed; subsequently, their current versions in force in the French Civil Code and the Russian Federation Civil Code are compared. Particular attention is paid to the issue of the time of the inheritance opening. In the Russian legislation this issue has not been unambiguously resolved for a long time. The article presents the evolution of the Russian and French rules on inheritance after the commorientes. In French law, presumptions of survival have been in effect for many years, allowing to determine the sequence of deaths of people who died as a result of the same event. The article contains the rules of the current legislation in France and in the Russian Federation, as well as suggestions for their improvement.
About the Authors
Élodie Créteau
University of Southern Brittany
France
France
Contract Lecturer, Faculty of Law, Economics and Management
Campus de Tohannic, André Lwoff st., Vannes, 56000
Natalia Rostovtseva
National Research University Higher School of Economics
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Associate Professor, School of Private Law
20 Myasnitskaya st., Moscow, 101000
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For citation:
Créteau É., Rostovtseva N. The Concept of Commorientes in French and Russian Inheritance Law. Russian Law Journal. 2020;8(1):4-24. https://doi.org/10.17589/2309-8678-2020-8-1-4-24
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