Proposition 51K2655

Projet de loi modifiant le Code civil en vue d'améliorer la protection successorale des enfants nés hors mariage.

General information ¶

Author

Vooruit Annelies Storms

Submission date

July 25, 2006

Official page

Visit

Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

inheritance law of succession child natural child

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP Open Vld N-VA MR VB

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Discussion ¶

April 12, 2007 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

I refer to the written report.

“Children born in and out of marriage have the same rights and obligations.” This is specified in Article 334 of the Civil Code. The Belgian legislator, however, waited 1987 to incorporate this fundamental principle of equality between children in his Civil Code after being condemned by the Court of Justice of Strasbourg in the famous Marckx judgment of 13 June 1979.

Unfortunately, there are still some discriminations in our Civil Code. This proposal aims to perfect the principle of equality in the field of the status of marital benefits in relation to children from a previous union. Since the Napoleon Code, the legislator has taken care of the protection of children born from a previous union by allowing them to regain part of the benefits granted to the new spouse whose descendants they are not through a marriage contract. This principle is translated into Article 1465 of our Civil Code.

However, this article 1465 specifies that in the event that there are children from a previous marriage, any marital agreement that would have the effect of giving to one of the spouses beyond the available quota will be without effect for all the surplus. By using the words "children of a previous marriage", Article 1465 therefore enters into contradiction with Article 334 cited above, since children born outside marriage are not covered. The law proposal therefore aims to modify the text by speaking of children born "outside the current marriage", that is, children born from other unions, whatever they are, and to restore in this the principle of equality.

Article 295 of the Civil Code stipulates that if the divorced spouses reunite by making their marriage again celebrated, Article 1465 to which I have just referred will apply only if there are children from an intercalary marriage between the two unions. Here again, we speak of children from a marriage and we do not refer to children from another union, children born outside marriage. In this, this provision is also discriminatory and we amend it in the same sense as Article 1465 in order to restore the principle of equality.

What should be recalled from this proposal is that there is no longer any discrimination between children based on the civil status of the parents because a child is a child.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker. It is always a pleasure for a member of parliament to see a bill passed. It may be just a small amendment to the Civil Code, but its consequences are important.

The bill adapts the inheritance right to the newly formed families. Despite several renewing reforms, whether or not partners are married has consequences not only for themselves, but also for their children. As long as it comes to joint children of the cohabiting couple, the differences are rather limited, but in families where the context changes and natural parents and stepmothers, own children and stepmothers, half-brothers and half-sisters often form a bad band, the situation is much less simple. What applies to the relationship between the partners, of course, also applies to the children. The less pleasant and often unintended consequences of the chosen form of society become apparent only at the moment of separation or at the moment of the death of one of the partners.

The composition of the new family has a great impact on the arrangements of Belgian inheritance law. Due to the increasing number of remarried marriages or successive relationships, the legal practitioner is increasingly confronted with the handling of inheritance, which creates a collusion between stepchildren and their longest living stepfouder. In this case, the application of Article 1465 of the Civil Code may cause problems. The article here amended by this bill protects children from a previous marriage from marriage benefits granted by a parent in the case of a marriage contract or amendment of the marriage contract to their parent. However, if the children of the testator are not born from a previous marriage but from an unmarried cohabitation, they shall not enjoy any protection against such excessive advantage through the marital property right of the new spouse of the testator.

This is a flagrant discrimination between children processed within and outside the marriage. This is also contrary to Article 334 of the Civil Code, which presupposes the equality of children, regardless of the manner in which their descent is determined. Therefore, with this bill, we extend the protection provided for in Article 1465 of the Civil Code, on the one hand, to the children born out of marriage and, on the other hand, in certain cases, to the children born from adultery.

In spirit all children are equal, even in inheritance. A second parent relationship can always harm the children from a first relationship and we believe that all children should be protected equally. For us, it is really impossible for children to be harmed because their parents were not married. By approving the present bill, this will be corrected and many inheritance issues in newly formed families will be better resolved.