from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
DISINHERISON, civil law. The act of depriving a forced heir of the
inheritance which the law gives him.
2. In Louisiana, forced heirs may be deprived of their legitime, or
legal portion, and of the seisin granted them by law, for just cause. The
disinherison must be made in proper form, by name and expressly, and for a
just cause, otherwise it is null.
3. The just causes for which parents may disinherit their children, are
ten in number. 1. If the child has raised his or her hand to strike the
parent, or if he or she has actually struck the parent; but a mere threat is
not sufficient. 2. If the child has been guilty, towards a parent, of
cruelty, of a crime, or grievous injury. 3. If the child has attempted to
take away the life of either parent. 4. If the child has accused either
parent of any capital crime, except, however, that of high treason. 5. If
the child has refused sustenance to a parent, having the means to afford it.
6. If the child has neglected to take care of a parent, become insane. 7. If
a child has refused to ransom them when detained in captivity. 8. If the
child used any act of violence or coercion to hinder a parent from making a
will. 9. If the child has refused to become security for a parent, having
the means, in order to take him out of prison. 10. If the son. or daughter,
being a minor, marries without the consent of his or her parents. Civil
Code, art. 1609-1613.
4. The ascendants may disinherit their legitimate descendants, coming to
their succession for the first nine causes above expressed, when the, acts
of ingratitude, there mentioned, have been committed towards them, instead
of towards their parents; but they cannot disinherit their descendants for
the last cause. Art. 1614.
5. Legitimate children, dying without issue, and leaving a parent,.
cannot disinherit him or her, unless for the seven following causes, to wit:
1. If the parent has accused the child of a capital crime, except, however,
the crime of high treason. 2. If the parent has attempted to take the
child's life. 3. If the parent has, by any violence or force, hindered the
child from making a will. 4. If the parent has refused sustenance to the
child in necessity, having the means of affording it. 5. If the parent has
neglected to take care of the child when in a state of insanity. 6. If the
parent has neglected to ransom the child when in captivity. 7. If the father
or mother have attempted the life the one of the other, in which case the
child or descendant, making a will, may disinherit the one who has attempted
the life of the other. Art. 1615.
6. The testator must express in the will for what reason he
disinherited his forced heirs, or any of them, and the other heirs of the
testator are moreover obliged to prove the facts on which the disinherison
is founded, otherwise it is null. Art. 1616. Vide Nov 115 Ayl. Pand. B. 2,
t. 29; Swinb. art 7, 22.