French Civil Code
In forceIf an agricultural holding constituting an economic unit and not run as a company is not maintained in undivided ownership and has not been the subject of a preferential allotment under the conditions provided for in articles 831, 832 or 832-1, the surviving spouse or any co-owner heir who wishes to continue the farm in which he is or has been effectively involved may demand, notwithstanding any application for an auction, that the partition be concluded on the condition that his co-partitioners grant him a long-term lease under the conditions set out in Chapter VI of Title I of Book IV of the Rural Code, on the farm land that is theirs. In the case of the heir, the condition of participation may have been fulfilled by his spouse or descendants. Unless there is an amicable agreement between the parties, the person requesting to benefit from these provisions receives priority in his share of the farm and residential buildings.
The foregoing provisions apply to a part of the farm that may constitute an economic unit. This economic unit may be made up, in part, of property of which the surviving spouse or heir was already the owner or co-owner before the death.
If applicable, depreciation due to the existence of the lease is taken into account in the valuation of the land included in the various lots.
Articles L. 412-14 and L. 412-15 of the Rural and Maritime Fishing Code determine the rules specific to the lease mentioned in the first paragraph of this article.
If, due to the obvious inability of the claimant(s) to manage all or part of the farm, the interests of the co-heirs are likely to be compromised, the court may decide that there is no need to apply the first three paragraphs of this article.
