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ART. 993.-Though it may be necessary to sell some of the effects of a succession to prevent loss or waste, the sale of the least article of property belonging to the succession will render the person called to the succession irrevocably the heir, unless he cause himself to be authorized by the judge to make this sale at public auction, on a petition in which he shall allege the necessity there is for making it, and shall protest that he does not mean by this act to do an act that would make him liable as heir,

ART. 994.-The person called to the succession does an act, which makes him liable as heir, if, when cited before a court of justice as heir for a debt of the deceased, he suffers judgment to be given against him in that capacity, without claiming the benefit of the inventory, or renouncing the succession.

ART. 995.—An act of piety or humanity towards one's relations is not considered an acceptance; it is not therefore an acceptance to take care of the burial of the deceased, or to pay the funeral expenses, even without protestation.

ART. 996. The donation, sale or assignment, which one of the co-heirs makes of his rights of inheritance, either to a stranger or to his co-heirs, is considered to be, on his part, an acceptance of the inheritance.

ART. 997.-The same may be said, 1o. of the renunciation, even if gratuitous, which is made by one of the heirs in favour of one or more of his co-heirs, and 2°. of the renunciation, which he makes in favour of all his coheirs indistinctly, when he receives the price of this renunciation.

ART. 998. Those who are not capable of contracting obligations, such as minors or persons interdicted, cannot accept an inheritance; but the tutor can accept inheritances falling to the share of his pupil, and so can the curator with regard to those who are under his curatorship, with the formalities prescribed by law.

ART.999. The acceptance of a succession by a married woman without the authorization of her husband or of the judge, is not valid.

ART. 1000.-If the wife should refuse to accept an inheritance, her husband, who has an interest to have it accepted, in order to increase the revenues of which he has the enjoyment during the matrimony, may, at his risk, accept it on the refusal of his wife.

ART. 1001.-Not only the person who is entitled to an inheritance may accept it, but if he dies before having expressly or tacitly accepted or rejected it, his heirs shall have a right to accept it under him.

ART. 1002.-When several heirs in the same degree are called to a succession, some may accept unconditionally, others under the benefit of an inventory; for the unconditional heir does not exclude the heir under the benefit of inventory.

ART. 1003. The heir, who is of age, cannot dispute the validity of his acceptance, whether it be express or tacit, unless such acceptance has been the consequence of fraud practised, or violence exercised against him; he never can urge such claim under pretext of lesion.

ART. 1004.-Nevertheless, if the heir who has expressly or tacitly accepted the succession, has not put himself into possession before he has caused a true and faithful inventory to be made, in conformity to that which is prescribed to the beneficiary heir, he can discharge himself from paying the debts of the succession out of his own property, by abandoning the effects of the successions to the creditors and legatees of the deceased, and rendering them a faithful account of the same, as weil as of the fruits and revenues received by him.

But, in order to enjoy this advantage, the heir, who has accepted, must not have disposed of any of the property moveable or immoveable of the succession, except

in the forms prescribed in the case of the benefit of inventory.

He must not have been decreed by a definitive judgment to be the unconditional heir, nor have accepted at the suit of the creditors, instituted to oblige him to assume this quality.

ART. 1005.-The heir, who has accepted the succession simply, may even be compelled to make an inventory of the succession, and to give security in the same manner as in the case of the benefit of an inventory, if a majority in amount of the creditors. of the succession. either present or represented in the parish where the succession is opened, require it; in default of such security, there shall be appointed an administrator to administer the succession, according to the provisions of the section relative to the benefit of inventory.

ART. 1006.-The effect of the simple acceptance of the inheritance, whether express or tacit, is such, that when made by an heir of an heir of age, it binds him to the payment of all the debts of the succession, not only out of the effects which have fallen to him from the succession, but even personally, and out of his own property, as if he had himself contracted the debts or as if he was the deceased himself; unless, before acting as heir, he make a true and faithful inventory of the effects of the succession, as here above established, or has taken the benefit treated of hereafter.

The engagement of the heir, who has accepted unconditionally, is somewhat different with respect to legacies, as shall be hereafter explained.

SECTION II.

Of the Renunciation of Successions.

ART. 1007.-He who is called to the succession being seized thereof in right, is considered the heir, as long as

he does not manifest the will to divest himself of that right by renouncing the succession.

ART. 1008.-A succession may be renounced only under the same circumstances in which it can be legally accepted, according to the rules established in the preceding section.

ART. 1009.-A succession cari neither be accepted nor rejected conditionally.

ART. 1010.-The renunciation of a succession is not presumed, it must be made expressly by public act before a notary, in presence of two witnesses.

ART. 1011.-He to whose share an inheritance falls, may refuse it, provided he be capable of alienating; for the renunciation of an inheritance is, in all respects, assimilated to an alienation.

Thus a minor cannot make a valid refusal of an inheritance, without the authorization of the judge, and of his tutor or curator.

The same rule applies to those who are interdicted.

ART. 1012.-A woman, under the power of her husband, cannot refuse the inheritance falling to her share, unless she is duly authorized to that effect by her husband, or, on the denial of her husband, by the judge.

ART. 1013.-He who is called to an inheritance may accept or renounce the succession by himself or by an attorney in fact, provided the attorney be specially appointed to that effect.

ART. 1014.-The creditors of the heir, who refuses to accept or who renounces an inheritance to the preju dice of their rights, can be authorized by the judge to accept it, in the name of their debtor and in his stead, according to the forms prescribed on this subject in the following section.

In case of this acceptance, if there be a renunciation or. the part of the debtor, the renunciation is annulled only in favor of the creditors, for as much as their claims

amount to, but it remains valid against the heir who has renounced.

If, therefore, after the payment of the creditors, any balance remain, it belongs to his co-heirs who may have accepted it, or if the heir who has renounced be the only one of his degree, it goes to the heirs who come after him.

If, on the contrary, the heir has only refused to accept and has not renounced, he can claim the surplus, on accepting the succession, provided his right of acceptance be not prescribed against.

ART. 1015.-The portion of the heir renouncing the succession, goes to his co-heirs of the same degree; if he has no co-heirs of the same degree, it goes to those in the next degree.

This right of accretion only takes place in lawful or intestate successions. In testamentary successions, it is only exercised in relation to legacies, and in certain

cases.

ART. 1016. The accretion operates of full right independently of the will of the person for whose benefit it is, and whether he be ignorant or not of the renunciation which gave rise to it.

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ART. 1017.-He, in whose favor the right of accretion exists, cannot refuse the portion of the heir who has renounced, and keep that part which has fallen to him in his own right, because he is bound to accept or renounce for the whole.

ART. 1018.-The rule contained in the preceding article, admits of an exception, when the heir, who has already accepted, has caused his acceptance to be rescinded; for in this case his co-heirs may refuse the portion which he has thus abandoned, and release themselves from the debts with which it is incumbered, by abandoning this portion to the creditors.

ART. 1019.-The accretion is for the benefit of the heirs who have accepted, or who may accept; an heir,

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