In the case, considered recently in the Court of Appeal, the eldest son in a family of 8 children was rejected by his parents following his divorce. Excluded from family events, he no longer had any connection with his family.

When his father passed away in 2015, he realised that over two decades his siblings had benefited from very large cash donations each year.

In court it was established his father had distributed €22,500 each Christmas to his brothers and sisters, a total of more than €427,500 over nearly 20 years.

Considering that he had been wronged, the son brought the case before the courts to have his siblings ordered to return to the estate the gifts they had received.

The brothers and sisters argued that the sums granted by their father were not ordinary gifts that should be reported to the estate but presents granted at Christmas. As such they did not have to be accounted for in the inheritance.

Article 852 of the civil code

grants an exemption from tax for such (customary) gifts, called 'présent d’usage', stating: ‘The character of a customary gift is assessed at the date it is granted and taking into account the assets of the donor.’

In other words, the amount that is considered exempt will not be the same from one taxpayer to another.

Thus, a gift of €10,000 could be considered a taxable gift in a household having a modest income, whilst it could be considered a customary gift in a wealthier household.

To qualify as a présent d’usage two conditions must apply:

• There must be a practice of making gifts on certain occasions (engagement, birthdays, anniversaries, celebrations, births...), and

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• The value of the present must not be out of proportion to the donor's resources, their wealth and annual income.

As a broad rule of thumb, the courts consider that the value of the customary gift may not exceed, on average, 2.5% of the donor's annual income.

Most courts generally only consider the wealth of the donor, when the general rule is that customary gifts should not exceed 3% to 4% of their capital.

The French notaires in their own guidance state that "no text sets the amount of a customary gift".

In the recent case, the family pointed out that the cheques given by their father had always been made out during the holiday season, between December 10 and January 7, and that, even though the cheques had been made out in their names, the real beneficiaries were the grandchildren, most of whom were minors and had no bank account.

As proof, the siblings produced letters from several of the grandchildren thanking their grandparents for the gifts and sums paid at Christmas.

For his part, the son considered that the total amount of €22,500 given to the siblings represented more than a quarter of the parents' annual income - consisting of a pension of €85,816 per year. Thus, in view of the father's fortune, the sums granted by his father were "so excessive that the estate is left with only the immovable property".

Despite the arguments put forward, the trial judges did not find in favour of the son. To arrive at their ruling the magistrates did not retain the overall sum of €427,500, but sliced this amount per year (i.e. €22,500 per year over nearly 20 years) and by the number of beneficiaries, namely 7 brothers and sisters.

They thus considered that "it does not appear that gifts in the amount of €3,187.50 for large families are excessive, or even disproportionate in relation to the financial situation of the donor ".

The son has the right to appeal the case to the Supreme Court, so it may not yet be the end of the matter.