Facts
The late L., who passed away on October 3, 1991, had allocated the compulsory portion to her daughter S. and the freely disposable share to her son B. By a contract dated August 4, 1978, L. had transferred the ownership of a property in Y. to B., but had reserved the lifelong and gratuitous usufruct for herself. The imputed value of this transfer was set at CHF 260,000 in the contract.
S. filed a claim against B. for the reduction of her mother's transfers to B. to the legally permissible amount. The Court of Appeal of the Canton of Bern partially upheld the claim and set the imputed value of the property at CHF 1,169,000.
B. appealed against this judgment to the Federal Supreme Court.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court held that S.'s claim for reduction as an heir entitled to the compulsory portion was rightly asserted in the partition proceedings against B. as a co-heir. The requirements for asserting the claim for reduction by way of defense were met.
Regarding the transfer of the property to B., the Federal Supreme Court found that this was to be…