Facts
Ernst Giesker left as his legal heirs three children (the plaintiff, defendants 2 and 3) and the daughter of a predeceased child (defendant 1). He reduced the plaintiff and defendant 1 to their compulsory hereditary portion, in favor of defendants 2 and 3 as well as the spouse of defendant 3 (defendant 4). The Higher Cantonal Court ordered the division of the estate in such a way that the amount of a donation made by the deceased to defendant 4 shortly before his death be added to the estate assets at the date of death, that 3/16 of this sum be allocated to the plaintiff and defendant 1, that the remainder be distributed among defendants 2 to 4 in certain proportions, and that the changes in value of the estate between the date of death and the final distribution be distributed among the parties according to determined shares.Considerations
The Federal Court upheld the judgment of the previous instance to the extent that it was contested. It considered that Art. 474 para. 1 CC, which provides that the available portion is calculated according to the state of the assets at the time of the death of the deceased, does not apply when the deceased has disposed of a share of the…