My father was disinherited by my grandfather — can I still inherit from my grandfather's estate?

The branch survives the exclusion

Disinheritance is personal. Your father lost his own claim by his own conduct, but the article has his descendants take his or her place, and what they take is the legitime he would have had. That legitime is not redistributed among your uncles and aunts. Note what this means for the arithmetic: the estate is still divided as though your father's branch existed, because it does — the share simply lands one generation down. If there are several of you, you divide his legitime between you rather than each taking a share of your own.

The legitime only, not the free portion

The article is careful about the extent of what passes. It preserves the rights of compulsory heirs with respect to the legitime, and no further. Anything your grandfather left your father out of the free portion is gone with the disinheritance and does not descend to you; that part of the estate is his to redirect as he chooses. So the size of the claim is fixed by law rather than by the will, and it is worth computing before any negotiation — the branch's entitlement may be smaller than the family assumes.

Your father gets no benefit from your share

The closing clause anticipates the obvious evasion: the disinherited parent shall not have the usufruct or administration of the property which constitutes the legitime. He cannot collect its fruits, occupy it, manage it, or handle the proceeds if it is sold — which matters especially where the descendants taking his place are minors, since a disinherited father cannot administer the property in that capacity either. The property belongs to you outright, and any arrangement that routes its income or control back to him defeats the point of the provision.

Test the disinheritance itself first

Before settling for the legitime, it is worth examining whether the disinheritance holds at all. It must be made in the will, expressly, and state a cause that the Code recognises; and if your father denies the cause, the burden of proving it lies on the other heirs. Should it fail on any of those points, the institution of heirs is annulled insofar as it prejudices him and he is restored to his own legitime. So obtain the will and read the clause word for word before deciding which claim to make.

Related provisions

• Civil Code, Article 923 — The Disinherited Heir's Children Take His Place
• Civil Code, Article 917 — Who Must Prove the Cause
• Civil Code, Article 918 — Defective Disinheritance