My father's will disinherited me for a reason I flatly deny — who has the burden of proving it?

Denial is what triggers the shift

The article is conditional: the burden falls on the other heirs if the disinherited heir should deny it. So the denial has to be made, and made clearly, in the proceeding. An heir who stays away from the probate, or who argues only that the disinheritance was harsh or unfair, has not put the cause in issue and cannot expect the burden to move. Deny the factual allegation squarely, and the family members relying on the clause must then come forward with evidence of it rather than resting on the fact that your father wrote it down.

Why the allocation matters so much here

Disinheritance cases are built on old family conduct — an assault, a refusal of support, an accusation, a serious wrong done years before. Evidence of that kind is thin and contested at the best of times, and the one person who could speak to it directly is dead. Whoever carries the burden in that situation is very likely to lose it. The Code's choice therefore reflects a policy as much as a procedure: a compulsory heir is not stripped of his legitime on the strength of an unproved accusation made in a document he cannot cross-examine.

What happens if they cannot prove it

An unproved cause does not merely fail — it takes part of the will with it. Where the disinheritance was made without specifying a cause, for a cause that is contradicted and not proved, or for a cause not among those the Code allows, the institution of heirs is annulled insofar as it prejudices the person disinherited. The devises, legacies and other dispositions survive to the extent they do not impair the legitime. In practical terms, you are restored to your legitime and the rest of the will operates around it.

Two things to check before anything else

First, whether the will states a cause at all, and whether that cause is one the Code recognises — the grounds are specific, and a disinheritance for ingratitude in the loose family sense of the word is not among them. Second, whether the disinheritance was made in the will itself, expressly, since it cannot be done in a letter, a side note or by leaving the heir out silently. Get the exact wording of the clause before deciding how to answer it; the ground stated is what the other heirs will be held to.

Related provisions

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