Hotchpot (rapport à succession in French law) is the obligation for an heir who has received a gift from the deceased during their lifetime to bring that gift back into the common pool (mass successorale) before the estate is divided, so that all heirs share equally. It applies unless the donor expressly stated the gift was made out of the freely disposable portion (hors part successorale). In a business context, hotchpot can substantially alter the dynamics of a succession if an heir received company shares by gift years before the death.

The hotchpot value is calculated at the date of division (not the date of the gift), which creates a risk: if the company has appreciated significantly between the gift and the death, the successor who received the shares must bring back the current value — potentially a much larger amount than the original gift. This "revaluation at division" rule (Article 860 of the French Civil Code) is one of the key reasons why the donation-partage is preferred over simple gifts: a donation-partage fixes the value at the date of the notarial act and is exempt from hotchpot.

In Switzerland, the hotchpot obligation (Ausgleichung, Articles 626 et seq. of the Swiss Civil Code) applies similarly but with important differences: Swiss law only requires hotchpot for gifts intended as advances on the inheritance, not for all gifts. The Swiss reform of 2023 also modified certain hotchpot rules. Valuation of the assets brought back into hotchpot is a frequent source of expert valuation mandates in estate disputes.

At Hectelion, we produce independent business valuations for hotchpot calculations in inheritance disputes and succession planning in France and Switzerland.