This is not legal advice. This page is general legal information for Mauritius and does not replace a consultation with a lawyer who has the full context of your case.
Who inherits in Mauritius when there is no will, and can I claim from abroad?
It depends on who survives the deceased, and on what was owned. Without a will, the Code Civil Mauricien sets the order of heirs. Children and their descendants come first, and a surviving spouse inherits at the same rank as a child. With a will, the children still keep the share the law reserves for them. Living abroad does not remove a claim, and a non-citizen heir does not need the certificate a foreign buyer needs. From abroad you must prove your place in the family, give someone authority here, and act before the estate is settled without you.
Can a parent's will cut a child out of a Mauritian estate?
Not entirely. Mauritian law keeps a share of the estate for the children: the réserve héréditaire, or forced heirship. A will can dispose freely only of the remainder, the quotité disponible or free portion. With one child, half the estate is reserved. With two children, two-thirds are reserved, and with three or more, three-quarters. A will that names a second spouse as sole legatee does not, by itself, remove the children of a first marriage. Their reserved share can still be claimed.
The same logic can reach gifts made in life. A transfer made to favour one heir may be questioned after the death where it eats into the children’s reserved share. These claims turn on deeds, dates and payments. They are rarely won on family memory alone.
Wills made abroad raise a separate point. Mauritius is a party to the Hague Convention on the form of testamentary dispositions, so a foreign will is not set aside merely because it followed foreign formalities. It still cannot be carried into effect against property in Mauritius until it has been registered here.
What happens first after a death: the affidavit de succession and the notary
An early formal step is to establish who the heirs are. In Mauritius this is usually done by an affidavit de succession, a sworn declaration of the death, the heirs and, where there is land, the property. Heirs in France will know the acte de notoriété, the notarial deed that proves heirship there. A Mauritian bank or registry will ask for the Mauritian document.
In Me Pertaub's words: “Normally, it will be the attorney who will draft the said affidavit and the barrister has to vet it before it is sworn on.” The notaire, the notary, advises and drafts the deeds that follow, including the deed of partage, the division of the estate. An error in the affidavit, such as a missing child or an undisclosed will, travels into every later transfer.
Where the deceased was married under communauté de biens, community of property, the community affects what forms part of the estate. The marriage certificate and any marriage contract show which regime applied.
The family land has sat in indivision for years. Can it be divided or sold?
Indivision is co-ownership of undivided property. Every heir owns a share of the whole, and no one owns a particular room or plot. It is common in Mauritian family land, often across two or three generations.
The heirs can agree a partage before a notary. Where they cannot agree, the court can be asked to resolve it. A house built on family land, or long occupation of it, raises its own questions of ownership. Both turn on evidence.
An estate left open gets harder with the years. Heirs die, their own heirs multiply, and some cannot be traced. When one heir has sold a share to another without telling the rest, whether anything can be undone depends on what was sold, by whom and how.
Heirs in France, South Africa or India: how is it handled from abroad?
Mauritian land and buildings are generally governed by Mauritian law, wherever the deceased lived. A French notary applies the European Succession Regulation; Mauritius does not. The two systems can reach different answers on one estate, so the Mauritian property is dealt with here, under Mauritian rules.
Three practical points follow. A power of attorney drawn up abroad must be deposited with a notary in Mauritius before any use is made of it. Foreign birth, marriage and death certificates may need an apostille or legalisation, and a translation. A grant of probate or letters of administration from abroad should not be assumed to work here as it stands.
Distance is not the main risk. Silence is. Estates are divided, and land is sold, while heirs abroad wait for a reply that does not come. Ask what has already been filed, and by whom, before anything is signed.
What the chambers does
Lex Aquila Advocates is a chambers of barristers led by Me Mokshda Pertaub, at the Mauritian Bar since 1998. Barristers advise, draft and litigate. Notaries advise and draft documents, including the deeds of an estate. Attorneys, or avoués, also advise and draft pleadings, besides conducting procedure, filing and service. Independent attorneys and notaries convene with the chambers on each matter.
The first conference establishes the family tree, the assets, what has already been filed and what you want to achieve. A written preliminary advice then sets out the route and what can and cannot be promised. Clients who ask for an outcome no one can attack are told the truth. In Me Pertaub's words: “No competent lawyer can promise that, and I would be cautious of one who does.”
Estates that cross borders need colleagues abroad. Again in her words: “I have my own network of colleagues around the world I work with.” Clients abroad may settle the initial consultation in euros or US dollars, and the first conference can be held by video.