Maigret and Disinherited Heirs

[Pixietoadstool]

I have been watching the Maigret series on television in UK lately with good old Michael Gambon.  I was interested because twice the reason for murders appeared to be something to do with wills - i.e. not the rightful heir killing their mother/father/uncle but someone who had weaseled their way into the charms of the murdered one and stood to gain from the will.  I was a little surprised because I thought this was impossible in France i.e. that one cannot disinherit one's rightful heirs.

Any comments on this conundrum (after all it is set in France and written by a French man so how could the story be so odd or have I got myself totally mixed up?).

Valerie

P.S. 10 brownie points for the christian name of Maigret

[Clarkkent]

 

Maigret's first name is Jules and he was born in the village of St Fiacre in Allier where his father was a bailiff.

Worthy though Michael Gambon is in the role, he does not hold a candle to Rupert Davies who manages to give Maigret great humanity. Incidentally, nowhere does Simenon give Mme Maigret a name. The BBC decided to call her Louise. The Gambon series was filmed in Hungary - Budapest looks nothing like Paris and the rural settings might just as well be on the Moon for all their lack of French "feel".

And Simenon was not French but Belgian ...

... as for the legal niceties? The novels are about psychological insight, they are not really procedurals.

[Pucette<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Pucette<FONT><P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">"Qui ne connaît pas la campagne lhiver, ne connaît pas la campagne et ne connaît pas]

You can't disinherit your direct descendants or ascendants but you can dispose of the rest of your estate how you please. So if you have no children or parents living then you can dispose of all of it how you please; if you have one child then you can dispose of half of it how you please; if you have two children then you can dispose of a third of it how you please and so on.

[Will]

Interestingly, the plots of some of the Joanne Harris books revolve around some rather suspect questions of inheritance in France.

I'm old enough too to remember Rupert Davies as Maigret. Michael Gambon seems to be making a career of replacing dead actors - we've just got our DVD of the latest Harry Potter where he plays Dumbledore (the Richard Harris role).

[Alexis]

You can disinherit children who have made an attempt on your life so perhaps the wily serpent made it look as if the murder was committed by the offspring.  Thus leaving the pot for them.

Is it obvious I don't know?  I watch Maigret too with Bruno Whatshisname.  Remember Rupert Davies....  Same era as George Dixon?  Perhaps later.